the Barncroft pond

I used to live in the Wirral in a block of flats called Barncroft. It used to have a big garden but they built a new block of flats there. What annoyed me is that they filled in an old pond and they cut down more trees than they needed to. The pond was nowhere near to where the new building is. There was absolutely no need to fill it in.

Although there is an enormous area of south-facing roof space, there are no solar panels.

Someone did an ecological survey and decided the pond no longer existed. If they had come back in the winter or spring, or if they had asked one of the tenants, they would have known that it is a seasonal pond. I consulted an expert, she said try to get them to dig a new pond. I tried that, they (Magenta Living) refused.

Below are some of my favourite photographs of the Barncroft pond. They are all from 2018. The plants poking through the surface are Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus). There used to be frogs, hedgehogs, Poplar Hawk Moths and bats too. When I first moved there ducks nested on the pond.

Does this look like a 'Dried up pond' to you? Barncroft is in Larchwood Close in Heswall. There used to be two ponds there, near Pensby Hall. The Eastern one had gone by 1969. One or both of the ponds was known locally as 'Dead Man's Dip' after a young man committed suicide there (Phil Andrews).

Not all landlords have the same attitude as Magenta Living. Consider this description of Oaklands (retirement housing) in the Wirral by its manager "Oaklands is set in beautiful mature gardens with a pond and woodland area for residents to enjoy".

When I told someone from Magenta (Louise Edwards) that they shouldn't be filling in the pond, she told me that the plans had been submitted and approved. There was no way they could go against the plans, the council planning department would never accept a change. She also said that they were going to put in a water feature. A water feature isn't a replacement for an ancient natural pond. In my experience they don't get maintained so they stop working. Just like the one in the central garden area at Barncroft.

You know what? They didn't put a water feature there, or anywhere else. Even though it was in the plan. So it seems they can do what they like, whether it's part of the plan or not. They don't want to say that though.

They cut down a big poplar tree that they didn't need to. They wouldn't tell us why they cut down this tree, far away from the new building. The reason was that they had a secret agreement with the developer that they were going to get lorries out into Pensall Drive (the main entrance/exit was in Larchwood Close). They told everyone who asked that they weren't going to do that, that they were only going to get the portakabins out that way when they had finished the building.

However, they took lorries in and out, and a cement mixer. I've got photographs of these vehicles going past my window. I've also kept an email from a council officer who said that they had told him they weren't going to take lorries out via Pensall Drive. They took the lorries so close to a big sycamore that the next year it didn't come into leaf. Now they have cut this dead tree down. It had a Tree Preservation Order on it.

I haven't seen any bats this year. I used to see them out my window. There had always been bats. I said to myself that when they go I will too. Just before I left they pollarded three big poplar trees. Usually this is done in the winter. They did it in the summer. Not a light pollarding either. Whether they will survive I don't know. I don't think they care.