Horse Pond Dredged in Flowton, Suffolk
Case study: pond restoration following an exceptionally dry summer
Following a prolonged dry summer, many ponds across the area had dried out completely. This horse pond in Flowton, Suffolk was no exception. Although water had still been present the previous week, the pond was dry by the time the team arrived on site, providing a suitable opportunity to carry out dredging and restoration works.
Before work began, the clients had already faced back the surrounding trees. This improved access and allowed plant and equipment to be transported safely onto the site and positioned ready for the project.
An 8-tonne specialised long-reach excavator and a 9-tonne dumper were brought to site for the works. The long-reach excavator was tracked behind the barn to the designated working area, where a suitable location was selected for a bund to contain the excavated silt and debris.
The bund was created to provide a controlled area for the removed material. Silt and debris were then excavated from the pond using the long-reach excavator, loaded into the dumper, and transported to the designated bunded area.
The pond also included an island, which the client wished to remain. After the client removed the foliage and self-sown trees from the island, the team levelled the top to leave it tidy and better defined as part of the overall pond restoration.
Once dredging was complete, new inlet and outlet pipes were installed. The pond banks were reshaped to improve the profile and finish of the pond. The bunded area was tidied, and the wider work area was left in as neat and orderly a condition as possible.
At the end of the project, the plant was collected and the site was handed back to the client with the pond cleared, reshaped, and ready to refill naturally when wetter weather returned.
