Developing a volunteer-based national pond monitoring network

New project hopes to assess the condition of our ponds

Over 80% of ponds in England and Wales are now in poor condition, and the number of plant species found in ponds is declining exceptionally fast – falling by over 20% even in the last 10 years!  With so little regular monitoring of ponds there is a real worry that future declines in plant and animal groups like dragonflies, will go undetected.

To help provide better information, Natural England is helping to fund the development of a new type of volunteer surveillance network. Traditionally, monitoring has focussed on surveying individual species or groups (birds, butterflies, rare plants etc). The aim of the new network is to use a habitat-based approach; recording a range of species and environmental data from the same sites.

This approach should help to provide statistically robust data for groups of species, and by working together; it should be possible to get (i) a much better overall picture of pond condition as a whole, and (ii) to help explain the reasons for any change. Ultimately, if the multi-taxa approach works successfully for ponds, Natural England will be looking to roll it out to other habitat types.

The expectation is that the pond network will establish a fixed network of waterbodies which volunteers visit to gather data on plants, invertebrates, amphibians, birds and environmental. Different surveyors, each with their own expertise, will be able to gather survey data for one or more ponds. And where surveyors are knowledgeable they can gather data for a number of plant or animal groups from a site.

The information collected will be made available to participating individuals and partner NGOs, as well as local data centres, the NBN and statutory bodies where it can be used to report against statutory targets and inform government policy. The survey is being designed to mesh with existing recording schemes – so all the data collected will also automatically feed into existing projects, such as atlas work.

Development of the volunteer network is being co-ordinated by Pond Conservation and Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, working in collaboration with a wide range of recording groups and societies including: British Dragonfly Society, Botanical Society of the British Isles, Amphibian and Reptile Groups of the UK, British Trust for Ornithology and the FBA.

The project is just beginning, with two years of field trials, starting this April, and working in three test regions (New Forest, NE Yorkshire and Cheshire). In Year 1, the aim of the trials is to test all parts of the survey to make sure that they are simple, reliable and easy to undertake. A particular objective is to find the best ways to help volunteers record: for example pre-arranging landowner permission for site visits, and providing good training, support and feedback. 

Trials will include:

Testing survey methods

Testing survey methods developed for species which are the surveyors’ main area of expertise (e.g. Odonata, amphibians, plants), where the aim is to get data good enough to monitor change over time

Testing multi-taxa survey methods

Finding out whether specialists in one group (e.g. botanists) are interested, and have sufficient time and interest, to survey another group at the same time (e.g. dragonflies)
This includes trials to gauge the interest in, and potential for, multi taxa recording (especially which groups could be combined in a single visit), and to test the methods and level of training needed to support surveyors who wish to develop new skills.

Gathering environmental data (using conductivity meters, estimates of shade etc.)

Is their any appetite for collecting environmental information? What’s too onerous? And can we find robust methods and training levels which adequately support environmental data recording?

Data entry and data flow

The project will trial an online recording system specifically for ponds using Indicia, which is now becoming the ‘industry’ standard. The project’s website interfaces need to be tested to make sure that they are easy to use and provide good feedback to surveyors. The project will also test data flow (including verification) to ensure that data can be easily used by schemes and societies and statutory agencies.

Like to help?

If you live in one of the two test regions so far selected (New Forest, Cheshire or NE Yorkshire) and would like to help with any of the trials, we’d be very please to hear from you. Email Pond Conservation or call 01865 483249 and ask for Corey or Penny.

Written by Penny Williams and Corey Cannon (Pond Conservation); Kat Woods (Natural England); Tony Gent (ARC).

(Common Toad image – courtesy John Baker)