Efforts are underway to restore the neglected Moggy Pond in Guildford, addressing trash and overgrown plants.
Bellfields pond is on Bellfields Green. Locals call it Moggy Pond, and dog walkers and school kids visit often. People from Christ’s College also come, and Pond Meadow school students visit too.
The pond isn’t popular, unlike the green. Guildford Council decided to clean it last summer because residents and councillors asked for this cleaning.
Councillor George Potter said work began this week. A digger removes trash from the pond, and overgrown branches now get cleared as well. They are removing most bulrushes, but bulrushes help wildlife, so they keep some.
They say the plants will soon grow back. Fences surround the pond during the cleanup now.
They minimize the impact on wildlife by doing the work before spring and working in sections. They let debris dry beside the pond so that creatures can go back to the water.
It will look messy at first because they’re removing silt and debris. But it will recover over the summer. The work should take one week total, and local development funds pay for it.
Future cleanups are not guaranteed. Potter hopes residents will help by ensuring no more trash gets dumped there. This helps keep it a wildlife habitat.
Moggy Pond has a sad history. Body parts were found there in 1995, and Catherine Maxine Boot was killed horribly, her killer being Jason Baldwin. The pond’s cleanliness has long been an issue, as residents saw dead fish and trash back in 1997.