Spindle at a pink peak. My favourite plant of the autumn for #wildflowerhour

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

‘It’s resurrection’: 1,000-year-old seeds could grow ancient plants in England’s ice-age ghost ponds So excited to be quoted in this article about our resurrected #ghostponds with members of our fantastic team @carlsayer.bsky.social, @hburningham.bsky.social, @timholtwilson.bsky.social

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...

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

We have been described as "THE BEST NGO THAT NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT" Please help by following us & reposting!!!

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 day of 'ghostpingo' #pond resurrection in the Norfolk Brecklands with @timholtwilson.bsky.social & other wonderful experts. By the end of tomorrow Norfolk will have 2 more of its lost ancient ponds back

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!!!

Check it out: www.vims.edu/newsandevent...! @jwcat757.bsky.social at VIMS popularized our article (www.nature.com/articles/s43...)! Enjoy with ditches, folks! 🧪 Not pictured: journal article co-lead @peatymike.bsky.social, section leads @fluitans.bsky.social, @drtatariw.bsky.social, & others...

Getting ready for this year's 'ghost pingo' restoration campaign on farmland in the Brecks - whatever tomorrow's weather may throw at us! @carlsayer.bsky.social @norfolkponds.bsky.social @brecksfarmerswn.bsky.social #Breckland #biodiversity #geodiversity

1/2: Ponds were often filled in at the same time that hedges were removed & so burnt wood & hedgebank soil was dumped in the disappearing pond which was a convenient hole. Big tree stumps could not be burnt so often come out whole when we restore #ghostponds. Often we find loads of big stumps

A pond restored in 2015. Stunning structural complexity & very high biodiversity in its 3 planty zones. Right in the middle of an arable field but no drainage in & a good buffer. Farming & conservation working together. This is what we MUST DO! @wildernorfolk.bsky.social @tonyjuniper.bsky.social

This is what we do. Since 2014 we have restored (& guided others to do the same in the UK) 100s of #ponds with **MASSIVE** measured benefits. See this mid-arable farm pond before & just 1 year after restoration by scrub & mud removal. A freshwater jewel in the landscape @davetickner.bsky.social

It's a great when you change the map! 2 resurrected #ghostpingos, just 1 yr old, look like they have been there forever. Working with the brill @timholtwilson.bsky.social & funded by Norfolk Wildlife Trust, BFER & Heritage Lottery we have helped 22 lost ancient Ice Age ponds back to life since 2021

Restoring farm ponds can be very good for pollinators. We wonder why!!!??? doi.org/10.1111/icad...

1/2: A Norfolk #ghostpingo #pond during, just after, 1 year (2024) & 2 years (2025) after ressurection. The pond now supports well over 35 wetland plants. It is stunning & getting better & better. An old seedbank was surely exposed allowing rapid plant colonisation

1/2: The charm of overgrown ponds. In Norfolk Ponds Project we reset succession in wooded-over farm ponds by major scrub & mud removal. This hugely increases biodiversity at the landscape-scale. But so there is a mix of successional stages we always leave some ponds. Here are 4 we will not touch

Cley-Salthouse marshes. A land full of birds & birdwatchers. But this area is so important for European eel which is critically endangered & declining in North Norfolk. Let's focus on eels too please. Eels are more than just bittern food!

Swallowtail caterpillar munching fennel in a friend’s Broads garden. Conservation implications? Fennel rich mixes in arable adjacent to wetlands? (Pic, Rick Southwood).

Please follow @norfolkponds.bsky.social. Only positive messages to show the huge role of ponds in restoring nature @arc-trust.bsky.social @wwtworldwide.bsky.social @naturalengland.bsky.social @brecksfarmerswn.bsky.social @wclnews.bsky.social @tonyjuniper.bsky.social @craigbennett3.bsky.social

Very proud to be involved in this paper on ditches led by the marvellous @ditchontologist.bsky.social @peatymike.bsky.social. Team ditch "the Ditchers" is full of nice people in love with this underdog habitat :)

Comments from the employment tribunal judge: "A woeful tale of unfairness" and "A sham". raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/08/16/n...

Marsh Woundwort on the edge of a restored ghost pingo #pond. Norfolk Brecklands, eastern England. #wildflowerhour

Where do you think this is? An unforgettable prize of self satisfaction for the winner

They are getting ready to go. Don't go!

