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                         a   S T A M M E R  project              

2008 February 23, 24 & 25, Saturday, Sunday & Monday

During most of this month of February  the mornings showed this aspect of the vegetation, covered by white frost, with temperatures varying from about 2º C below zero in the early morning up to about 15º C at midday. Rainfall has been quite scarce, only this weekend there was some steady rain which amounted to about 10 litres.

Overview of the terrain on 10 February 8:52, looking east.

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I changed my plans for the drainage of the pond (see 25 January 2008) and decided to add a second pond for the collection of the extra water of the first one. This pond features a different size (± 6m x 1.5m) and shape to allow for different flora and fauna and at the same time to facilitate the use for irrigation and perhaps also for swimming (!). A nice addition would also be a submersed, solar powered pump to bring the water again to the first pond from where it will flow via the channel downhill. This flow of water is very beneficial for animal and plant life, filtering and oxygenating the water and also avoiding mosquitoes which hate flowing water. The sound of the water flowing through the stones of the channel would be very nice and much more subtle than a spectacular fountain or waterfall.

The excess water will in its turn be collected in a water deposit at a lower terrace. This tank is made of some hard plastic and  can contain 2000 litre (second hand, 100€). The idea is to make use of the pressure of the deposit and irrigate trees we plan to plant on the lowest terrace (where this irrigation won't affect the native vegetation on other terraces).

Looking north-west
The second pond and on the right the water tank.
Photograph taken on 17 Feb 16:04

The hole is 1.10m at its deepest point and 1.60m at its widest. It can hold about 6000 litres of rainwater.
Photograph taken on 17 Feb 16:05

Looking south-east. The EPDM liner applied.
Photograph taken on 17 Feb 17:01

For the second pond I used a somewhat different procedure from the first pond. I use much less soil inside the pond in order to keep the water cleaner. This will be important for a good functioning of the pump and will also be more inviting to swim.
The dug hole has much steeper walls so the use of a protective layer of fine sand is impossible. Instead I removed with as much care as possible all kinds of sharp stones and covered with lumps of clay the mother rock which I encountered and penetrated at about 1 meter depth. The same EPDM liner (1.2mm) is used but instead of cutting the extra liner it is folded to give an extra protection of the vulnerable area of the borders. The whole area is covered with rounded boulders from nearby rivers.

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The whole job seems to take 3 weekends. Not exactly light labour and I had to think of Louis Le Roy who is erecting his Ecocathedral with his bare hands and at his age. What struck me was that he is piling stones going upwards, looking for the warmth of the sun as it were, while I am going downwards as if looking for the humidity and coolness of the earth. Curious that starting from the same intentions we go in opposite directions. The explanation lies of course basically in the difference in climate. Whereas in cool and damp Holland a local increase of several degrees centigrade (which seem to occur on the terrain of the Ecocathedral) has a major influence on wildlife diversity, in hot and dry Spain it is the cool water that opens up a whole range of new niches.

Overview of both ponds, looking east.
The 'throne' chairs on the left  are a kind of junk art c.q. furniture.
Photograph taken on 25 Feb 11:53

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Because of all the digging and stone carrying, there was not much time left to study the vegetation. Fortunately things don't go very fast at this time of the year. The recent rainfall was very welcome, the soil had been quite dry. The first plants that show the effect of the increased humidity are the mosses.

Overview from the same point looking south-east.
Photograph taken on 25 Feb 12:10

introduction
floristic catalogue
faunistic catalogue
contact
index
gallery 1: 2006-2012
gallery 2: 2012-
map
>> 2008 Mar 15 
<< 2008 Jan 26