Norfolk farm renovates nine ponds to bring back wildlife

Bedingham Hall Farm, in Bedingham near Bungay, has completed the work with the help of Norfolk Wildlife Trust's (NWT's) Claylands Wilder Connections project.

Silt built up over decades has been excavated and dense undergrowth cleared to let in more light and create better habitats.

Louise Bond, who runs the 750-acre farm with her father Bruce Seaman, said earlier dry weather had created perfect working conditions, and the ponds are now steadily filling up after recent rainfall. She hopes the full effect of the project will be evident in the spring.

"There is a lot of benefit to wildlife," she said. "A lot of these old ponds have silted up over time, so you don't end up with a lot of water in them, or diversity of plant species.

"The seed banks are there, but they have not germinated because the ponds are so silted up.

"When you dig them out you remove the scrub and growth to let light in, and by next spring there will be a flourish of plants coming back.

"But it is not just plants. It is things like dragonflies and damselflies, but also other insects and perhaps great crested newts. When you dig out these ponds you could have all these species coming back."

Nine ponds have been restored as part of a conservation project at Bedingham Hall Farm near Bungay (Image: Bruno Brown)

The work has also revealed some of the ponds' history.

"All of these ponds are really individual," she said. "Some were dug for things like stock watering, some were dug for the clay to make bricks.

"When you re-dig them, you get back to the bottom of where they originally would have been, and it is extraordinary how deep some of them are.

"Historically the kids in the village used to go and swim and fish in them - we even found some old metal steps in one of them, like you would get in a swimming pool."

Nine ponds have been restored this autumn as part of a conservation project at Bedingham Hall Farm near Bungay (Image: Bruno Brown)

The farm director said the NWT project had accelerated pond restoration efforts on the farm, adding: "They have been incredible, we couldn't have done it without them."

Ben Newton, NWT's habitat connectivity officer, said: "At this vital time for biodiversity, we are delighted to collaborate with forward-looking farmers and landowners like Louise who are committed to creating bigger, better and more connected spaces for wildlife across Norfolk's landscape."

An old stock watering pond which was previously renovated in 2019 at Bedingham Hall Farm near Bungay (Image: Louise Bond)