Cllr Verity Hughes introduces Eynsham Fishponds Foray - Friday 18 July. Everyone is welcome.
It is now 11 years since the Parish Council took over responsibility for the Abbey Fishponds and 10 years since the original surveys and management plan for the area.
The Council plans to celebrate this decade of maintenance and improvements with a Foray Day. Experts, some revisiting the surveys they did ten years ago, will be available from 10:30-15:00 to identify specimens brought in by members of the public. They are:
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Flora - Wychwood Project Flora Group
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Pond Life - Freshwater Habitats Trust
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Insects - Lawrence Bee, ecological consultant
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Birds - Ivor Porter, local ornithologist
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Small Mammals - Marjorie Reed (previous surveyor)
We hope this will encourage you all to come and see the amazing things to be found there. The Royal Microscopical Society will also be on hand with their equipment to encourage more detailed investigation. The pond dipping platform will be in place by then so the Freshwater Habitats Trust will be operating from there. We shall have a marquee and refreshments and a local film maker on hand.
In the evening (19:00-22:00) we are planning a party for the entire village. It will include moth trapping, bat echoing, worm charming, Morris dancing, Eynsham Folk Group and a film show of the day’s proceedings and of previous events. We are planning a bar, food and music too.
Over the past 10 years many voluntary groups have helped to deliver the management plan. The Parish Council and various bodies have invested in this and it now seems timely to find what biodiversity changes have taken place and to plan for the next decade.
We have applied for grants to fund the surveys and the Foray Day and are grateful for support from Cottsway Housing and the County Council, from Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment and WODC.
The Fishponds Committee met in May with an eventful summer in mind. So on with the bats, moths, worms, film, folk music and Morris dance ...