 |
| Common darter |
 |
| Ruddy darter |
The reason we have so many kinds of dragonfly, damselfly, mayfly and other aquatic creatures here at Paxton Pits is that we have a wide range of water bodies, mostly created by quarrying. The lakes are different ages, they have different profiles and different depths. We have lots of deep open water at Pumphouse Pit, and a huge reservoir just up the road, but the most productive pits for wildlife are the ones with plenty of cover and a lot of variation in depth. Shallows are especially important for plants to take hold where sunlight can penetrate to the lake-bed. Fringing reeds provide cover where fish can spawn and birds can nest . In the deeper lakes we sometimes drop a tree into the water to provide cover for fish and perches for kingfishers and egrets.
Most of the older ponds were dug using drag lines and the resulting ponds almost matched the shapes of the original fields. The depth depended on the amount of gravel that could be dug, usually about a metre and a half plus a thin layer of overburden. Too often the banks were left unlandscaped forming low cliffs
One problem we have is the way that willows spread into the lakes and across our meadows. Too much willow quickly turns a reed-bed or a meadow into a poor kind of willow thicket. We try to manage our willow sensitively, conserving old gnarled trees and limiting the amount of young trees without ending up with hard edges between habitats.
