Anna Williams
Ponds Alive!
A 2-year project to enhance, improve and expand seven wetland habitat sites within and beyond the Avalon Marshes landscape.
Ponds Alive! Project summary
Ponds are vital freshwater habitats for a diverse range of species including amphibians like frogs and toads, mammals such as bats, hedgehogs and water voles, and a long list of exciting plants and insects. Unfortunately, across the UK, we’re losing our ponds — with half a million thought to have been lost over the last 100 years — and many of the species that depend on them are now in decline due to habitat loss and other factors including pollution and climate change.
Our ‘Ponds Alive!’ project is an exciting community-led initiative taking place in West Somerset. Coordinated by Somerset Wildlife Trust volunteer Elizabeth Atkinson, it aims to help revitalise, enhance, and increase local freshwater habitats, while also encouraging more people to get involved in citizen science to help us learn more about West Somerset’s ponds and pond life. There will be plenty events and workshops for people to get involved in throughout the year, along with lots of opportunities to find out more about these essential habitats, with resources available to help communities create their own ponds from scratch! Towards the end of the project, we will also be working with local communities to create a unique digital map of West Somerset's ponds, so they can be better monitored over time.
The project is funded by the National Trust’s Freshwater Community Grant in partnership with the Species Survival Fund, which was developed by Defra and its Arm’s-Length Bodies. It is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency.
One of the single most valuable things you can do for wildlife in your garden is to create a pondPonds Alive! coordinator at Somerset Wildlife Trust
Frogspawn clumps of Common frogs (Rana temporaria) in pond created by Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber) on a small woodland stream within a large woodland enclosure with a beaver-gnawed branch in the background, Devon Beaver Project, Devon Wildlife Trust, Devon, UK, February. - false
Ponds are essential habitats
Even small ponds can support a wealth of species and collectively, ponds play a key role in supporting freshwater wildlife.
Common darter dragonfly {Sympetrum striolatum}, resting on reed by water's edge, Little Bradley Ponds, Bovey Tracy, Devon, UK. July 2011. - Ross Hoddinott/2020VISION
Pond species
Look out for amphibians and insects with terrestrial life stages in the shallow margins and nearby plant cover.
Project team
The project will be led by Somerset Wildlife Trust volunteer Elizabeth Atkinson.
Ponds Alive! is funded by the National Trust’s Freshwater Community Grant in partnership with the Species Survival Fund, which was developed by Defra and its Arm’s-Length Bodies. It is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency.
Elizabeth Atkinson
Elizabeth Atkinson has been overseeing the West Somerset Wildways community wildlife project for the Trust since 2023.
To find out more about the project, please email wswildways@somersetwildlife.org
