Before the rain the pond was looking quite bare around the edges of the mulch. There has been a lot of bird traffic over summer, particularly galahs and white winged chuffs. Interesting too that not much grew around the pond - there was certainly plenty to kill in the paddocks. Several things may be going on - not many seeds, because the soil was scraped back in many places, competition with trees for moisture, and fairly heavy soil texture (high evaporation). Where seedlings did come up under the mulch, they didn't do that well (in contrast with what happens in paddocks).

The surface of the pond: weed is growing back after the ducks, and the water has cleared up. 

A couple of shots of the bare areas around the pond. Both the pond and the scrub side of the mulch we put down have been bared off.