Durham Wildlife Trust

Weir providing pond level control

Joe’s Pond is a four hectare Site of Special Scientific Interest, making up part of Durham Wildlife Trust’s Rainton Meadows nature reserve. A haven for bird watching, the hawthorn and willow scrub surrounding the pond provides shelter for over 140 species of birds, as well as animals such as fox and roe deer.

The pond itself is an artificial environment left over from the coal industry and as such requires its water level to be monitored and controlled; this function was originally performed by wooden ‘stop logs’ on the outfall from the pond, but this method was difficult to control—particularly when there was a requirement to simulate large seasonal changes of level.

After hearing of our work on other nature reserves, Durham Wildlife Trust asked C&A to design, manufacture and install a weir system that could be easily adjusted by their staff and that would remove the obvious health & safety risks involved with their old system.

C&A's in house teams designed and manufactured a new level control system, which is now in place and has met or exceeded all of the wildlife trust’s requirements.

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