Anna Williams
Ponds Alive!
An exciting community-led initiative to promote, create, enhance and record ponds in West Somerset.
Ponds Alive!
Ponds are vital freshwater habitats for a diverse range of species including amphibians like frogs and toads, mammals such as bats, hedgehogs and water voles, and a long list of exciting plants and insects. Unfortunately, across the UK, we’re losing our ponds — with half a million thought to have been lost over the last 100 years — and many of the species that depend on them are now in decline due to habitat loss and other factors including pollution and climate change.
Our ‘Ponds Alive!’ project was an exciting community-led initiative which took place in West Somerset during 2025. Coordinated by Somerset Wildlife Trust volunteer Elizabeth Atkinson, it aimed to help revitalise, enhance, and increase local freshwater habitats, while also encouraging more people to get involved by creating ponds and sharing their finds through citizen science to help us learn more about West Somerset’s ponds and pond life.
Through this project we have developed a community of pond-watchers, pond-makers and Pond ambassadors. One of the single most important things you can do for wildlife in your own space is to create a pond, however small!
Add your pond to the map!
The project included the creation of a digital map of local ponds to track these important wildlife habitats and the species they support. Our map remains live so you can add your pond, or a local pond you are familiar with, using a simple survey.
Frogspawn clumps of Common frogs (Rana temporaria) in pond created by Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber) on a small woodland stream within a large woodland enclosure with a beaver-gnawed branch in the background, Devon Beaver Project, Devon Wildlife Trust, Devon, UK, February. - false
Ponds are essential habitats
Even small ponds can support a wealth of species and collectively, ponds play a key role in supporting freshwater wildlife.
Common darter dragonfly {Sympetrum striolatum}, resting on reed by water's edge, Little Bradley Ponds, Bovey Tracy, Devon, UK. July 2011. - Ross Hoddinott/2020VISION
Pond species
Look out for amphibians and insects with terrestrial life stages in the shallow margins and nearby plant cover.
Elizabeth led and coordinated a range of fantastic engagements over the project period including:
- 2 public talks
- 7 public events with information stands
- 29 pond investigation workshops with adults and children
- 4 pond creation community events
- 3 memory workshops with elders in social and care settings, led by a professional reminiscence worker
- 18 brand new ponds thanks to our free pond-making kits!
...Engaging with a total of 350 adults and 225 children!
Watch the film produced by MED Theatre Young Company with Tivington Farm School and the National Trust.
Common frog. Image: Elizabeth Atkinson
Ponds Alive! is funded by the National Trust’s Freshwater Community Grant in partnership with the Species Survival Fund, which was developed by Defra and its Arm’s-Length Bodies. It is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency.
Project team
Elizabeth Atkinson
Elizabeth Atkinson has been overseeing the West Somerset Wildways community wildlife project for the Trust since 2023 and will coordinate the Ponds Alive! Project. To find out more about the project, add your pond to our digital map or apply for a free pond kit, email Elizabeth at wswildways@somersetwildlife.org
