The Village Pond has been a much loved feature of Debden village from time immemorial. Residents young and old have walked past it and looked to see what lurked inside its waters. Sometimes complaints were raised about the amount of rubbish that was thrown into it and other times because of the flooding onto the road caused by blocked drains. At one point in 1949 the Parish Council unanimously voted that the County Council be asked to fill the pond in! Fortunately that did not happen and when, in the cold winter of 1963, the pond froze over children and adults even skated on it.
From time to time a resident reported spotting a Great Crested Newt or two in the water with great excitement and it was commonly agreed that the pond was a breeding site for the protected species. Over the years a valiant group of volunteers managed the pond removing pernicious weeds at a time of the year when there would be minimum disturbance to the GCNs and other species. However, in the past few years the pond has become neglected and the weed crassula helmsii has been allowed to spread wildly all over to the point that it was impossible to see any water. After several requests by members of the public to do something about it the Parish Council elected to take the opportunity of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 2022 to obtain a Lottery grant to clear the pond of the invasive weed and at some point plant the “Princess Elizabeth “water lily in honour of the late Queen. Whilst commending the initiative of at long last restoring the pond, concerns were raised about the safeguarding of the Great Crested Newts and other amphibians. The PC Chairman categorically denied the presence of the GCNs and Councillor April Gardner proudly announced that the work would take place in the middle of August when the water was at its lowest level. Unfortunately that happened to be right in the middle of the heatwave in 2022. Without any survey nor special Natural England licence, drastic dredging of the pond duly took place undertaken by a local pond specialist company who, on being asked during the works, if they were aware of the possible presence of the GCNs declared no knowledge of it. Many onlookers wondered what damage may have been caused to the ecological habitat of the pond as it looked like a desert. Luckily, over the winter, we have had more than normal rainfall and the pond has filled up nicely. Some members of the Debden Residents Community Group and other supporters decided that they would establish once and for all, whether the protected species was present in the pond. They commissioned a reputable firm experts in ecological surveys and habitat management to carry out a survey.
At the end of May a torchlight survey of Debden Pond was carried out under a licence issued by Natural England and water samples were taken for eDNA analysis. The test was positive indicating the presence of the species at the time the sample was taken. The residents who contributed to the cost of the survey were delighted at the results and are planning to write to the Parish Council to make them aware of the findings and to ask that the Notice Board at the edge of the pond should be replaced with a detailed warning about the presence of the protected species and warn against the introduction of fish which eats the eggs of the newt.
By pure coincidence, another ecologist who had witnessed the presence of the GCNs a few years ago happened to visit Debden a few days after the survey and spotted three GCNs unusually coming to the surface of the water in the middle of the day. He contacted a member of the Community Group expressing surprise at being able to see the amphibians in strong daylight as they are usually very shy and only appear after dusk. Upon reflection he tcame to the conclusion that the probable reason for this was that the pond was not oxygenated sufficiently with appropriate native oxygenating plants and the GCNs were forced to come up to the surface to breathe. He also mentioned that the introduction of water lilies, whilst improving the appearance of the pond itself, if the plants are left to spread without restraint they can cut out the light getting into the pond thus impeding sufficient oxygenation. In addition he recommended that members of the public should refrain from introducing fish in the pond because they eat the eggs of the GCNs and deplete their numbers.
The pond clearance in August 2022 was criticised in the report as this is a critical stage of the newt breeding season and if breeding Great Crested Newts were present at that time, then it is likely that mortality of juvenile GCNs would have occurred. ‘As there has been long history of Great Crested Newts in the village pond and the survey categorically identifies their presence on 25th May 2023, the Parish Council and indeed all people young and old must be aware that as a protected species it is an offence to kill or even disturb them, therefore any future works at the pond will require close liaison with Natural England and an application to them for a mitigation licence before works commence.’
The village rejoices in the presence of the Great Crested Newts