The pond was refurbished by the charity Froglife at the end of January, made possible by funding from The Kenneth White Legacy Award for which we are very grateful.

The pond is vulnerable at the moment as plants need time to and grow so we ask that visitors would take special care.

Unfortunately, the pond has been damaged twice. The first time a few days after the refurbishment with our new pond plants and plant baskets destroyed and debris floating on the water. Volunteers worked hard to repair the damage on our February and March workdays, clearing the debris and repotting the plants in new baskets. A few days later, the pond was again damaged.

We don’t know whether the damage to the pond was accidental or intentional, but it is concerning. At issue is not only the financial cost to us (the Green is cared for entirely by volunteers and we rely on funding and personal donations to carry out this work as best we can) but also the risk to our wildlife, notably, to our frogs and frog spawn. Therefore, as noted, we ask for visitors to take care near to the pond and, in particular, we ask that dog owners ensure that dogs do not enter the pond. In fact, we request that dog owners using the Green keep their dogs on the lead.

There is some good news though. We were contracted by a visitor to the Green, Sam Berry, who spotted a grey heron by the pond and was able to take a wonderful photograph of it taking flight. As far as we know, this is the first time that a heron has been spotted on the Green – to find out more about these “tall, prehistoric looking birds” (this wording is from the London Wildlife Trust website) click here.