Twenty or thirty years ago, the Tønsåsen owners built a small freshwater pond just up from the sea, in order to farm their own trout. And there was a pursuing party with fish on the menu, attended not by the Johnsen family, however, but by the local population of otters. After several attempts to keep the otters away from the trout, Mr Johnsen gave up and left the pond to its own devices. Fences gradually fell down, barbed wire started to rust and the place turned into a no-go area at the remote corner of the farm. Until less than a week ago, when Klaus suddenly went: ”I wonder if that pond could be restored and turned into a goosepond”. So that is where our spare time has been spent ever since: Clearing the place of derelict fences (with an otter watching us!), removing old plastic sheeting and shrubbery gone wild, constructing a new drainage system and building two small waterfalls into the pond, as well as reinforcing the pond’s outer wall. On the first picture, Klaus is putting the last layers of turf on top of the place where the pond was drained empty many years ago, and where the new drainage has been installed. It looks as if he is trying to keep the sea out. And that’s a bit how it felt, as we tried to make sure there would be no tiny leakages gradually digging the wall and our great new project apart. We are not sure if we have succeeded in that. Time (and running water) will surely tell.
Throughout the ’project’ a mallard (stokkand) couple started to show interest in what we were doing, and on our last day of work they sat in the grass a few meters away, waiting patiently but persistently for their new home to become ready. Klaus is no longer sure about geese. The mallards are really cute. But perhaps a few carps would work. Apparently otters have trouble catching carps, as these hide well in the opacity of muddy waters. But where does one buy a punnet of carps? And what about the big fox we saw passing the pond this evening? This story continues...
Twenty or thirty years ago, the Tønsåsen owners built a small freshwater pond just up from the sea, in order to farm their own trout. And there was a pursuing party with fish on the menu, attended not by the Johnsen family, however, but by the local population of otters. After several attempts to keep the otters away from the trout, Mr Johnsen gave up and left the pond to its own devices. Fences gradually fell down, barbed wire started to rust and the place turned into a no-go area at the remote corner of the farm. Until less than a week ago, when Klaus suddenly went: ”I wonder if that pond could be restored and turned into a goosepond”. So that is where our spare time has been spent ever since: Clearing the place of derelict fences (with an otter watching us!), removing old plastic sheeting and shrubbery gone wild, constructing a new drainage system and building two small waterfalls into the pond, as well as reinforcing the pond’s outer wall. On the first picture, Klaus is putting the last layers of turf on top of the place where the pond was drained empty many years ago, and where the new drainage has been installed. It looks as if he is trying to keep the sea out. And that’s a bit how it felt, as we tried to make sure there would be no tiny leakages gradually digging the wall and our great new project apart. We are not sure if we have succeeded in that. Time (and running water) will surely tell.
Throughout the ’project’ a mallard (stokkand) couple started to show interest in what we were doing, and on our last day of work they sat in the grass a few meters away, waiting patiently but persistently for their new home to become ready. Klaus is no longer sure about geese. The mallards are really cute. But perhaps a few carps would work. Apparently otters have trouble catching carps, as these hide well in the opacity of muddy waters. But where does one buy a punnet of carps? And what about the big fox we saw passing the pond this evening? This story continues...
