14. Alder with catkins

Alder trees like damp ground and grow happily round the lochán.

The lochán today - a rich habitat

I am proud of this little lake as we created it. It is now a wonderful habitat for newts, dragonflies, damselflies and many other insects, birds, bats - and alder trees. When we bought the land in 1999 the area was a damp spot in a big grassy meadow, close to a small field drain that disappeared down a swallow-hole under the esker bank.

With the help of Gordon D'Arcy, naturalist, engineer and artist - such a great combination of skills! - we marked out a natural shape and began to excavate in 2002. As the digger worked, water bubbled up from natural underground springs and the lochán has never dried out. For the first few years, visiting friends and volunteers were frequently dispatched onto the water in a rubber dinghy with nets to fish out blanket weed algae, but now water plants and a small reed bed have developed as natural filters and keep the water clean. School groups fish for bugs here, visitors relax looking at the water, and the lochán hums with life.

Alder with male (long) and female (round) catkins

Alder is a prolific seeder and grows so well here that each year we have to remove hundreds of seedlings to keep the lochán open and sunny. Alder has fatter, browner catkins than hazel and distinctive female catkins like small fir cones, still visible from last year. In Celtic mythology alder is associated with battle and death, probably because of its red sap. Huge Bronze Age shields made of alder have been found preserved in bogs. But here, by the lochán, the trees looks peaceful and full of life.

The lochán under construction in 2002