C. W. Nicol is a Japanese citizen and the C. W. Nicol Afan Woodland Trust is a Japanese foundation, however, 'Uncle Nic' also speaks English and our trust has English-speaking members. This little corner is to keep in touch with them and for any of our Japanese friends who might like to polish their English.

JUNE 2009.

GREEN BANKS

   This is not about a place where you put money. The banks I talk about here are the vital borders between the water of rivers, ponds and land.
   One of our big ponds has eroded banks. The main cause of this was the carp, introduced into the pond by a friend. Carp like to nibble and gobble earth, so they did a lot of damage to the banks and also caused the pond water to get very muddy. We decided to drain the pond and remove the carp. (They were the most delicious carp I've ever tasted, but that's another story).
   About twenty years ago, while doing a television documentary on the Thames River I saw some very fine construction work. In order to both strengthen the riverbanks and improve habitat for wildlife, old concrete embankments were being replaced with living willow fences.
I decided to mimic this technique and make an experimental bank on our pond.
   Willows and alder had seeded themselves on the pond banks. We cut a tall skinny willow a little way up the trunk. This is called pollarding and will encourage the tree to grow thicker and sturdy, less likely to topple and with roots better able to protect the pond bank. We cut and sharpened lengths of the trunks to make pilings, which we drove into the bottom of the pond. Between these pilings we wove freshly cut branches of willow, alder and katsura. Between the eroded bank and this fence we put lots of pond mud. Then we let the water flow bank into the pond. A month has passed and now the pond water is clear and the new 'green bank' is sprouting shoots. It will strengthen the pond bank as it grows, providing new habitat for dragonflies and other water creatures.
This is one of the ways we work with nature.
Uncle Nic

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