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• Morston pond is overrun with two non-native invasive plants, Crassula and Parrot’s Feather, which have smothered the area preventing native plants and animals from surviving and thriving. 

• Removal of these species, together with regular attention, is highly recommended. In small ponds, routine extraction of the plant may be an effective control technique, but care needs to be taken as small fragments can disperse and regenerate. 

• We have already employed a contractor to ‘scrape’ the pond and, following advice, buried it nearby. Once the majority is removed from the centre of the pond, marginal areas can be hand-picked by regular working parties involving volunteers from the community and possibly local schools. 

• We aim to fund biodiversity enhancement of the pond area as more of a bog garden / marginal pond that can tolerate the extremes of a peripheral pond that has water in winter and is dry in summer, (Bog Myrtle, Water Mint, Water Forget me-not, Marsh Marigold, Gipsywort). 

• We need to avoid planting native species such as Yellow Flag Iris and Reed Mace, which would take over the pond. 

• Longer term we hope to engage with local people, village schools, (DofE) and other groups of young people to carry out an annual Crassula pick by hand in summer. We also plan to carry out a BioBlitz / annual survey to teach recording and identification skills to all ages.