EA lake survey fieldwork for the last 2 weeks. Didn’t anticipate finding Potamogeton lucens at all, never mind 2 days in a row, at Sywell Reservoir nr Northampton on Thurs and Crown Lakes N nr Peterborough yesterday. @bsbibotany.bsky.social @astridbiddle.bsky.social

On Oak. What are these eggs? Help?!!!

Cathedral like hedges. Not cut for many a year. As thick as guts & heaving with pollinators & insects of all kinds enclosing a valuable meadow. Hedge management is good when you don't need to manage!

Is there an old country name for the blackberries that ripen first at the start of the season at the end of the floricane? @bramblebotanist.bsky.social

Incredible structurally complex butterfly habitat at Sayers Old Meadow. 100s of Common Blues, & good numbers of Small Copper as well as Brown Argus. All on land that was arable 18 years ago. Natural regeneration. Some ground mowed annually & some left to develop naturally. No seeds introduced.

Deep clear mysterious waters of a restored farm pond. Deep down there are stoneworts & endless invertebrates that lift populations of bats & birds. All in the middle of an arable field.

On its own, no airdrop will end the intentional starvation of Gaza's population by the Israeli government of Netanyahu, a man with an outstanding international arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Europe must impose sanctions on Israel, and a full stop to arms deliveries.

A week surveying satellite lakes in the Upper Lough Erne system, Ireland. The best shallow lakes left in Europe but hugely under threat from eutrophication. Like going back 100 years in the Norfolk & Suffolk Broads. It is easier to stop lakes from degrading than to restore completely degraded lakes

This find is especially fascinating as field in arable landuse since <1940s and >1km from previous site issuu.com/bsbi/docs/bs..., suggesting a 2nd buried seedbank and thus long-lived seeds for the grass-poly. Crystalwort is v. scarce in Norfolk & again may have arisen from long-buried spores...

A great day out with Norfolk Flora Group at a Norfolk Ponds Project restored pond landscape. Wonderful people who eat cakes & then find rare things. They then assess the quality of pubs. Very important work @ians4ad.bsky.social @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social @bramblebotanist.bsky.social

Well organised shed. Bodham, Norfolk, eastern England, 2025

A lense of freshwater out in the fields. Restored by Norfolk Ponds Project in 2015. Managed again in winter 2024. FULL of aquatic species & as the summer draws on this will be the waterhole which keeps every critter alive. Ponds are the most important farmland habitat. Not to be ignored...

A fabulous day 1 of the @freshwaterbio.bsky.social & Norfolk Ponds project Pond Restoration Training course. A wonderful group & some incredible species found in our restored pond landscape at Heydon, Norfolk

Prepping for day 1 of the @freshwaterbio.bsky.social & Norfolk Ponds Project Pond Restoration training course tomorrow. Lots of amazing restored farm #ponds to show 25 delegates at a secret Norfolk estate. Bring it on!!!

Dreamy yellow candyfloss. Lady's Bedstraw in Bedfordshire chalk grassland #wildflowerhour

Marbled Whites in huge abundance today in chalk grassland, Bedfordshire, eastern England. Stunning creatures

Our studies & monitoring show the European eel to be in a slow decline in North Norfolk, with good habitat very sparsely populated. We are doing our best to highlight their plight & to help them. But it is hard work. How are eels doing elsewhere? Any positive signs?

An honour to host @freshwaterbio.bsky.social at NTU. Truly inspiring speakers including @carlsayer.bsky.social @davetickner.bsky.social @louiselavictoire.bsky.social @steveormerod.bsky.social. The time to act to protect our freshwater ecosystems is NOW.

We’re raising funds through the #GreenMatchFund for our #LakeDistrict #ArcticCharr Recovery and Management project, aka LD-CHARM 🐟 bit.ly/42BgnII If you can, please donate. Each donation is matched pound-for-pound up to £10K, meaning we could unlock £20K of funding for £10K of donations!

Sampling British pond wilderness. Thompson Common, Norfolk, summer 2025

Pond water-crowfoot Ranunculus peltatus at a ressurected #ghostpingo #ghostpond in the Brecklands of Norfolk, eastern England #aquaticplants #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Farm pond restoration is important...for many reasons

Sayers Ole Meadow, Norfolk, eastern England. Arable 19 years ago. Abandoned for 5 years & then annually mowed. No seeds or plants ever introduced. It is now a very species-rich hay meadow with many locally umcommon species. A miracle! A lesson! Just give nature a chance!