Friends of Saintbridge Pond — Moving forward with Waterwatch's Step Zero Initiative

As Chair of the Friends of Saintbridge Pond Volunteers group, I am always concerned about the state of the reserve and some of the comments we have received both on social media and in person. The volunteers, who choose to use their free time to maintain elements of our management plan to ensure that the site is in good order, find that these can be distressing. We have always worked closely with our partners, Gloucester City & County Council, The Environment Agency and Severn Trent. 

We have always been involved in the management of the site, but mere words and one size fits all policies alone will not remedy a long term solution. The Friends of Saintbridge Pond are here to protect, maintain and have a stake in developing the balancing pond and nature reserve.

At the present time, the site cannot be dredged nor can any of the silt be removed. It will never go back to what it used to be, i.e. open water etc. We have four different habitats; open water, reeds, a wet woodland and wetland The challenges we all face from more extreme weather to lack of resources is here and now. We can do some limited work, but need to let our partners recognise that we are part of the solution if included in any decisions to invest in the future projects at the reserve. Water watch's Step Zero is a project which engages communities before any official plan is even drawn up.

Future Plans

Particularly, we will be beginning monitoring and measuring the River Twvyer and Sudbrook pollution levels through a Citizen Science project and will bring in environmental and conservation experts to assist us in our efforts. We will monitor water levels and conserve access to the woodland walk which passes through the four habitats.

Overall, FOSP's aims and objectives are on par with waterwatchuk.org, a project operating out of the WWT based at Slimbridge. 

The volunteers will move forward and implement our management plan and hopefully, with our partners, make this a great green space to visit.