The UCL Pond Restoration Research Group is part of a consortium that is running a new Horizon 2020 project ‘PONDERFUL’, led by the University of Vic (Spain). The project’s overarching aim is to develop improved methods for maximising the use of ponds and pondscapes in climate change adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity conservation and the delivery…
GAME ON!!! After monitoring the Great Twin Pond Dig ponds over the course of 2017, the competition has now begun! Over the past few months all the four pond restorations have taken place in Norfolk and Lancashire and now we can sit back and relax (or more realistically, continue to monitor) whilst ‘Mother Nature’ does…
On the 11th June, many local people enjoyed the wonderful ponds on Nick Anema’s farm as part of LEAF’s Open Farm Sunday 2017. But his ponds weren’t always like this… as you can read below in Nicks’s own account of being personally involved in his own farmland pond restoration project. Nick Anema is a farmer…
It’s the start of great things, you can feel it in the air, the anticipation on everyone’s faces… or was that just the look of relief after re-positioning Bodham’s Church toilet on its foundations following Storm Doris? Either way, every good project should start with ‘Team Building’ session and in Norfolk this was it on…
British farmland birds are in trouble. Since recording began in 1970 they have experienced an overall population decline of 56%, with some species decreasing by over 90%. Intensification of farming practices aiming at increasing agricultural yields has been widely linked to these declines, especially the systematic removal of key habitats, such as hedgerows and wet…
Usually, at least once a year, the UCL Pond Restoration Research Group go in search of the beautiful crucian carp, as part of the Norfolk Crucian Carp Project. The crucian carp is a rare fish in Europe and increasingly it is being recognised that England is an important place to conserve it. This year we…
Following a seemingly endless wet winter, we are finally back in British Summer Time and the deep, clear, oxygen-rich waters in the restored ponds at Heydon, Norfolk are now ready to be re-colonised. Last September, our Pond Restoration Research Group undertook an apparently near impossible challenge – to restore seven ponds in seven days. Kicking off on the…
There are a lot of things that get overlooked in life. Often, it is something that is so common, so much a part of our lives, that we neglect to pay attention to the importance this item or task can have. One thing that fits into this category has been the humble pond. This small…
UCL Pond Restoration Research Group 