Jeremy Biggs

The Freshwater Network......the background detail.

Nice - wonderful pingos!

Last one - I promise! I'm curious how people were able to tell when meadows were last reseeded. I would have assumed that was a pretty difficult thing to find out. But definitely nice to know.

Good year because of the drought?

Thats a bit crazy - I didn't know that this was in UK. Last saw it (quite a while ago) in south of France Mediterranean temporary pond!

👍

Interesting! Roughly where is this Alex?

Is it what we call Castor Hanglands Main Pond? i.e. the one with very long invert list which by some margin is the richest in the National Pond Survey - see p125 in the New Naturalist - I deliberately wrote out the list so people could see what a really long pond list looks like!

Hi Sarah - what's the Pond Leg at Castor Hanglands? BTW We've been helping Stewart with PR a bit re the developments. Nice to hear about the Small bur-reed.

I'd love to take you up on that! But probably not this summer as pretty packed schedule! But I'll be back in touch.

This pond on industrial site was full of well-grown Crested Newt tadpoles. Always struck by what big, chunky, bull-necked creatures they are compared to little wizened metamorphs they become after leaving the water. One benefit of these brownfield ponds is no dog access=no insecticide contamination.

Water pH is highly dynamic so to say a pond or small lake "has a pH of X" is misleading. At the moment I'm getting a lot of unexpectedly high readings. This is due to intense photosynthesis in strong sunshine - plants (macrophytes or algae) use up dissolved CO2 (H2CO3), reducing acidity/raising pH.

Ahhh....that explains it. I've heard about the site but never visited. I've added it to my list of great places to visit! Thanks Jim.

Hi Jim - saw your post via @astridbiddle.bsky.social - these look like a lovely spots. Where are you in the country roughly? With best wishes - Jeremy

Ha ha!

Nice!

Priority ponds - Freshwater Habitats Trust A priority pond is a habitat of principal concern. Identifying priority ponds helps us protect ponds and the wildlife they support.

Looks lovely! It would almost be a priority pond (freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/our-work/con...) if it was a little bit smaller 😂😂 - on the OS it looks about 2.5 ha, though I know the OS isn't always a good guide to size. Maybe we should stretch a point slightly!

Big conversations about small catchments 💡

Yesterday's Headstart event brought together leading figures from the water and environmental sectors to move forward on a strategy to clean up Britain’s water systems – by starting at the top.

Find out more: freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/news/headsta...

Bold new plan to reverse the decline in freshwater wildlife Freshwater Habitats Trust has a bold new plan to reverse the decline in freshwater wildlife within 10 years.

Protect freshwater biodiversity by building the Freshwater Network with us: freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/news/bold-ne...

This made me laugh out loud! www.pestcontrolinlondon.co.uk/get-rid-of-d....

Bold new plan to reverse the decline in freshwater wildlife Freshwater Habitats Trust has a bold new plan to reverse the decline in freshwater wildlife within 10 years.

Today, we've officially launched the Freshwater Network: freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/news/bold-ne...: if you're interested, get in touch and we can work together.

Along with CEO's from 31 other conservation organisations, our CEO Professor Jeremy Biggs signed this letter to express our concerns over the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, including the risk it poses to irreplaceable habitats ⤵️

We’ll, its a great suggestion anyway! Good luck with the rest of the PhD.

You're right - I do! @cateden91.bsky.social - do let us know how you get on with trying it on ponds. And do get in touch if there's anything you think we could help with.

Looking forward to reading this paper carefully as we are doing a lot of work on floodplains; especially useful will be the authors take on managing polluted (river) water inputs onto floodplains, which can be pretty bad in many areas where we (Freshwater Habitats Trust) work.

What will the Planning and Infrastructure Bill mean for freshwater? - Freshwater Habitats Trust The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, introduced to Parliament on 11th March, proposes sweeping changes to the way development’s impacts on nature are assessed and mitigated.

Worried about the Planning and Infrastructure Bill? We are, but one way to get the best from the Bill is to ensure experts in NGOs and the private sector can get involved to help Natural England do good job - see Freshwater Habitats Trust viewpoint: freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/news/what-wi...

It's a good point - I'm taking their reporting of SRP at face value (and their assessment of Pass/Fail) - they don't report TP in these results (I guess they don't have them). But values are consistent with the Pearl Mussel CEN standards. I'm a bit more worried about N, which is overlooked.

The Irfon feeds into the Wye, which is doing much worse. Interestingly, nitrate values from our own data in the Irfon also look a bit dodgier. The NRW data is here: cyfoethnaturiolcymru.sharefile.eu/share/view/s...

Recent data from NRW shows how SAC rivers in Wales are faring in terms of phosphorus pollution. We're working on the R. Irfon SAC where, a little to everyone's surprise, 2024 monitoring data show all the monitored lengths are reaching the high standard for phosphate required.

Wildlife Trust objects to new homes plan near Peterborough A special joint scrutiny committee will be held to discuss the draft plan today.

This threat to Castor Hanglands nature reserve is worrying, not least because it has the richest pond in Britain - Castor Hanglands Main Pond: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... - for more about a really amazing waterbody, see freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/news/ponds-p...