January ice and flood has kept us away from the experimental ponds at Hauxley Nature Reserve, but Scott, Pete and Dave were out at the end of January to begin regular recording of water chemistry, comparing three of the original ponds which were dug out in 1994 to their newly excavated neighbours. The new ponds are clouded with muddy water, the clay seeming to be whipped up by storm and wind. This is how the ponds first looked eighteen years ago too, but soon settled down, the water clearing to leave a faint blur of green algae. Pete is using a portable probe to measure the conductivity and pH, and waters samples will be taken back to the lab to determine nutrient levels, particular phosphate and nitrates. These can be surprisingly variable but that has more to do with the herons who loaf and preen and poo amongst the ponds. The new ponds also beg an ecological question: will their wildlife develop along the same broad pathways as their original inhabitants did eighteen years past? The first two or three years after 1994 were dominated by species thriving on the bare mud, amongst the strands of algae or a twine of Stoneworts. However the ponds are now surrounded by a changed landscape, with a rich cast of wildlife in the adjacent ponds. Perhaps a new sequence of species will colonise, or the old familiar species but faster. I am curious to find out, having recorded the animal life in the ponds ever January and early summer for ten years. It is partly a test of serendipity and history. Will the animals and plants reflect the stark clay walls and bed of the new ponds or will the wildlife be more the result of the variety of species around about, their availability overcoming the limitations of the raw habitat?
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