Baffins
Pond once part of Baffins Farm and now
enjoyed as a public amenity gives pleasure to
generations of parents and children. On this site we've gathered
together information, history, links and photos from a variety of
sources for an affectionate look at the "Pond". Please email if you have any corrections,
suggestions, additions or some personal memories you'd like to
share.
Baffins Pond is very
popular with ducks and geese. You can expect to see Canada, Barnacle
and Snow Geese, Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Muscovy Duck and Swan.
You might see Little Grebe, Cormorant and Pochard.
Look out too
for the Grey Heron often seen on the island. It has been
known to take goldfish from garden ponds.
Our wildlife gallery contains
more images of Baffins Pond Wildlife.
The 1960s/1970s page also has
images of wildlife sadly not now seen on the pond.
You can find out more about the wildlife here from other sites:
East of the pond is the Brent Goose
Sanctuary, which consists of about twenty acres of short grass. It
was created when the land was found to be contaminated during
preliminary work for a proposed new school. Although the geese do
use the site, there are other sites nearby that they also find
attractive.
Baffins Pond Association
Next to the pond is an
award winning nature study centre run by the Baffins Pond Association,
with raised beds, and a pond of its own. The larger building to the
right is the old pump house (c1906). You can read more about them
and see more images here:
Baffins Pond has many fine trees.
The Weeping Willows are an ever present reminder of the cycle of
Life. The two big Horse Chestnut trees trees in the opposite
corner have been a big attraction during 'conker' season. Also to be
seen are Silver Birch and Cherry trees. Unfortunately the lovely Elm
trees were lost in the 1970's.
Environment
Baffins is a natural pond, spring
fed, but requiring periodic dredging to remove the litter of humans
as well as deposits left by ducks and geese. The pond was last
de-silted in 1996.
The Baffins Pond
Association has been very active in keeping the pond and
surrounding area clean.
During 2000 the Council has made welcome improvements to
the northern shore. These pictures show the before and after taken
in March and May 2000.
Portsmouth
could be on the brink of a deadly botulism C outbreak that
may wipe out much of the city's wildfowl population. The first symptoms of the disease have surfaced at
Baffins Pond, Copnor, where several dead ducks have been
removed by park rangers. City Ranger Ron Dooler said staff
had removed two dead tufted ducks from the pond in a 48-hour
period and the mallard had signs of botulism C. Rangers have
battled for years to prevent the killer disease from
reproducing, but every year it has flourished. Their latest
effort involved floating barley straw on the water's surface
to stop algae growing.
Every summer algae saps the water of oxygen, causing
the bacteria to flourish. Goose excrement and old bread
lying on lake beds also contribute to poor water quality.
Aquatic insects pick up the disease from the water,
then
ducks and geese eat the bugs that poison them. Only a drop
in temperature or heavy rain will rid of the the present
outbreak. Mr Dooler said: "There are nearly 200 Canada
geese at Baffins Pond. They migrate here every July because
it's a safe place to moult and some don't bother going back.
They live up to 15 years.
Their mess brings the naturally-occurring botulism up
to toxic levels, which kills the ducks. We have applied for
a licence from the government to oil some of the Canada
geese eggs to stop them breeding so quickly. Mr Dooler also
said well meaning members of the public could be killing the
ducks with kindness by throwing bread into the water. He
said: 'We need to keep the water quality high and if people
would throw grain instead it would help a lot.' The strain
of botulism threatening the wildfowl is harmless to humans.
Bug
paralyses and kills thousands of birds
CITY
environmental health chiefs say Botulism C - or duck
sickness - kills hundreds of thousands of ducks in America
every year. The last serious outbreak Portsmouth had was in
1999 when most of the ducks on Baffins Pond died. The
bacteria causes paralysis of the nervous system and there is
no cure. All rangers can do is try to keep the water
naturally clean and remove dead wildfowl as soon as they are
reported.
Botulism outbreak - July
1999.
The pond's wildfowl were badly affected by an outbreak of avian
botulism.
"Botulism
are naturally occurring bacteria found in mud and soil and thrive in
conditions where there is little oxygen. Ducks and geese are very
sensitive to this type of toxin, since they feed on mud and decaying
weed. If they contact botulism this leads to flaccid paralysis and
death. However, humans are very unlikely to be affected."
