When the Ponds Disappear

I went looking for a pond.

Instead, I found cracked earth.

The bullrushes were browning, the mud was hard and dry, and as I crouched beside one of the deep cracks, a solitary dragonfly appeared.

That encounter led me to a question I hadn't really considered before:

When we talk about water shortages, whose water are we talking about?

We think about water for our homes.

Water for farming.

Water for businesses and industry.

But what about water for nature?

Article 3 of my Water Stress series explores what happens when ponds disappear — and I discovered that the answer is much more complicated than simply filling them back up.

Some ponds are supposed to dry out.

Some wildlife depends upon that cycle.

But Britain has also lost around half of its ponds during the last century. That means when one dries, wildlife may have far fewer alternative places to go.

So perhaps resilience means rebuilding a landscape containing lots of different kinds of water:

💧 Permanent ponds

💧 Seasonal ponds

💧 Deep and shallow areas

💧 Wetlands

💧 Garden ponds

💧 Restored farm ponds

And perhaps we need to start thinking about ponds as part of our climate-adaptation infrastructure — places that help us move winter water through time, not for ourselves, but for entire ecosystems.

The article also asks some harder questions.

Should we ever top up a wildlife pond during drought?

Should new ponds include deeper refuge areas?

Could we restore some of the thousands of ponds we've lost?

And how do we create more open water while managing the very real risk of drowning?

👀 Notice. Find the ponds near you.

📣 Speak up. Find out who looks after them.

💡 Suggest ideas. Could lost ponds be restored or new ones created?

🌍 Share stories. How are communities elsewhere helping nature survive drought?

Article 3: When the Ponds Disappear is now available in Has2BGreen.

I'd particularly love to hear what is happening to ponds and wildlife where you live — and any solutions you've encountered elsewhere.

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