Hartland Nature Society PondNet Project
Report of HNS Pondnet stand at Hartland Garden Show 26th July 2025
On Saturday 26th of July a group of HNS volunteers manned our first stand at the Hartland Garden Show, launching and showcasing our Hartland Pondnet Project. The aim of this project is to educate local people about the importance of ponds for wildlife. We wanted to find out how many people living in Hartland currently have ponds in their gardens, and to try and encourage more people to consider creating a pond to improve the networks for wildlife movement in the area and help increase biodiversity generally.
We have started to create a map of existing ponds in Hartland, and we also chatted to quite a few people who were either already considering creating a pond or who hadn’t considered this but were hopefully persuaded to do so by our discussion and helpful leaflets. If we repeat this event next year we may be able to find out if they have actually done so. The map shown is a work in progress and each red spot represents a pond. This is just a section from the Hartland area.
The weather was almost perfect (apart from the occasional strong gust of wind that threatened to blow our paperwork and leaflets away) and both the Garden Show and our stand were well attended. We met people visiting from as far away as London and the Isle of Lewis, as well as Hartland residents.
We are indebted to Jess and Jamie of NDC-NL for providing us with the stand, equipment and lots of information, as well as their expertise and enthusiasm. We are also indebted to Richard and Chris Hannington, Mandy Strawson and Clare Gurton for providing samples taken from their ponds, that contained an interesting array of pond plants and creatures including tadpoles, toadpoles, newts, diving beetles and even a water scorpion. These proved to be a great attraction, particularly with children who enjoyed using magnifying lenses to study the creatures more closely. Jamie proved to be a natural at engaging their interest and explaining more about the creatures they were looking at.
We would like to thank Hartland Garden Society for allowing us to have the stand and to talk about ponds.
The Hartland Nature Society are keen to start a new ‘pondNet’ project. We want to encourage the establishment of a network of ponds in the Parish and to help everyone who wants to join in by providing advice and guidance.
80% of all ponds in the UK are in gardens. Creating a pond is one of the most important things you can do for wildlife in your garden and one of the simplest and most effective ways to protect biodiversity. These miniature freshwater worlds can support literally hundreds of species.
A healthy network of ponds helps wetland species to move around the countryside, via nature corridors. As habitat fragmentation continues increase, they are more important than ever. Without them, many native species would struggle to survive.
The wildlife you’re likely to see in and around ponds includes amphibians (common frog, common toad, and newts), invertebrates (water beetles, dragonflies and damselflies, and water boatmen), plus a variety of bird life. You might even see bats feeding on insects in the twilight, or birds hunting dragonflies on the wing.
HNS would like to gain an idea of the number of ponds in the village & outskirts to draw a map. This will allow us to see where natural corridors exist and to initiate some toad patrols in spring.
If you want to get involved in this project and are keen to create a garden pond, get in touch. We can help!
chair@hartlandnaturesociety.org.uk
or secretary@hartlandnaturesociety.org.uk
Please fill in form and send to above emails if you would like to join our network