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Carl Sayer

@carlsayer.bsky.social

Professor at UCL, Restoration of freshwaters, ponds, lakes, rivers, meadows, plants, diatoms, fish, eels, burbot, crucians, palaeoecology, rewilding, Norfolk: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/geography/carl-sayer

2,180 Followers  |  816 Following  |  336 Posts  |  Joined: 27.11.2024
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Posts by Carl Sayer (@carlsayer.bsky.social)

Thats a really brilliant story :)

27.02.2026 06:21 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Wonderful!!!!

26.02.2026 21:06 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Amazing. I am guessing not many now!

26.02.2026 15:05 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Will never forget...!!!!

25.02.2026 22:49 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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A great day for sampling zooplankton at the Men's Bathing Pond, Hampstead Heath on our @uclgeography.bsky.social MSc Aquatic Conservation Lakes module. The Daphnia were in the lake centre likely due to avian predators pushing fish into the edge @thackers.bsky.social @freshwaterau.bsky.social

25.02.2026 21:27 — 👍 10    🔁 2    💬 3    📌 0

That does look good. You have done it again I am sure!!! Thankyou :)

24.02.2026 10:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Can anyone help @hayleymcmechan.bsky.social identify this seed from infill above a buried ancient pond? @bramblebotanist.bsky.social @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social @astridbiddle.bsky.social @annasolcova.bsky.social

23.02.2026 21:54 — 👍 3    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0

Superb work!!!!

22.02.2026 17:32 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Just brilliant!!!

22.02.2026 17:31 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
A hollow in the ground viewed from a ridge looking down at an arable field

A hollow in the ground viewed from a ridge looking down at an arable field

#Ghostpond or natural hollow? Probably the latter but always worth investigating.

22.02.2026 17:30 — 👍 33    🔁 2    💬 2    📌 0
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Garden #ponds. Anyone know of anyone who can advise?

22.02.2026 12:27 — 👍 7    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0
A bat detector next to a restored pond in winter. It sits above a bullrush bed & points at open water

A bat detector next to a restored pond in winter. It sits above a bullrush bed & points at open water

A bat detector next to a restored pond in winter

A bat detector next to a restored pond in winter

Do #bats visit restored farm #ponds vs. overgrown farm ponds & the surrounding landscape preferentially in winter? Well @davidjd.bsky.social & @stephenmulvey.bsky.social of @uclgeography.bsky.social & Norfolk Ponds are working on this @batconservation.bsky.social @norfolknats.bsky.social

20.02.2026 08:21 — 👍 24    🔁 6    💬 1    📌 1
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A farm yard glacial erratic. Now I am looking it seems that every farm & country estate in Norfolk, eastern England has an erratic dug out of or found in the fields as a farm entrance stone. Luckily the geological wizard who is @timholtwilson.bsky.social can inform a little on these

17.02.2026 21:45 — 👍 12    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

Always be careful of yellow snow!

16.02.2026 18:23 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

These are NOT snowdrops tho. They are clearly Pondweeds (Potamogeton).

16.02.2026 18:22 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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A flooded palaeochannel on a remote chalk stream #floodplain. As food builds in this habitat it will become very attractive to fishes as long as the water stays. Rivers with lots of off channel habitat can probably support a much bigger #fish biomass. We need more river-connected floodplain

16.02.2026 18:15 — 👍 43    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0
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Pristine chalk streams have crystal clear waters even when in flood. They are set in wet woods habitat, there are no floodbanks & they are full of wood which the river has to move around. Hard to cast a fly but full of fish.

16.02.2026 07:29 — 👍 31    🔁 4    💬 3    📌 0
Man walks through flooded woodland palaeochannel pond in the snow

Man walks through flooded woodland palaeochannel pond in the snow

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Proper winter biological sampling in flooded English chalk stream palaeochannel habitat yesterday for a single stone loach & a flotilla of mosquito larvae @reagan-envisci.bsky.social @uclgeography.bsky.social

16.02.2026 07:25 — 👍 10    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

It is. Still much work to do. For a river to have burbot it needs to be really good!

14.02.2026 19:13 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Land of the extinct #burbot, River Wissey, E. England. The burbot, a freshwater codfish, was last seen in 1970. It needs floodplain slackwater for spawning. This is burbot heavan & whenever we survey this area there is anticipation. An aquatic Tasmanian tiger coming back soon...

14.02.2026 18:43 — 👍 75    🔁 5    💬 2    📌 1
Preview
Pond Restoration Training: 25th & 26th June 2026 — Freshwater Biological Association Ponds are increasingly being recognised as critical to biodiversity conservation in UK landscapes. This new two-day course will introduce participants to pond restoration science and best practice. Gr...

This @freshwaterbio.bsky.social #pond restoration training course 25th, 26th June is well worth attending. Learn how to restore degraded existing ponds & #ghostponds with Norfolk Ponds Project founders Carl Sayer & Helen Greaves:

www.fba.org.uk/shop/p/pond-...

11.02.2026 17:56 — 👍 33    🔁 21    💬 0    📌 0
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Very proud (as team manager) that our joint @uclgeography.bsky.social & @uclcber.bsky.social "Bloomsbury Botanists" team were joint leaders at the end of @bucbotany.bsky.social Round 1. Watch out Oxford we are coming for you with sharpened spines!!!

11.02.2026 18:41 — 👍 4    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0
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A previously restored farmland #pond managed yesterday. Now you can see the forest horizon. A better habitat for aquatic plants, Great Crested Newt & all sorts of other creatures. This pond is bang in the middle of a big arable field yet everything goes to it

02.02.2026 07:10 — 👍 37    🔁 8    💬 0    📌 1
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A flooded #palaeochannel #pond on a semi-natural English chalk stream floodplain. A great place for fishes on the move right now & for amphibians in a few months. By summer it will probably be dry. But while it is water-filled all sorts of species will use it

05.02.2026 21:44 — 👍 33    🔁 9    💬 0    📌 0
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A farm #pond we restored in 2014 showing multiple valuable habitats. Open water with submerged plants, a thick bed of Typha, lightly vegetated shallow shelving edge, bramble patch, woodland fringe, mini ancient woodland meadow (promontary on R) with early purple orchid. All this in a tiny footprint

10.02.2026 07:53 — 👍 74    🔁 17    💬 1    📌 0

Only problem is that beaver site will be very polluted & biodiversity poor for that reason. Key is to solve water quality probs at source if possible.

08.02.2026 19:34 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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River Stiffkey, Norfolk, eastern England showing what looks like a fairly natural chalk stream meander pattern in a snowdrop garden. This pattern is a good benchmark for re-meandering straightened bits of river locally. Always go with what the river is telling you :)

08.02.2026 15:49 — 👍 23    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0

Best possible news. Make sure you celebrate with an ultra marathon!!! So brilliant :)

06.02.2026 08:10 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Trees poking through a gate

Trees poking through a gate

Treegate

03.02.2026 17:40 — 👍 8    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

You are very kind. Do come join us for some ponding one day soon!!!

02.02.2026 17:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0