The water retention pond that is supposed to slow down water run-off from our neighborhood was not working and there was flooding occurring with more frequency. Earth moving equipment was brought in by the country and turned a pond with lots of vegetation for wildlife around it (picture from last December)
Into a mud pit with very little vegetation around it. We had a day of heavy rain right after the vegetation was scraped away and the water than accumulated looks thick with silt and has already developed a green scum.
Here it is from a different angle. No one will be sitting on the bench enjoying the antics of red winged blackbirds in the cattails or frogs crocking in the pond anytime soon! One of the neighbors commented that she’d seen a large owl looking at the pond from one of the neighboring houses. It’s likely that it’s home was destroyed. Hopefully, the project will enable the pond to function as it should for water retention. The pond needs some grasses or other vegetation planted on the slopes or this clean out of the pond is going to be short lived.
The only positive thing I saw on my walk around the pond was a single solitary sandpiper. With the heavy vegetation that was around the pond previously, the bird would not have been visible even if it had visited.
On the back side of the pond there is milkweed coming up but the plants are on the edge of the area not previously mowed. Hopefully they will survive for the Monarch Butterflies this season.
