Rare freshwater species make comeback thanks to new ponds

Rare aquatic plants and animals are making a comeback in Britain's countryside thanks to a project to build new ponds.

Hundreds of freshwater pools which have been built in the past year have quickly become home to animals such as water voles, natterjack toads, great crested newts and golden ringed dragonflies.

Many have also been rapidly colonised by extremely rare plants that feature on Britain's Biodiversity Action Plan, such as rare mosses, stoneworts, liverworts and threadworts.

Alastair Driver, national conservation manager at the Environment Agency, which studied the new ponds, said: "Whilst ponds in gardens can be fantastic for wildlife, here we are talking about ponds in parks, school grounds and in the wider countryside like woodland and fields.

"We have lost a lot of our ponds in the UK because a lot of them have been filled in by farmers or destroyed by the creation of housing estates, supermarkets and business parks.

"There are a lot of quite rare and threatened species that rely upon ponds to live and what has been amazing is how quickly they have moved into the new ponds that are being built, and started to thrive."

Since the start of the 20th century, the country is thought to have had more than one million ponds, which can range from just a few feet across to five acres in size under the official definition for a pond. Since then, more than half have disappeared due to building work and draining of fields and wetlands.

A recent study by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology of Britain's remaining public ponds revealed that eight out of ten of them were in a "terrible state".

The loss of ponds has seen many rare water snails, aquatic insects, plants and amphibians being pushed to the brink of dying out. The tadpole shrimp is now only found in two locations in the UK – the New Forest in Hampshire and near the Solway Firth. The one-grooved diving beetle is also only found in two sites in the UK.

A campaign, supported by wildlife charities and the Environment Agency and backed by television presenter Alan Titchmarsh, was launched last year to build 500,000 new ponds. Since then, the Environment Agency has built 184 new ponds and has restored a further 50 to their former glory.

In one site at the former Wheal Jane tin mine near Truro, Cornwall, more than 30 have been built. Conservation groups monitoring the area have reported that ponds are already teeming with frogs, toads, newts and rare insects including the scarce blue-tailed damselfly, large red damselfly and golden ringed dragonfly.

Birds are also colonising the ponds and surrounding area.

At another site in Otmoor in Oxfordshire, rare stonewort plants quickly appeared in a new pond when their spores were reactivated after decades in the ground since the wetlands in the area were drained.

"The cleanliness of the water is a critical factor in how many species can thrive in ponds, while some species rely on ponds actually drying up as part of their life cycle," explained Mr Driver.

Lord Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency, said: "Halting the loss of Britain's precious native species is a huge challenge, and an urgent one.

"Ponds are incredibly important for hundreds of plants and animals, and also help absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

"They are remarkably easy to create and, done in the right way, they will provide almost instant gratification as they quickly become very valuable habitats, supporting a wide range of species."