PONDS LOCAL BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN

Action Completed! Action Completed! Action Completed! Action Completed! ACTION COMPLETED IN 2005

1. One new pond was created on Wirral.
2. In a recent BASC survey on the conservation work of their members it was found that 35 new ponds had been created and 52 more restored, in Cheshire in the last year.

Action Completed! Action Completed! Action Completed! Action Completed!

OBJECTIVES

To sustain the quality of the pond landscape (aquatic and terrestrial) and to promote sympathetic restoration and creation of small water bodies in the landscape

LOCAL TARGETS

1. To ensure no net loss of ponds in the Cheshire region.
2. To create two new ponds for every one lost

CURRENT STATUS

The loss of pond habitats and the consequent effects on a range of species has been recognised at a variety of spatial scales, from continental, through national, to regional and more local levels. Of nearly 42,000 ponds identified on Ordnance Survey maps of the Cheshire region in the 1870s, 61% had disappeared by the early 1990s. Pond loss has taken place across the county and is associated with a number of different replacement land-uses; loss rates are highest in areas of urban development, but numbers have declined most rapidly on farmland. From aerial photography, only 45% of those ponds remaining show areas of open water, many being completely overshadowed by trees or with substantial emergent vegetation. The effects of pond loss are now being felt in increasing fragmentation of the pond landscape; the density of wet ponds over the county has fallen 17.8 per sq.km. (c. 1870) to 3.25 per sq.km. (1992/3), and the 'connectedness' of the pond landscape has been similarly reduced. Nevertheless, the county of Cheshire still has the densest pond landscape in lowland Britain and probably has no equivalent elsewhere in northwestern Europe.

THREATS

Loss and fragmentation due to natural succession, urban and industrial development, and in-filling as a result of agricultural intensification and diversification.
Decline of water quality due to eutrophication.
Lack of appropriate management, and little or no financial incentive to create new ponds in the wider agricultural landscape.
Failure to consider surrounding terrestrial habitats and the wider pond landscape.

CURRENT ACTION

Awareness of the importance of ponds and pond landscapes as important wildlife habitats
Inclusion of pond refurbishment and creation as mitigation proposals within new development schemes
Pond Community Officer - negotiations in progress
Pond Warden network in place.

ACTION REQUIRED IN 2006+

Form a Local BAP Action Group for Ponds
Implement the Ponds and Pondscape Conservation Strategy.
Appoint a Pond Community Officer
Continue to expand the Pond Warden Network.
Continue to raise awareness about the loss of ponds and their wildlife value, particularly amongst the farming community.
Co-ordinate a programme of pond restoration/creation within strategic areas to expand the range of species (e.g. Great Crested Newt, Lesser Silver Water Beetle).
Promote the appropriate management of existing ponds and surrounding terrestrial habitat.
Continue the survey of Cheshire ponds
Lobby for ponds to be specifically targeted under existing agri-environment schemes (e.g. Countryside Stewardship).
Raise the profile of ponds of the Cheshire region as a landscape feature of national (and international) importance.
Protect existing ponds through designation as SBIs.
Secure funding for publication of Best Practice Manual
Implement a Regional Pond Network
Wirral Biodiversity Group aim to create 1 pond per year.

ACTION COMPLETED PREVIOUSLY

Pond Life Project
Pond Audit for the Cheshire region
Ponds and Pondscape Conservation Strategy
Production of Best Practice Manual
Production of Pond Management Video (contact Andrew Hull at Ponds Research Unit, Liverpool John Moores University, for details)

ACTUAL LBAP IMPLEMENTERS

BTCV	DEFRA	Ponds Research Unit, Liverpool John Moores University
Cheshire County Council	District Councils	rECOrd
Cheshire FWAG	English Nature	Unitary Authorities
Cheshire Landscape Trust	Environment Agency
Cheshire Wildlife Trust	Pond Life Project

OTHER POTENTIAL IMPLEMENTERS

Landowners and Land Managers

Landscape Architects

Local Groups and Individuals

CONTACT

Julian Whitehurst, Cheshire Ecological Services
Phone: 01829 770797
Fax: 01829 720263

REFERENCES

Boothby, J. ed. (1997): British Pond Landscapes; Action for Protection and Enhancement, Pond Life Project.
Boothby, J. & Hull, A.P. (1994): A census of ponds in Cheshire, northwest England, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 7, 75-79.
English Nature (1996): Managing Ponds for Wildlife, English Nature.
Pond Conservation Group (1993): A Future for Britain's Ponds: An Agenda for Action, Pond Conservation Group.
Pond Life Project (1998): Critical Pond Biodiversity Survey 1997, Pond Life Project.

Date compiled - 1998
Date reviewed - 1999, 2001, 2003

The Wirral Biodiversity Action Plan for ponds can be seen at www.wirral.gov.uk/ed/biodiversity/ponds.htm