{"id":5326,"date":"2024-09-07T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-07T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=5326"},"modified":"2024-09-07T14:35:45","modified_gmt":"2024-09-07T13:35:45","slug":"free-wildlife-pond-creation-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=5326","title":{"rendered":"Free Wildlife Pond Creation Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In Europe, Great Crested Newts (CGNs) are a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/guidance\/great-crested-newts-protection-surveys-and-licences\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">protected species<\/a> and it is an offence to interfere with them or damage their habitat. Since some development activities unavoidably run the risk of doing such damage there is a mitigation measure available in the form of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/great-crested-newts-district-level-licensing-schemes-for-developers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">District Level Licensing Schemes<\/a>, administered by Natural England and DEFRA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In summary, if a developer runs the risk of damaging GCN habitat they can subscribe to the local DLL scheme which funds the creation of alternative GCN habitat elsewhere in the local area &#8211; typically via the creation of new wildlife ponds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This means that landowners in areas which have good potential for GCN occupancy can apply to have a new pond created (and then monitored and managed), with all the work funded by the DLL scheme. Some conditions apply:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Each pond must have an area of at least 150 m<sub><sup>2<\/sup><\/sub> (i.e. something like 10m x 15m).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The soil must be able to hold water without relying on a pond liner, so it typically needs to be a heavy clay.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The location must be in, or near, a Great Crested Newts Strategic Opportunity Area &#8211; in order for there to be a high probability of nearby GCN populations expanding to occupy the new pond.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fish and non-native plant species must not be introduced into the pond, and water fowl are discouraged.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There used to be quite a large pond at Marsh Flatts Farm, visible on some of the old maps and photos &#8211; notably this one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"723\" src=\"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/1967-Aerial-1024x723.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-409\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/1967-Aerial-1024x723.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/1967-Aerial-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/1967-Aerial-424x300.jpg 424w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aerial View, circa 1967<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>From a biodiversity standpoint it would be good to reinstate some water to the site. In addition to newts, ponds tend to attract insects which in turn attract bats and insect-eating birds such as swallows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wildscapes.co.uk\">Wildscapes CIC<\/a>, based in Sheffield, are the appointed pond creation and management partner for Derbyshire Council. Their webpage on pond creation is <a href=\"https:\/\/wildscapes.co.uk\/pond-creation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>. Their approach is to identify pond-creation opportunities (typically based on enquiries from landowners) and prioritise the most promising sites, based on an annual quota for pond creation &#8211; as determined by the contributions to the DLL scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following some discussions and a site visit, Wildscapes have concluded that Marsh Flatts Farm is a good candidate and the plan is to proceed to construct a pond in late Autumn \/ early Winter 2024, once any Great Crested Newts have gone into hibernation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Europe, Great Crested Newts (CGNs) are a protected species and it is an offence to interfere with them or damage their habitat. Since some development activities unavoidably run the risk of doing such damage there is a mitigation measure &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=5326\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,69,73,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-garden","category-landscaping","category-living-in-the-house","category-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5326"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5329,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5326\/revisions\/5329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}