Vegetation Management Case Study – Overgrown Pond

Introduction

A pond had become overgrown with reeds and bulrushes, leaving no area of open water.

Our Client’s Aim

To remove approx. 75% of the reeds and bulrushes to leave as open water, whilst leaving approx. 25% of the vegetation for wildlife habitat.

Our Proposal

• Where possible, we hand pulled the reeds and bulrushes to ensure we also removed the roots. This was to help reduce the amount of re-growth the following year.
• Where this was not possible, due to the reeds and bulrushes being heavily rooted, we cut the vegetation using a reed-cutter that is designed to cut below the water level.
• All hand pulled and cut vegetation was removed from site and transported back to our yard, where it was later collected and sent to a local biomass power plant.

Result

Following completion of the works, we achieved the open water area wanted by the client as well as retaining a proportion of reeds and bulrushes for the wildlife. The end result also provided a more aesthetically pleasing pond for the surrounding residents which, with the areas of open water, will likely encourage more wildlife to the pond including bird species.