Over the last few weeks Bournemouth University have been undertaking more research on the lagoon in Poole Park.
This week students from an Ecology and Conservation course spent a morning taking mud and water samples, looking at the insects and fish and considering the various parts of the whole lagoon system, such as the exchange of water with Poole Harbour, surface water inputs, wildfowl, humans and many more. They hope to produce some models of the habitat that helps to show how complex this body of water is.
We have also used the Bournemouth University Global Environmental Solutions consultancy to undertake some very specific surveys for us. In 2015 we discovered the presence of the very rare Sea Starlet Anemone, Nematostella vectensis, and before we undertake any improvements to the lagoon we need to understand the distribution and abundance of the Anemone. This involves obtaining a licence from Natural England and the sifting and sampling of lots of mud cores taken from the top 10cm of the mud.
This information, which we will share here in due course, will be used next year to plan and design the dredging and creation of new island features. The intention is to appoint a contractor early in the summer and dredging to start in October 2018, working through the winter to avoid disturbance and have the new features in place for early 2019. The designs for the lagoon are still available here.