Marked Improvements in Water Quality at Hailsham’s Common Pond

Work carried out last year to improve the water quality at the Common Pond in Hailsham and restore it to a healthy state is showing positive results with clearer water and cleaner footpaths, as witnessed at a recent visit to the site by Town Council staff.

The popular pond in Bellbanks Road is home to a wide variety of pondlife and wildlife but has been subject to pollution from a range of sources in recent years. In light of reports from residents last summer concerning dead fish found at the pond, the Town Council’s contractors removed a large quantity of fish from the pond to mitigate issues concerning water quality – and to allow the ecosystem to recover.

A toxic blue-green algal bloom formed in the pond due to low oxygen levels. Although a natural occurrence, it would likely have contributed to the loss of further fish in the future. Furthermore, it has been confirmed that decaying food in the water left by members of the public feeding waterfowl, combined with the overfeeding of inhabitant geese by visitors (resulting in excess faecal waste in the pond), increases the problem further.

Following a thorough health check being carried out, the decision was taken to remove a substantial quantity of fish stock from the pond for their own welfare and to rehome them – this in turn helping to improve the ecology and biodiversity of the area.

The fish were moved to a nearby fishery and transported in aerated tanks by a specialist contractor, where they will continue to thrive in a more suitable environment.

“We’re aware that the Common Pond, often described as Hailsham’s ‘Jewel in the Crown’, is a valued open space for the community and popular with visitors,” said the Town Council’s Pond Warden, Phil Hobden. “But the reality is, we had to remove most of the fish from the pond in order to prevent repeating the cycle of increased algae levels, rapid drop in oxygen levels in the water and more dead fish and waterfowl. By keeping fish numbers low, we can ensure that the water quality remains satisfactory, and the overall health of the pond is maintained in the future.”

“Nearly one year later, the pond water quality is almost back to what it should be, and we encourage residents to do their part to help keep it this way.”

The decision to remove most of the fish from the pond last year coincided with a campaign by the Town Council regarding the management of waterfowl on site.

The rising number of resident geese at the pond (in particular, Canada Geese), has become a problem in recent years with residents stating that as a direct result, there is too much goose faeces on the surrounding footpath. The Town Council had been advised of the risk to public health resulting from the extensive amount of bird droppings from the unsustainable numbers of geese contaminating the water and other areas of the Common Pond site.

In response to this, the Town Council’s aim is to now strike a balance between people who enjoy spending time at the pond and the wildlife present at the site. For this reason, several measures have been introduced which should help achieve this goal, including an awareness-raising campaign to dissuade members of the public from feeding the geese and ducks. This has included the erection of signs at the pond site advising people of this.

Any remaining wildfowl excrement on the perimeter footpath will be removed and cleaned soon.

“As well as removing fish from the pond, another thing we did last year to help tackle the concerns on site was to ask people to not feed the birds and to keep our wildlife ‘wild’,” added Mr Hobden. “This year, again, we are asking residents to help make the Common Pond site cleaner and safer by being responsible when it comes to feeding waterfowl at the site.”

“We appreciate that feeding birds is a normal thing to do and people mean absolutely no harm by it. However, we kindly ask residents to not be tempted and to seriously think about the problems that it can cause to local wildlife and environmental quality.”