Tot nearly drowns after plunging into pond when she mistook layer of ‘slime’ for grass
A TWO-year-old girl nearly drowned after plunging into a pond at a beauty spot when she mistook a thin layer of slimy aquatic fern on the water for GRASS.
Little Poppy Walmsley had a lucky escape after stepping out onto the small lake which was covered in a thick blanket of green vegetation stretching across the entire water.
Her terrified dad Damien Walmsley, 26, watched in horror as his daughter got into difficulty at Brough Park in Leek, Staffs., at around 2.30pm on July 22.
Luckily, the quick-thinking father-of-two managed to grab Poppy's foot and pull her out before she sank beneath the surface of the swampy waters.
Now Damien, of Leek, is calling on his local council to take action to prevent a tragedy from happening at the pond.
Today Damien, who works as a quality engineer at JCB, said: "We were at the park feeding the ducks.
"We've been there a few times before. Poppy is very advanced for her age and she likes to explore different places.
"She walked towards the pond and I said 'Hang on, let me take a picture' and I looked down for a split second to get my phone out of my pocket.
"The next thing I knew, I looked up and saw Poppy step on the pond.
"She must have thought it was grass. You can sort of see why because none of the water is visible.
"Next thing she fell in and was fully submerged. I managed to grab her foot and pull her out. She went completely under. I was terrified.
"A woman in her 50s saw the whole thing happen and she told me the same thing happened to her granddaughter a few weeks before.
"She was shaking but laughed it off. I took her to the doctor and thankfully she was fine. My daughter really had a lucky escape."
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council - which owns the park - has since brought in beetles to try to remove the green fern.
The authority has also put up warning signs around the pool.
Damien, who lives with Poppy's mum Hayley Porter, 33, and his stepdaughter Jaime, ten, added: "I wonder what would have happened if we had been playing hide and seek and I would not have seen her go under.
"The pool needs a fence around it or draining.
"Warning signs have been put up around the pond since the incident - but toddlers can't read signs.
"I went straight to the council after it happened and they told me they had received various complaints about the pond and that they had a team removing the moss everyday, which can't be true."
The council said the authority has brought in weevils to try to combat the 'non hazardous but nuisance aquatic fern'.
Conservative councillor Brian Johnson, cabinet member for parks, said: "The water in the smaller pond looks like grass and it is an issue.
"Work to combat the problem in an ecological way has begun by introducing Weevils.
"I would encourage parents to keep a close eye on their children when visiting the area.
"The last thing we want to do is go health and safety crazy by putting up a fence, or even worse fence off that part of the park.
"If the Weevils do not work reasonably quickly then we will go back to the drawing board."