mar2006. Rosie puddling in cold weather.
11may2006. Replacing 131 sods to hold down new liner, and starting to fill.
aug2006. The scrape after 5 months
The Scrape
The "Scrape" or shallow pond being filled for the first time. We made an "island" in the middle. Water is syphoning into it (see hosepipe on bottom left) from a tin bath, which is filled by bucket, pulley and rope from groundwater in the pond. Rosie (supported by her stick) is "puddling" or compressing the soft wet clay bottom by walking back and forth. The scrape is roughly 8.5m x 3.3m and holds about 7,000 litres of water. We later found it was leaking about 500 litres per day through the earth sides, and had to fit a liner. This cleared the water of clay particles and cut the leakage down to a few litres per day.
In 5 months, all had changed. Leakage and evaporation was only 100 litres even on a hot dry day. Rosie placed dozens of baskets with interesting water plants. The sods holding the liner down quickly grew much grass and flowers, while dragonflies, minnows, newts, diving beetles and frogs enlivened the waters. The first thing we do on entering the plantation is check the water level, and start the syphon working if necessary. The scrape has become a living creature.
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