Why bother?

Wildlife conservation is often seen as an exclusive activity carried out by a select group of individuals and organisations. Or it may be something that is confined to nature reserves or other important wildlife sites. This is not how it should be. The nation's natural assets, whether wildlife or natural features, matter to everyone and everyone has a responsibility for them. The Government is giving very clear messages, through national policy and international commitments, that the conservation of nature is important and that there is a shared responsibility for its stewardship.

Perhaps now more than ever, as people become increasingly separated from wildlife, there is a greater need to take positive action to help our wild animals and plants, and to increase the opportunities for a positive interaction between people and their natural environment. To do this we need to look beyond just those sites where there are special wildlife designations and consider the wider countryside, and also the urban and developed landscapes. It is also increasingly important for us to see that nature conservation is not an activity undertaken in isolation from other activities; nature conservation must become an integral part in everyday activities and planning.

Why Ponds?
Ponds are small landscape features of importance to wildlife. This is especially so where they are concentrated in clusters and where pond density is high. They can create a distinctive interdependent wetland patchwork of considerable variety and richness. Ponds are often associated with other types of semi-natural habitats including scrub, semi-natural grassland and marsh. This association contributes significantly to the development of habitat connections ('stepping stones') in, and the overall biodiversity of, agricultural landscapes. Ponds are vital for the survival of all our native amphibian species - it is where they breed.

During the past fifty years agricultural change has ensured that the great majority of these small water bodies no longer useful to agriculture and, as a consequence, few pond-rich areas remain in north-western Europe today. The number of ponds in the landscape has continued to decline at an alarming rate as the intensification of agriculture, urban and industrial development, and vegetational succession proceed with undue haste. Less than 300,000 ponds now remain in Britain with north-west England and Cheshire in particular (with 10% of all ponds) still representing the last remaining pond-rich landscape in the country. Despite its undoubted national significance recent research undertaken in Cheshire strongly suggests that without adequate protection and appropriate management few will remain in the farmed landscape by the middle of the next century. It follows, therefore, that if the ponds disappear then so too will the plants and animals that we associate with them.

(Provided by and reproduced with permission of: English Nature)