"I sense Autumn coming on. The mist has hung low all day. Small birds gather on the wing." - The Strawbs

Mid-Autumn session at Morston Pond, clearing Crassula

A cool mist hung over our undaunted S.W.A.M.P. community volunteers as we once again picked up the threads from our previous week's work removing Crassula from in and around the waters of Morston Pond.

Essential equipment for Crassula removal - half-barrels, pallets, tarpaulin

With so little recent rain, it seemed prudent to be working on the dry area of the pond floor while the opportunity presented itself: this was achieved with some careful burning, (heat being one of the rare examples of how to contain the aquatic plant), as well as meticulous digging and removal by hand.

Careful burning of the Crassula on the dry pond bed

The pond's edge needs careful hand weeding

The edge of the pond is littered with flint (amongst the clay, chalk and earth) and removing the invasive species is tricky and requires patience and a steely determination. In addition, reeds have to be carefully negotiated as Crassula always seems to find a way to take root in the midst of them.

A very dry Spring and Summer has led to low water levels at Morston Pond

Waders were also donned to try to get to remaining clumps of Crassula in the deepest water, with once again the main obstacle to a thorough clear-out being the way the water clouds as soon as movement disturbs the pond. Still, a significant amount of weed was excavated by hand (and long arm) and floated back to the water's edge in the up-turned barrels.

*(If there any budding designers out there who could come up with a blueprint for an all in one smock with gloves then at least one of our number would be most appreciative, as wet arms (especially as the water grows colder) are inevitable.)

One interesting find, to add to our museum of curios, was a late 19th century soft drink or mineral water bottle from Forster Moore Ltd Norwich, which was probably lobbed into our pond by a late 19th century ruffian or scallywag!

Forster Moore Ltd Norwich soft drinks bottle: valued at thruppence by our local expert

Thank you for reading our blog ... feel free to take a few minutes to look at our Gallery, to compare our progress from the project's inception in late 2022, through the months until today. I think you'll agree we have made appreciable headway ridding Morston pond of this invasive species. However, our work continues and we need to keep on top of things and your support and good wishes are so welcome.

Please also have a look at our Educational Day video (along with all our others)

Feel free to look at our Biodiversity Pages to see how we have improved the number of different species now enjoying the habitat in and around the pond