Perhaps in the recent past, ponds have been seen merely as an educational resource for children, enabling them to experience pond dipping, minibeast identification and frog lifecycles. Others view them as tranquil greenspaces, a place to stop time and watch dragonflies amongst colourful pond lilies. However, ponds have always played a critical part in supporting and ensuring the survival of a variety of species whether it be amphibians such as the common frog or palmate newt, or invertebrates such as caddisflies, or even small mammals using the ponds as watering holes!
Ponds support a variety of species which all use the pond for different reasons whether it be for the food, water, a place to breed or as a stepping stone habitat.
Water is a key importance of ponds as they are technically watering holes to various species such as foxes, hedgehogs, livestock and other small mammals. Birds also drink from ponds as well as bathing in them to keep cool. They are indeed a life resource for these species providing essentials for them to survive.
A vast array of food can be found in ponds for different species, indeed the plant life in ponds not only provides oxygen to those species living in the water but also is a food source for species such as dragonflies, invertebrates and tadpoles and is key to their survival. Birds can be found looking for a meal of frogspawn or tadpoles in ponds and herons will even eat the larger prey of common frog and, of course, any fish in the pond. Ponds are great examples of how the food chain and life cycles work and how species support one another in an ecosystem.
A further key importance of ponds is the fact they provide a breeding site for our amphibians. In the UK we have seven native amphibian species: the common frog, pool frog, common toad, natterjack toad, smooth newt, palmate newt and great crested newt, all of which use ponds as their breeding sites. Frogs lay frogspawn in ponds which are in clumps in the water, whilst toads lay toadspawn which are in strings usually tangled around plants within the pond. Our male native newts put on a courtship dance for the females to attract a female to breed. The females lay individual eggs on plant leaves on the edges of ponds making sure to fold the leaves over to protect the egg. It is not only amphibians which use ponds as breeding sites, dragonflies and damselflies use ponds to lay their eggs and then the larvae spend time developing in the pond.
Ponds also provide resources to various species who are on the move through landscapes. Not every species will stay in one place so ponds are an example of a stepping stone habitat which some species might use on their travels. ‘Half a million ponds have been lost over the last 100 years and one in five remaining ponds are thought to be in poor condition’. It is therefore of the upmost importance that ponds are restored, new ponds are created, and ponds are looked after for the benefit of wildlife.
So next time you are sitting near a pond enjoying the buzzing of dragonflies or your taking part in a pond dipping session just remember the huge array of wildlife that ponds support and the importance of these invaluable habitats in our ecosystem. And, maybe think about creating a pond in your garden or allotment to benefit the wildlife near you.
