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

Interesting! Roughly where is this Alex?

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.

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...

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....

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 ⤵️

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.

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...

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.

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...

Mat of Common Frog (Rana temporaria) spawn in Bagley Wood, Oxon about 8 square metres ina area which is about 500 clumps (and therefore females) - see www.thebhs.org/publications...

Here's a v. recent and useful paper that builds on our 2004 work (www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...) comparing biodiversity in ponds with other freshwater habitat types. The new study (www.frontiersin.org/journals/pla...) looks at wetland plant diversity in Central European agricultural...

My garden pond - awaiting frogs (and already with lots of Limnephilus lunatus - though you can't see them in this pic). Here in the surprisingly cold centre of England (this is Abingdon near Oxford) first dates have usually been March 1st-14th.

Question 169 in the Cunliffe Review: consult.defra.gov.uk/independent-...

This should be interesting - looking forward to it.

More interesting and important results from @ukceh.bsky.social on changes to river invertebrate communities - although note that the team says "However, there has been little significant further improvement since then" (the early 2000s, that is - also known as 20 years ago!).

Great work in one of the UKs hottest of freshwater biodiversity hotspots: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article.... As we all know ponds are magic!

The Mirror reports on our District Licensing scheme for great crested newts - a great way to protect newts and freshwater biodiversity more generally: www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

You'll probably also enjoy this new paper by Patrick Armitage and colleagues on the value of small freshwaters: www.researchgate.net/profile/Dave...

4 key messages from the OEP assessment of the Environmental Improvement Plan: www.theoep.org.uk/sites/defaul...: 1. Small waters "make up a significant proportion of the water environment" 2. "While polluted rivers are improving, the most diverse and least impacted streams are declining in quality"

Julie Fahy’s PhD défense in Geneva is about to start.

As well as being CEO at FHT, I'm also a Director of the Newt Conservation Partnership - and you can see some of the latest news here (though you'll have to go on X to look at it😂😂): x.com/NewtPartners...

"Many pond naturalists and scientists have been, and are, women (perhaps they are less intimidated by the small size of ponds, than are men). Early proponents include Lucy Howland, Edna Lind and Mary Laurie who made some of the first serious observations on ponds." See: bit.ly/42Tb89c

It's that time of the year again, with some nice pics to celebrate. You can join in here: freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/news/pondnet...

Really useful to have Judy's latest report on progress with the conservation of the Creeping Marshwort - including at Cutteslowe Meadow where we made ponds with Oxford City Council and Trust for Oxfordshire's Environment back in 2004.

Next Wednesday I'll be talking to the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee about nitrogen in freshwaters and the new approaches we need to develop to protect freshwater biodiversity. committees.parliament.uk/committee/51... Programme here: committees.parliament.uk/work/8898/ni...

We were pleased to help An Taisce (Ireland) get the Irish Pond Manual together. x.com/AnTaisce/sta...

Stands Great Fen Sedge have been a focus for Water Rail and Cetti's Warbler activity at Flasks Fen in recent months, the dense winter-green foliage provide shelter after the Common Reed has died down.

Thanks to Tony Juniper for some supportive remarks about newts and development www.linkedin.com/posts/tony-j.... The ponds were created by the NSP/NCP/FHT/ARC partnership with thanks also to our rewilding friends at Nattergal who made it possible on their land.

Looking at the environmental data, I can see that it's a chemical failure on Mercury and its Compounds and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers. I guess the mercury originates from mining operations. The PBDEs, however, are entirely man-made.

Interesting results from the always interesting @palustris.bsky.social.

We had a fun trip to the Lake District looking at little ponds (there are probably thousands like this, full of water beetles, caddis and Glyceria but not on any map), as well as some bigger rivers (this is the Borrow Beck which, oddly, is only Good - not High - status: anyone know why?)

By now, everyone’s probably aware that the Government’s speech-writers love taking cheap shots at newts. Here's what we think about this at Freshwater Habitats Trust! freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/news/are-new...

Another opportunity to come to work with us....

Given the importance of ponds for freshwater biodiversity the spread of goldfishes must be a worrying prospect for North American freshwater biologists and water managers.

Important paper: "Overall, [conservation] actions elicit little improvement in river biodiversity, in contrast with reports from terrestrial and marine ecosystems". This is why Freshwater Habitats Trust is focusing on what really makes a difference for freshwater biodiversity including using....

This SSSI in Bucks has two ponds we made for the critically endangered Starfruit. On the left is "Penny pond" (by a path) with no Starfruit. On the right, "Jeremy pond" which is hidden from the path and does have Starfruit (this is 2023 - Starfruit didn't show in 2024). Zoom in on the sign!

One of my best pics of the effects of dog (p287 of harpercollins.co.uk/products/pon...)

Important from the OEP (www.theoep.org.uk) on Opportunities for Improvement: "The prospect of ELM schemes on their own reducing water pollution sufficiently to achieve the Environment Act 21 target on agriculture water is limited. This reduces the prospect of stabilising and then increasing....."

Important words from the OEP for achieving Clean and Plentiful Water targets under the Environment Act 2021: Recommendation 1: Defra should improve the prospects of meeting EA21 targets for water by clearly setting out in a revised Environmental Improvement Plan interim targets that...

And here's another common effect of dogs: damage to ponds, one of the highest value freshwater ecosystems, in high quality sites like here in the New Forest. Source: markavery.info/2024/05/12/s...

It's taken a long time for T.T. "Kit" Macan's observation to begin to change - but that's really beginning to happen now. Despite this Government watchdog the OEP noted recently that "trends in small waters, which make up a significant proportion of the water environment, are poorly understood".

Important paper on the role of nitrogen in shallow lake nutrient pollution: www.cell.com/the-innovati.... Nitrogen is important, as well as phosphorus.

@iand777.bsky.social is doing a very nice line in birds visiting his garden pond - well worth scrolling back through earlier posts...

Welcome to a new kid on the R. Thames block - bsky.app/profile/frie... - lets help protect the special freshwater life of the Thames and its surroundings; help us protect the Important Freshwater Landscapes of the Oxford Area, the Thames Basin and the Thames Estuary: bit.ly/IFLThames

Interesting new paper on Britain's river fish over last 40 years: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Nationwide increases in mean fish species richness and diversity most pronounced in 1980s; any further improvements comparatively minor. No consistent increases in abundance of sensitive species.

Always good to see papers that start "Ponds are among the most biodiverse and abundant freshwater ecosystems in the world and provide a variety of socio-ecological values, including in urban areas" 😄😄https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11252-025-01674-x