Many of our ponds are approaching 200 years old and have over the decades become quite silted up due to the large amount of leaf matter that enters the waters from the surrounding woodlands. We strive to control this by careful coppicing of appropriate trees, but from time to time refurbishment of the ponds is inevitable. We are undertaking a project to refurbish the Admirals Hat pond, which on OS maps from the mid 1800’s can be seen to be shaped just as an Admirals Hat. This pond was netted a while ago and was thought to be devoid of fish due to the depth of silt and poor water quality. When we netted we were astounding to find a good number of quality Crucian Carp, and varying ages demonstrating that breeding had continued in this pond. Further fish stock surveys are planned for the remaining ponds and the much larger Mill Pond. What will we find?