We've started on our next big project - and it began with trying to get rid of some of the fish. We'll keep the top pond for fishing, as kids in particular love it. But hardly anyone fishes the main pond and neither the shape of it nor the carp in it are good for wildlife. The shape doesn't give enough variation in depths, and the carp, being bottom feeders, dig around, uprooting plants and stirring up the silt.

But the first bit - getting rid of the fish - is harder than you might think.

A few days ago Paul and Bob, the river bailiffs from the Environment Agency, came with a seine net and fished some out for the newly created Zeal Monachorum fishing club pond. Surprisingly, it was mostly small fry they caught, even though a guest had landed an 8lb carp the day before. Today, Ian went down to feed the rest of the fish and said he'd never seen so many big fish at the surface! I guess they avoided the net. We'll be draining the pond soon for the reshaping - so Paul and Bob will be back then, and hopefully get the biggies.

So the plan is to reshape the pond in the early autumn, give as many of the fish away as possible, and turn more of the field over to wetland, with wet scrapes, shallow and deep open water, and maybe a kingfisher bank (that glorious flash of turquoise is back again).

Meanwhile, the Canada geese looked on somewhat bemused - they've all got their adult colours now....