Surveying ponds is a great way to engage with nature on your farm, and it can be a great family activity! There are also ways to receive payments for pond management as part of both SFI, and Countryside Stewardship.
There are some great books that you can use to help learn about pond life - here are a couple to try!
- Bloomsbury's Concise Pond Wildlife Guide
- Collins' Freshwater Life
How to
An example of how a pond survey can be done (from Oaktree Pond in Sparrow Green) can be seen on the Wendling Beck WildMap under Surveys and Data›Ponds. Click on the orange dot, and then click on the photo and/or the pdf sketch map to enlarge it.
The following payment schemes are available:
- Countryside Stewardship: WN5: Pond management (less than 100 square metres)
- SFI: WBD1: Manage ponds
Countryside Stewardship (WN5: Pond management (less than 100 square metres))
Please refer to the full government guidance at WN5: Pond management (less than 100 square metres)
You will be paid £282.15 for the first 100 square metres of pond. This work will benefit the environment as it will create networks or complexes of at least 3 ponds and restore the wildlife value of ponds that have become degraded.
It is available for Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier, Higher Tier and Capital Grants, but only:
- on ponds of up to 1 hectare
- in combination with a pond buffer strip option, if the pond is next to cultivated land or intensive grassland
- for pond restoration, where an assessment of existing biological interest and historic features has been completed
SFI (WBD1: Manage ponds)
Please refer to the full government guidance at WBD1: Manage ponds
You will be paid £257 per pond per year (for a duration of 3 years), with a maximum of 3 ponds per hectare (ha)
The aim is to have a pond containing clear and clean water with:
- a range of semi-aquatic vegetation allowed to develop around the pond edge
- submerged and floating pond plants
- submerged or partially submerged deadwood
The purpose of this is to increase biodiversity, help improve water quality, around provide habitats for native aquatic species.
An eligible pond for this action must be more than 25 square metres up to 2ha (at the point you apply for an SFI agreement), and under your management control – this includes the whole of the pond edge and the water in the pond
Questions or problems?
Get in touch and we'll help you get set up.