The rather exciting title to this particular blog entry refers, in part, to our garden pond which currently lies beneath a floating carpet of the first part, algae. Heavy rain will sink some of it to the bottom but any sunshine brings it up to the surface again as it has inbuilt buoyancy due, so we are led to believe, to the bubbles of oxygen it extracts from the water. Pond algae is a type of cyanobacteria that absorbs carbon within its structure and it has been used in some countries as a fertilizer, amongst other uses. All of which is very interesting but when it covers the pond to the extent that it prevents any light getting to the creatures and plants that live beneath the water then it is not welcome.
Our garden slopes downwards from the hill behind and shortly after moving in we made the decision to dig a pond part way down the slope. It lies hidden behind an overgrown bank (to the right in this picture) created from the extracted soil. Inevitably though, being part way down a slope, water from the higher ground seeps into the pond which then overflows onto the (rather boggy) area further down. A pond that manages its own water level seemed like a good idea at first but the algae problem has made us realise that something is not quite right.
After discussing this problem with my brother, who I now realise is something of a pond expert having created one in at least three of the last houses he has lived in, a decision has been made to modify our original pond design in the hope that this will reduce the likelihood of algal growth. It seems that algae rather likes the runoff from the higher land as this is full of phosphate laden nutrients so perhaps if this runoff could be diverted in some way before it reached the pond then this might change things. Since the pond water itself is contained within a plastic liner which has stones placed all around the edges to secure it then perhaps by digging a ditch around the upper edge of pond this might divert the runoff elsewhere.
A rare dry day arrives so immediately, digging begins. The ground is very wet from all the recent rain and as soon as the first soil is removed the trench begins to fill with water from the land above it. This is water that would previously have found its way into the pond and even as the digging progresses water slides slowly along the bottom of the new trench. This shows that there is sufficient slope for the runoff and we make use of an old piece of drainage pipe to help prevent blockages and some leftover bits of decking timber to form a walkway over it. At this point the new trench is completely full of water and it even starts to overflow lower down onto an area below the pond. 
Clearly all the ground around the pond is completely sodden so the trenching is extended a little further on the opposite side too where the slope goes in a different direction. All in all this represents just a few hours hard labour but I am pleased to say the end result is...well not as bad as I expected.
As a finale I scoop up as much of the algae from the surface of the pond as I can, being careful to return to the water any animal life that gets caught up in the net. Dragonfly nymphs have been living there for some years now, the parents returning to mate each year at the end of summer before laying their eggs, so I pick these little creatures out of the net before pouring away the jelly-like algae.
By lunch time the rain has started, putting a stop to my garden activities, but the next day is very wet and windy which gives me an opportunity to see how the pond modifications are coping. The initial ditch is completely full but it needs somewhere lower down for the water to go so I cut a narrow channel to carry away the overflow and this allows the level of water in my trench to drop below the pond water level. The solution is clearly far from perfect as it is simply dug into the soil and will not last long in its present form but if it discourages the algal growth then we can create a more permanent solution in due course.
This is not, however, the only garden work we have been engaged in. On an earlier rain free day we both spent time outdoors, my aim being to incinerate the pile of gorse bits that I had been removing from the wild land beyond our garden fence.
Gorse is a highly volatile plant but the smoke generated by my fire was largely due to the recent rain which had soaked my pile of gorsey clippings. None of our neighbours had washing out so thankfully there were no complaints.
This will not, however, be the last time the incinerator gets used. There is much more to come from all the gorse and rhododendron we are cutting back from close to our rear garden fence. Clearing this has revealed and given daylight to a handful of small birch saplings, a small rowan and some young hollies, clearly the offspring of a taller well established tree. All these young trees were previously in the shade of the gorse which grew taller each year so they are seeing the light of day for the first time thanks to my hard work.
The land from which all this growth is being cleared is beyond our boundary fence which does raise the question as to whether we are doing the right thing by managing land that does not belong to us. Who, indeed, does it belong to? One could ask the same question about much of Scotland's wilder places, land that lies beyond the gardens of those living more remotely, and the answer would likely come down to quite a small number of land owners. Our laws give us the right to roam across such land but they impose little by way of obligations upon such land owners when it comes to caring for the land. The hill beyond our garden fence is now completely unmanaged, even the sheep that grazed there when we first moved in are no longer to be seen, which leaves the many deer free to roam wherever they fancy. We see their fresh droppings in our garden from time to time and they have already taken advantage of the clearing we have created beyond our fence, using it as a daytime resting spot.
The argument we would deploy, were our activities ever to be challenged, is that the presence of the gorse so close to our boundary represents a serious fire risk which the owner of the land was taking no action to reduce. After a long dry spell we have seen wildfires burning locally so we know this is always a possibility and the absence of an established woodland on the hill behind our house (largely due to the many years of sheep grazing) makes it very vulnerable. The upper slopes are covered in gorse shrubs - the bright yellow flowers give them away - but at least those closest to our land are now being cut back due to our efforts.
