Free wildlife ponds for landowners!

A Sheffield based non-profit making environmental consultancy is working on a scheme with Natural England to create wildlife ponds for the benefit of great crested newts - creatures which are often talked about when developers are looking to build new homes.

The organisation is looking for suitable land to use and has issued an appeal to landowners who may be interested in having a fully funded pond created or restored on their land

Over the last five years, Wildscapes CIC have delivered over 320 ponds across Derbyshire, Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, but a large number of the future ponds are set to be created in Derbyshire.

Since their appointment as a habitat delivery body in 2019, Wildscapes CIC have been creating ponds to offset the impact of development on great crested newts (GCN) in the three counties under  a district level licensing scheme for GCN led by Natural England.  

Great crested newts are a European protected species, which means that the newts, their eggs, breeding sites and resting places are protected by law.  During the 20th Century, half of the UK’s ponds were lost and this has led to the serious decline of the great crested newt population.  This scheme is designed to support the development process, to create more habitats and to secure the long-term protection of this important, protected species.

To enable the strategic placement of ponds in the most suitable areas, a network of landowners is required to support the work.  Wildscapes CIC are actively seeking farmers and landowners who would like to have these habitats created on their land.  Additionally, we are able to restore some ponds that are in a very poor state of repair.  

The scheme is fully funded by Natural England and Wildscapes CIC will carry out all pond creation or restoration works (including adding suitable fencing if required). There is no need for landowners to contribute financially, just simply take a few basic measures to protect the habitat quality of the pond.  Ponds need to be a minimum size of 150m2.

Joe Todd, Pond Programme Manager for Wildscapes CIC, comments, "We’ve seen great uptake and enthusiasm across Derbyshire in the past so we hope to support a new group of landowners to improve the biodiversity of their land at no cost, whilst benefiting this declining species."

Interested parties are encouraged to contact Wildscapes CIC to discuss potential sites for consideration.  More information can be found here.