July has been an unlovely mix of cloudy, clammy days. Nonetheless
we have had little sustained rain and the effects are obvious as the Bay’s
smaller wetlands dry out. Not a problem
in itself, especially with the mosaic of pond types scattered across the
landscape. Perhaps a greater threat is
the interplay between the weather and other forces, in particular land management.
For example this subsidence pond at the south of the Bay at Ellington Farm.
These fields are dotted with seasonal ponds, shallow bowls that fill every year,
roundels in winter then choked with the ephemeral mayweeds and oraches of
disturbed ground in summer. You can see the white splodges of scentless mayweed in bloom. This pond has been the summer hangout of avocets
and gulls in recent summers but not this year. The dry weather has allowed the
wheat to grow thick and strong a long way into what is normally the pond’s
core. It is now a small remnant, forlorn in amongst the crop. The dry ground
also means that tractors can plough through, rather than round.
It could be
worse, for example this pond.
It’s not there. You can make out the faint curve where it
has been but this summer a solid mass of wheat. There are none of the characteristic plants in
amongst the phalanx of stalks, only a huddle of pineapple mayweed along the distant
hedge line edge.
Pond and their wildlife can cope with drying out, so long as
there are refuges to retreat to then re-advance from. However the dry weather
has tilted the balance in favour of the intensive cropping. The land use looks to be the greater threat to
the pondscape’s survival rather than the dry summer itself. It is a classic threat, a double whammy of
drying out and land use intensification. Wildlife can ride out the occasional
mishap. But multiple stresses take a toll.
The subsidence ponds are having a tough year.
No comments:
Post a Comment