Welsh Journals

PONDS OF NORTH-EAST DENBIGHSHIRE GEOFFREY SPENCER The north-east corner of Denbighshire consists of low-lying farmland, gently sloping eastwards to the Dee. A glance at the 1", or better still the 21/2", map of the area shows two small rivers, Pulford Brook and the Alun, flowing into the Dee, many ditches or dykes and in particular a large number of small ponds. Well over a hundred of these ponds lie roughly within a rectangle two miles east to west and five miles north to south. Most, if not all, of these ponds have developed from holes dug before living memory, many before the nineteenth century, and they served several different functions. Occasional visits to the area during the past twenty years had shown it to be of some interest with a range of plant and animal life different from that in other nearby parts of Wales. For this reason, and in view of the importance attached by many conservationists to ponds, it was decided that a survey of the ponds might be of value and interest. This survey was started late in the summer of 1972 and continued to the time of writing. It was remarkable that in fortnightly visits, including one complete winter, there was not one occasion when comfortable and useful observation was not possible. It soon became easy to identify most plants by dry fruit or stem even when no fresh growth was available. In some cases, as when a winter rhizome puzzled even the professional botanists, the site could be re-visited or a piece could be moved to the garden aquarium for further observation. A few Umbelliferae and mosses which presented difficulties were named by experts and it is certain that some plants have been overlooked. Some ponds were immediately written off as of no further interest; others were re-visited once or several times at different seasons. Observation was confined mainly to flowering plants and birds. In all 126 ponds have been visited; these were numbered on the 2V2" sheets SJ 35 and 45. Simple records were kept giving grid reference, size, degree of rubbish dumping, shading by trees or other other obvious features. Adjacent trees or ther vegetation and the plants of marsh, swamp or open water were noted. The occurrence of birds and other easily seen animals was also recorded. A sketch map was made in a few cases especially where adjacent marsh, swamp or other zonation was marked. Of the ponds with no further interest, 45% of the total, some were littered with varied rubbish from cars to building rubble or rotting hedge clippings while others were being deliberately eliminated by filling. A few, especially those in open pasture, were shallow and polluted by farm animals; some were so shaded by scrub or even by mature trees that little aquatic plant life survived. TABLE 1. 52 Ponds written off at first visit. Heavily Littering Filled or Heavily shaded polluted by Considerable Silted by trees or shrubs farm animals 30 6 12 4