For the past few years Etton Pond has looked rather sad during dry summer months. The water disappears leaving barely a puddle in the middle. Ducks don’t make a point of visiting, and only a lonely Moorhen or two bothers to hang around!
Etton Parish Council started looking at this issue a number of years ago and had environmental surveys done. The overall conclusion was that the pond was suffering from two things – large, mature Willow trees sucking water from the pond when in leaf, and, a heavily silted pond that had very little remaining natural depth to hold water. What little water was captured from rainfall (the pond is not spring or groundwater fed) was being drunk by the greedy Willows.
To make the pond hold water better and look better, plans were discussed to remove trees, de-silt the pond and generally improve the look and drainage. Funding bids began to be explored.
Work was underway on a funding bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund when Covid struck and the grant funding stream was no longer available.
But in 2021 another funding opportunity was found via FCC and a new bid began to be prepared. As I write (Feb 2022) we’re awaiting the final stages of drawing this grant down so we can begin work on the Pond. More of this as it gets underway.
A new look Etton Pond beckons for later in 2022. Watch this space.