*Listening in the shade and greenery of a recently dry pond. Photo credit Louise Bodnar.*

We held our last Rewilding Britain funded event, last Saturday 25th July. This was very well attended with 27 members and it was great to see so many new faces. The day was led by Herefordshire Meadows and Herefordshire Ponds Group, and we visited the ponds and meadows at The Meadowlands.‍ ‍

The ponds are a variety of ages and sizes, from young ponds created just 1 year ago, to older more established ponds, the largest and deepest ponds were still holding water despite the drought, a real testament to the usefulness of ponds in meadows.

We enjoyed Rory’s insights and expertise on meadow management and had chance to ask questions as we toured the diverse rewilded meadows at The Meadowlands. Top tips for meadow management are below:

Managing Species Rich Permanent Pasture

Appropriate grazing management is key to supporting and maintaining a diverse grassland community.
Too little grazing and the area will slowly move to scrub and woodland, too much and you risk losing the diversity of herbs in the grassland.
Each site will be different based on soil types, topography, elevation and aspect and grazing should be tailored accordingly.
Broadly you are aiming an average of 0.1 to 0.5 livestock units per hectare per year (see conversion table below).
You will want to reduce right down to the lower end of the spectrum when the herbs are in flower (May to August) and may want to rest the field parcel completely during this period, particularly if grazing with sheep which are more selective graziers and more likely to seek out your rarest plants.

Next we walked on to see the ponds. It was great to learn so much about Ice age ponds and ponds in general, their wildlife benefits, and how to create ponds, from Lindsey of Hereford Ponds Group. We certainly hope we can help Herefordshire Ponds Group hope to restore ponds to Herefordshire, and many members at the event attended because they are planning pond creation on their land.

*Pond dipping in the deeper section of one of the youngest ponds, still holding water despite the drought. Photo credit Louise Bodnar.*

Ponds in meadows are easily colonized and utilized by many birds and insects which can spot them easily during flyovers, and the presence of a pond in grassland contributes to the meadow diversity by creating damp areas around the margins which will be colonised by different plants and invertebrates, varying the topography, by using the subsoil above topsoil in the spoil mound also creates new opportunities for flowering plants unable to compete with grasses, and sun-loving insects and reptiles, being warmer and drier than the surrounding meadow.

Ponds best benefit wildlife when they maximize edge habitat, with wide shallow margins from 30cm-5cm deep, and an area at least 1m deep within them. This depth maximizes the chance of holding water year-round, but ponds which dry seasonally are also excellent for wildlife and support different species than permanent ponds. Diversity of ponds is the key for wildlife, and the more ponds you can create on your land the better. Especially as the UK as a whole and Herefordshire have lost 90% of their freshwater habitats.

Planning permission for Ponds was a question which came up. The link here gives a good outline on this subject. If in doubt, the advice is to make a planning enquiry to your local authority before starting any works. There is a Bill going through parliament now which aims to ease the planning burden on small pond creation to facilitate habitat creation works. https://freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/news/exempting-wildlife-ponds-from-planning-would-be-a-big-win-for-nature/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR43tDRbqSMrKdXa2qO9q7SSzBLr_HfwMzyvvbyrwyiueBL5IBUWKtk2yAfPvQ_aem_j4rce-oRhBqe8iIfT3y5_A

For more information about ponds, see the links below:

Herefordshire Pond Group:

Herefordshire Ponds website - www.herefordshirepondgroup.wordpress.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1ApHAL1AJ7/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/herefordshirepondgroup?igsh=MTB1MnFtMmR5a3FmYQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Freshwater habitat trust

Lots of information on pond creation and management www.freshwaterhabitats.org.uk

Herefordshire Meadows

Website - https://www.herefordshiremeadows.org.uk where you can also find details of our advisory service which a few attendees were asking about https://www.herefordshiremeadows.org.uk/advice/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/herefordshiremeadows

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/herefordshiremeadows/

A huge thanks to Ashley and Sophie for hosting, and to Rory and Lindsey for sharing their expertise.