With an icy east wind whipping across the pond, a brave band of field teachers, volunteers and staff tackled the reeds around the dipping pond at RSPB Dungeness. The reed bed is beginning to encroach on the area that children and families can pond dip in so to make it easier to catch our amazing leeches, dragonfly larvae and beetles it was decided to cut and remove some of the vegetation. After two hours during which we lost the feeling in our toes and fingers we left the piles of vegetation beside the pond for any creatures to find their way back before moving it away. It is hoped that this will make a real difference to pond dipping in the summer and will regenerate our pond habitat for our aquatic residents!
We will be pond dipping throughout the summer holidays at our family events ( details on our website) and school parties can include pond dipping in their activities during their visits ( see our Living Classrooms web page for full details of our schools programmes) so why not join us to find out about underwater life at RSPB Dungeness?