Pond Creation

Ponds are a vital component of the UK’s ecosystems, offering habitats for a diverse array of wildlife. Frogs, toads, and newts rely on ponds for breeding and they are vital for invertebrates such as dragonflies and water beetles. 

Over the past century, the UK has experienced a significant decline in pond numbers from approximately 800,000 in the nineteenth century to 200,000 by the 1980s, as agricultural methods became more intensive and needed larger, clearer areas of land, as well as through urban development and loss due to neglect.

Over the winter of 2024-2025, we worked with pond and wetland restoration experts Wildscapes CIC and our ecologist, Julie Riley, to create three new wildlife ponds. Each are pretty big at roughly 150m2 each (that’s the size of 40 king-sized beds or half an ice hockey rink) and with their deepest point being a metre deep. Each varies in shape and in how steep or shallow the sides are, so that different parts of each pond suit different species of animals and plants. The ponds are entirely sealed using clay from the ground, so are entirely natural with no plastic or other type of liner used.

There was another benefit of the wonderful job that Wildscapes CIC did for us, which is that the earth removed from the ponds was built up into large horseshoe-shaped mounds to create bee banks; habitats for large numbers of the 250 species of solitary bees that live in the UK.

Steve Coles
Steve is the Managing Director and one of the co-founders of Wild & Other.