Restoring ice age ponds in Hereford

The distinctive landscape of gentle bumps and hollows found in Northwest Herefordshire contains many Ice Age Ponds, which are now a wonderful place for wildlife. Formed through the slow melting of huge blocks of glacial ice, these ponds date back 20,000 years to the end of the last Ice Age, when woolly mammoths still roamed the area. Remarkably many of these ponds still exist today!  They offer a range of different wetland habitats from shallow seasonal ponds that dry out in summer, providing perfect fish-free habitat for great crested newts and common frog, and for the larvae of dragonflies and damselflies.  These glacial ponds also support many of Herefordshire's rarest species such as the enigmatic medicinal leech, rare aquatic beetles and the carnivorous plant bladderwort.

To conserve and recover this overlooked but precious wildlife habitat, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust has created the Ice Age Ponds Project.  Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Project aims to save the area’s unique glacial heritage by working with landowners, farmers and local communities.

Hereford Wildlife Trust is delivering this project with support from Herefordshire Amphibian and Reptile Team and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust.