COULD garden ponds be subversive? Barbara Young, the dynamo in charge of
Britain鈥檚 Environment Agency, suspects so. 鈥淧onds are wonderful, charismatic,鈥�
she told a meeting to mark the merger of two important pond groups. 鈥淭hey have
charm and power.鈥�
So what鈥檚 so powerful about muddy, or even manicured, little ponds? Well, she
says, think of it this way. You start off by being interested in the pond life
in your 鈥渄omestic water feature鈥�, and lo and behold, before you know it you鈥檙e
bending the ear of industrialists and politicians, campaigning for a cleaner,
healthier environment.
For those of us who can recall snippets of Marxist theory, it could be the
ultimate example of Trotskyite entryism, she chuckles.
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I know what she means. Two frogs have taken up residence in my substandard
backyard pond, and I can鈥檛 help taking a personal interest in their fate. And
one worry soon leads to another. Is the water quality good enough for tadpoles?
Perhaps these frogs are desperate, unable to find a better spot within hopping
distance. Shouldn鈥檛 the authorities be doing more to make my town
amphibian-friendly?
And it鈥檚 not just frog life that鈥檚 at stake here. New research by ecologist
Jeremy Biggs and his colleagues at the Ponds Conservation Trust reveals that
Britain鈥檚 best ponds are even richer in wildlife than the best rivers. In prime
ponds rarities abound, as medicinal leeches rub shoulders with glutinous snails,
lesser silver water beetles and even fen raft spiders. Ponds are home to 10 per
cent more species than rivers and at least twice as many scarce and endangered
species. And twice as many species are unique to ponds than to any other watery
habitat.
This discovery of uniqueness is a bombshell for most ecologists and
environmental managers, who have long been entranced by glamorous water
bodies鈥攁ll those rushing rivers and spectacular lakes鈥攁nd rather
sneered at the pond.
With Young in the driving seat at the Environment Agency, however, there are
signs that ponds will soon get the respect they deserve. 鈥淧onds are vulnerable
microcosms at the interface between land and larger water systems,鈥� she says.
鈥淭hese bonsai habitats, little miniature ecosystems, demonstrate catchment
issues on an understandable scale.鈥� People can get to grips with the fact that
ponds are connected to what goes on in the environment around them, and take
steps to stop the rot. And if ponds are in good shape, everything else is likely
to be too, she says.
It鈥檚 time to think big, Young argues, and move beyond the 鈥済ardening stage鈥�
where all conservationists do is 鈥渢end little ecological zoos set in really
hostile settings鈥�. We talk about our best nature reserves as 鈥渏ewels in the
crown鈥�, she says, but more often than not there鈥檚 no crown left. 鈥淚t鈥檚 time to
look at how we can take these precious habitats and set them into the wider
濒补苍诲蝉肠补辫别.鈥�
Not so long ago, ponds provided key ecological services鈥攅verything from
watering livestock to growing watercress. If we cleaned up our act, they could
do so again.
And just think how happy my frogs would be.
Contact the Ponds Conservation Trust at rsnow@brookes.ac.uk