A pioneering scheme to breathe new life into neglected ponds across Norfolk began this week at Beckett's Farm near Baconsthorpe in north Norfolk.
The Norfolk Ponds Project, launched at the Royal Norfolk Show, aims to highlight the wildlife importance of ponds and encourage the support of landowners.
The work is being funded and driven by University College London (UCL) with the support of Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) and partner organisations including Norfolk Rivers Trust, Norfolk FWAG Farm Conservation and Norfolk Non-Native Species Initiative.
Carl Sayer, senior lecturer in fresh water ecology at UCL, said conservation volunteers certainly had their work cut out with the two ponds on Beckett's Farm. The ponds are both former marl pits where clay was dug to improve arable fields in the past.
He said: 'They were highly overgrown, full of thick layers of organic mud and of low wildlife value with very few aquatic species.
'It took Monday and Tuesday just to clear the encroaching trees which included willows, ash and hawthorn; they were quite big trees because the ponds had not been cleared for 40 or 50 years.'
A contractor was then brought in to clear layers of mud using a digger, restoring the ponds' natural shape. The scrub was left to the north of the ponds to protect them from the wind.
Mr Sayer praised the vision of Richard Waddingham, of Manor Farm, Briston, whose own work on pond restoration had inspired the project which it was now hoped to roll out further.
NWT conservation officer Helen Baczkowska said: 'Ponds are incredible places for wildlife. They are mini nature reserves in their own right – teeming with life and fascinating to many people. But they need care to maintain their wildlife interest.
'Ponds are amazingly easy to turn around, even as the trees were coming down this week, dragonflies were seen over the pond for the first time in years.'
By next year a wide array of wildlife would be using the ponds again, she added.
She explained that ponds could be wonderful habitats for aquatic biodiversity including threatened and important species such as great crested newt, crucian carp, water vole and plants such as stoneworts and pondweeds.
She said: 'They act as brilliant stepping stones for wildlife to hop and fly across the landscape. Surveys undertaken on these two ponds in the past found that while they used to contain crucian carp prior to the 1980s, both are now in a poor state for aquatic plants and amphibians.'
Mr Sayer said: 'Pond conservation and intensive agriculture can happily co-exist and we hope to enable and inspire landowners to take action to care for their ponds. UCL has been carrying out a programme of pond restoration work for five years.
'With funding and the support of volunteers in the farming community, we can bring Norfolk ponds back to life. Previous research has shown that farmland birds such as swallows, house martins, linnets and finches have benefited from pond restoration.'
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