St Andrews Links Blog

A hazard for some, a home for others

Although the pond located by the 14th and 15th holes of the Eden Course can potentially ruin the scorecard of many a golfer, it serves a great purpose as an environmental habitat for the wildlife of the Links.

In spring the Eden Greenkeeping Team removed many of the common reeds and rushes found within the pond as part of their winter maintenance work. This was carried out in the winter in order to minimise disturbance to any wildlife in the area.

It looks as if this work has been successful as over the last month or so there has been an abundance of wildlife activity at the pond.

The pond has become home to a family of Moorhens (4 chicks sighted) and also a family of Mallard Ducks (11 ducklings sighted). The location of the pond in a quieter part of the Links coupled with the protective presence of the reeds and rushes to hide from predators act as a safe home for these families to rear their young.

The parents of both families are also quite resourceful in how they acquire food for their young – the Moorhen’s have developed a tendency to try the seed we use in divot recovery on the 15th tees.

Although they do not call it a permanent residence we also see many larger birds stopping by the pond from time to time such as swans, grey herons and curlews.

On closer inspection, there is also a large variety of smaller inhabitants and insects at the pond such as mayflies, dragonflies, butterflies, snails and tadpoles.

One of the more bizarre recent activities by the pond was the emergence of tadpoles into frogs. This caused particular headaches for the greenkeepers who tried their best to remove thousands of the scurrying little frogs from the 15th tee and 14th green ahead of morning course preparations.

So while the West Sands can lay claim to the opening scenes of Chariots of Fire, the Eden pond was the scene for a different type of race at the start of July – not sure if frog racing will ever catch on due to the slow pace these little guys set, but at least the place was jumping!

Words by Frank Aherne, Eden Greenkeeping Team