Hobblers Hole Pond: Now Ready for Winter Rain

The Hobblers Hole Pond volunteers finished work on the pond area on Saturday 4 December, in anticipation of rain. The rain started to arrive the next day and will now hopefully fill the pond over the winter, to extend the pond’s life into next summer. The eight volunteers expanded the pond to about 8 metres in diameter, down to the clayline, and also dug out the centre of the pond by a further 20 cm. Weather permitting this centre area may be slightly expanded mid-week by a couple of volunteers.

This brings major pond work to a close until November 2022. LLRA would like to thank the dozen volunteers who have worked so hard in these sessions. During that time, a large amount of vegetation has been cleared and over 10 cubic metres of soil has been moved, creating an extra 10,000 litre of water holding capacity in the pond area. That’s the equivalent of about 50 bathtubs or 120 wheelbarrows full of water. Great work.

Future Work to Assist Access on Foot to Whittons Park

In Spring 2022 LLRA hopes to organise monthly sessions on Saturday mornings for an hour or so, to help keep the path across Hobblers Hole accessible for the community, as children head towards the revamped Whittons Park playpark. The objective is to encourage everyone to walk rather than drive when visiting the playpark, when coming from the Albions and St George’s. Work on clearing an area of Willowherb for other wildflowers to grow in 2023 will also commence. Details on these sessions will follow in coming months. At some stage LLRA should also find out if the appeal to the National Planning Inspectorate on a footpath route across Newt Hollow / Hobblers Hole has been successful. In the meantime, let’s hope the pond fills ready for the amphibian breeding season starting in February.