Across the stile to the pond, and begin the spring clean.  There are two large beech trees by the pond and their trailing roots almost surround it and send up suckers. They are attractive but need to be kept in check. And the beach needs clearing of Chinese blackberry and other assorted tendrils.

The raft was a quirk of fun.  All made out of old timber which is why it hasn’t lasted too well.  Went to Boyes Boden (local builders merchants and DIY store – brilliant!) and got soil pipes as floats.  Never actually sat on it,  but we did put a duck house on it – sadly no ducks, but now they roost at night on the pond.  Time to make a new one, so we’ll save the pipes until we get some more second hand timber.  On a technical point, don’t try this at home.  The floats are too spread out, if there were two stacks of three, the buoyancy would be more stable.

Noticed some intestine in the pond – we have frog spawn, so I’m wondering if the otter has been here looking for food as the river is flooded, the fish might be hard to locate.

The pond is very overgrown with cotton balsam, so I will also attempt to pull some out – step two is shortly, but I will wear waders for that little exercise.  Always a good laugh, so watch this space.