Preston Village Pond
Selected Wild Place / Other Wild Places / Public Rights of Way / VC55 boundary
Total species seen at this site:
The village pond in Preston, Rutland, lies along the busy A6003 between Uppingham and Oakham. It is believed to be fed by a natural spring with an overflow pipe running beneath the road. The surrounding trees overhanging the pond have grown to reduce the light reaching the pond and are adding leaf litter which has resulted in the pond partially silting up. The parish council is intending to carry out a full refurbishment in 2019 in order to restore the pond, both as a wildlife habitat and as an attractive amenity for local people. A small grassy area lies to the north of the pond, dominated by a large Horse Chestnut tree.
The pond supports a good variety of aquatic invertebrates, including water beetles, crustaceans and numerous dipteran larvae. The silting of the pond appears to have limited the opportunity for submerged plants which may account for the apparent absence of amphibians. Marginal vegetation includes Yellow Flag Iris and Greater Pond Sedge. The adjacent grassland area is dominated by nutrient-loving plants such as Ground Elder and Cow Parsley and also supports numerous trees and shrubs, including Hawthorn and Hazel as well as the larger trees of Horse Chestnut and Sycamore. A good population of the snail Oxychilis navarricus is to be found under woody and other debris around the site. Also of note is the tiny (2mm) grass snail, Vallonia sp.
Plans have been made to refurbish the pond in late 2019 to remove much of the accumulated silt and some of the trees that currently cast much shade over the pond.
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