Norfolk Ponds Project

The great Helen Greaves representing us at the Norfolk Biodiversity Partnership Community Biodiversity Fair today @theforumnorwich.bsky.social promoting ponds, #pond restoration & of course #ghostpond resurrection

Wow. Stunning. I guess key Q is what is the chemistry of this pool? It would be really good to have a chat & pool knowledge on where good translocation sites might be for some of Norfolk's v rare aquatics. Some can come back from seeds. But others def need our help!

I've never seen it. Just do rare! Yes species like this do need conservation in their last remaining places.

Have you ever come across U. intermedia?

Oh wow. Just brilliant ancient place botany :)

Just a huge thanks Patrick for a wonderful article. So appreciated :)

‘It’s resurrection’: 1,000-year-old seeds could grow ancient plants in England’s ice-age ghost ponds An expert team are resurrecting ice age ponds and finding rare species returning from a ‘perfect time capsule’

In case you missed it: lots of amazing and heartening pond restoration going on. Research is likely to confirm that seeds "lost" in the bottom of filled-in ponds can remain viable for 100s of years so ponds and their aquatic plants leap back to life. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

My money is on Lemna trisulca rising up like a wild thing & taking them both!!!

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, Ghost Ponds and Underwater Songs In Norfolk, ghost ponds are being recovered, restored and heard to sing once again.

Ghost ponds and overgrown ponds in Norfolk are being recovered and restored in an extraordinary conservation project in which sound is being used to measure the health of a pond....

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

A good sized toad that one. If viewed through the bottom of a pint glass it could look even bigger.

No planning permission needed :)

A resurrected ancient ghost pond see from a drone

A resurrected Ice age #pond in Norfolk, E. England. Dug to draw in extraterrestrials. It took 1 day to bring back. The black soil is full of seeds. The excavation will fill over winter & be amazing by summer. Photo @hburningham.bsky.social @hayleymcmechan.bsky.social @timholtwilson.bsky.social

Its more complicated than that tho. How did they get straight back into ponds (100s of them!) after drying. Dispersal just can't be that effective!!! Do get in touch if wanna chat & debate / help!!! - Carl Sayer.

‘Just add water’: how to bring back ancient plants in a Norfolk ghost pond An expert team are resurrecting ice age ponds and finding rare species returning from a ‘perfect time capsule’

‘Just add water’: how to bring back ancient plants in a Norfolk ghost pond

Dig and add water!

A fab pic of mollusc wonderboy @danhoare.bsky.social who we are pleased to have tempted out of the broadband swamps into the team :)

Big big thanks to the brilliant @patrickbarkham.bsky.social

‘Just add water’: how to bring back ancient plants in a Norfolk ghost pond An expert team are resurrecting ice age ponds and finding rare species returning from a ‘perfect time capsule’

Our work resurrecting ice age #ghostponds in the Guardian today @timholtwilson.bsky.social @hburningham.bsky.social @uclgeography.bsky.social ‘Just add water’: how to bring back ancient plants in a Norfolk ghost pond | Wildlife | The Guardian share.google/kO6HQaC4PAUJ...

Honestly. Anything could happen but know it will be amazing...

A bit of toilet from the pond

A bit of old jar

4/4: Other items of high historical & culture significance include this Saxon soil cistern & a shard from a mesolithic marmalade jar. The latter was probably owned by a nomadic European aurochsen hurder. We have contacted the British Museum

A strange rusty cauldron like vessel held aloft

3/4: Much important #pond archaeology was found including this medieval witch's cauldron (modelled by @frogsatuea.bsky.social) containing burnt wood & bones likely of the locally abundant meso-predator Shuckus rougiensus. A spell or a meal? @mattpope.bsky.social

A pond being dug out showing streaks of marl

2/4: We dug it out today being careful to expose as much seed-rich deeper mud as possible - sediments laid down in the landscape of likely 100s years ago

Many volunteers smiling in an overgrown pond

1/4: We restored the biggest Norfolk farmland #pond we have ever worked on over the last 3 days. 50 x 25 m. Huge amounts of willow was removed by our volunteers followed by much chainsaw work @patrickbarkham.bsky.social

Willow. Both.

A stunning dreamy planty pond. Pond covered in pondweeds

We have been described as "THE BEST NGO THAT NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT"

Please help by following us & reposting!!!

A stunning plant filled pond in an arable field

4/4: Why do we do it? It's because you end up with ponds that are so mega species-rich like this after just a year or 2. Come on!!! :)

Drone shot showing finished pond restoration with spoil in a plume coming out of the pond on to meadow

3/4: At the end we have a few big piles of brash which we leave to rot down & spoil that is spread over the land. Thanks to Jennifer Langham for photo

A pond with no scrub ready for the digger to pull out tree stumps & mud

The digger working in a pond under restoration

2/4: After our volunteers have cleared as much wood as possible in come the digger & chainsaw (Phase 2)

A pond with lots volunteers clearing scrub

Same pond but much scrub removed

1/4: It's Norfolk Ponds Project Pond Week. Despite the wild weather hampering things today we are now 4 ponds in! Look at this pond in the morning compared with the afternoon. All done with hand tools & brill volunteers clearing scrub (phase 1)!

A team of crazy pond restorers in a pond in a meadow

This week we are working with volunteers to restore around 6 farm #ponds by major scrub & mud removal. Today we got almost 2 ponds done through pure weight of numbers helping!!! A truly brilliant crazy team!!!