The latest project to be undertaken by ARCH is to renew the much-loved Hatch Pond interpretation board artwork which had been removed a few years ago due to falling into disrepair. There was some leftover CIL funding from the previous ARCH art project and this will be used to fund the Hatchpond artwork. 

The original artist of the board at Hatch Pond, who will also be creating the new artwork, was Maria Burns, who ARCH has previously commissioned to produce the artwork for the boards installed in Adastral Square and the Neighbourhood Centre. These boards show the History of Canford Heath and the Pilots, who are immortalised in many of the road names on Canford Heath.  

ARCH has been collaborating with BCP Council environmental services for permission to replace, as well as gain more information about the changing environment of Hatch Pond over the last 20 years since the original board was first designed. 

Cllr Sandra Moore, who is also a member of ARCH, has liaised with BCP council who have agreed to make the wooden frame that the artboard will be displayed in. She has also worked with the environmental officers responsible for the maintenance of Hatch Pond to see what changes and updates were needed for the board.

Hatch Pond is constantly evolving, and has been since 1843 when sluices were set up across nearby water courses. This was done to provide water for the Waterloo Iron Foundry at Longfleet (where Lidl is now). Back then it was known as Waterloo Reservoir and in 1937, the surrounding land was acquired by Marley Tiles who began extracting sand to make tiles. In the process, a series of gravel pits were created which formed the basis of Hatch Pond. By 1960 the area was clogged with vegetation and silt, at this point the council designated the pond and surrounding land as a public park. Fast forward twenty years the pond was re-designed, dredged and landscaped as a balancing pond for surface water drainage from housing development. In May 2000 Hatch Pond was designated a Local Nature Reserve which has protected the site and established the current geography and boundaries, making the location a great asset the area.

Over the last twenty years there has been a marked change in the type of birds visiting the nature reserve, possibly due to environmental and climatic changes. There have been some new arrivals such as the Cettis Warbler which skulks around in the reeds and scrubs and has a very loud distinctive song. Sadly though, there some species who no longer visit the reserve, Typical of these is the Bittern who wintered regularly at this site between 1997 and 2013 with up to 4 birds present, making it an important wintering site for the species. Unfortunately, none have been seen in the past 10 years.

With the soon to be installed updated board, local residents will be able to once again enjoy a few moments identifying the current crop of flying visitors to this much-loved nature reserve and who knows, the elusive Bittern might even make a welcome return.