2008
During January the traditional heavy rains brought the usual flooding to the site.
A large number of photographs were taken to establish the flood directional
flow and drainage to assist in determining the areas likely to be most suitable
for placing the actual pond area.
In February volunteers undertook the task of
multiple deep probes across the site to confirm the hard mineral base in order
to confirm that the areas selected for excavation would be best suited
for the pond.
During Spring and early Summer we continued to take photographs of the existing wildflowers and insect life and many of these photographs are in the gallery of this website.
In June we received the good news that the project had been awarded £10,000
lottery funding from the BBC Breathing Places scheme.The award was one of only 10 grants in the Highlands and one of only
56 in the whole of Scotland. Furthermore, it was for the maximum amount that could be claimed which would provide most of the funding for the excavation which would ensure that the project could go ahead.
As one of the conditions of the Breathing Places grant was that the project
had to be completed within 12 months, we then had to concentrate on furtherfund raising to pull the plan together. To help with the publicity, a press release was circulated and received wide coverage in the Inverness Courier. We were very fortunate in obtaining further sponsorship from 5 local organizations and further details can be seen on our sponsors page.
There then followed two months of detailed planning before the excavations commenced in September. The contractor was on site for three weeks during which time the shape of the main pond had to be altered to accommodate the actual conditions found. In particular it was found that the water table was much lower this year than in 2007 with the result that the main pond had to be dug deeper therefore wider than initially planned in order to ensure that there is sufficient water in the summer to sustain the hoped for aquatic biodiversity. However, there is still a marsh area to the south of the pond and enough land to add a smaller pond in the future. |
