Historic heatwaves drying up village ponds

By Faye Mayern

Britain's iconic village ponds and their wildlife have been devastated by the current heatwave, with fears some may never recover.

Dozens of ponds which have been a part of the UK landscape for centuries have dried up and their wildlife killed during the record-breaking spell of hot weather.

Now, there are fears that some of Britain's 500,000 ponds and enclosed bodies of water may struggle to survive future hot spells unless properly maintained.

Among the villages where ponds have vanished are Stanhoe, near Burnham Market, Suffolk, and Barton and Wicken in Cambridgeshire.

And a 300-year-old pond called The Crammer in Devizes, Wiltshire, which is said to have inspired the Moonraker legend is just now largely an area of cracked mud.

The pond is said to be at its lowest water level since the 1976 drought.

The Moonrakers legend depicts a tale of 16th-century smugglers who hid their loot in the waters - pretending to rake a cheese that had rolled into the water.

But now new images show scores of brown earth where the lack of rain has left the pond empty.

One resident said: "As the climate changes and we can't deny that summers are getting hotter, perhaps we just need to to accept it's a seasonal feature."

Meanwhile, one group of residents in Norfolk have even begun their own rota to supply drinking water to their locals ducks after their home dried up.

In the village of Stanhope, in Norfolk, locals launched a lifeline for ducks after their pond dried up in the recent heatwave.

The ducks have been sheltering from the sun amid the rushes around the parched banks and pecking for food on the dried up mud.

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A sign beside the pond said: "A small group of local residents have got together a rota to supply drinking water to the receptacles they've put in place for the geese and ducks and also to provide food for them."

In the small, picturesque village of Barton, four miles southwest of Cambridge, the village pond has also run dry.

The pond is predominantly made up of run-off water from the nearby road and in 2022, villagers rescued more than 400 fish when the water ran out.

20 miles north in Wicken, Cambridgeshire, their village pond is also suffering from the drought - while a duck house on stilts sits empty.

Residents in Redhill, Surrey, are concerned about a dried-up historical pond which they fear will never recover unless it is better maintained.

Chain Pond on Earlswood Common dried up in July with residents leaving paddling pools filled with water for wildlife.

Locals are urging Reigate and Banstead Borough Council to better maintain the pond, including desilting it and unblocking a water inlet.

The Environment Agency (EA) has said it is swamped with fish rescues amid hot and dry weather as many species struggle to adapt without their wet homes.

An EA spokesperson said: "The prolonged dry and hot weather is creating conditions that puts significant stress on fish populations.

"We are currently undertaking many fish rescues."

Temperatures are expected to drop to the August average this weekend, settling at between 15 and 24C - compared to days of consistent 30C heat.

However, some forecasters are predicting temperatures to rise again across the south, putting some areas back above heatwave thresholds.

The Met Office has said many southern areas, where rain is most needed, "may remain largely dry."