Several items of news from those nice people at Pond Conservation. The Pond Conservation Website is offering advice on care of wildlife ponds during the winter freeze. Included is the recommendation to clear snow off frozen ponds, to allow in sunlight to promote the release of oxygen by plants and algae. Pond Conservation advises that breaking the ice will make little difference to oxygen levels, because oxygen diffuses through the water only very slowly. This is of interest to pond owners hoping to avoid winterkill of hibernating frogs. Jeremy Biggs Pond Conservation's director has been posting updates on his ponds during the snowfall and looking at the latest science regarding frogs and surviving iced up ponds on the garden pond blog. Here is an archive of the information on oxygen in ponds.
On the sub
ject of which, a letter from Tom Langton in December's issue of British Wildlife still advocates holes in the ice or use of 'ice guards'.
Mr. Langton points out that last winter's Big Thaw survey needs to be repeated. And by good fortune Big Thaw 2011 is now online. It does not look as though this one records the length of time holes are maintained in ponds – so Mr. Langton''s not going to be satisfied. But tracking the ice and holes in garden ponds has proved a popular winter holiday activity. So why not take part? Got to be more fun than queuing at Heathrow or overnighting on a motorway. And you can look out for those floating frog corpses as one of the first signs that spring is on its way. Always such a positive time of year.
There's more. The second edition of the Pond Book has been published and is available - from Pond Conservation, priced £17.00.
And they've got an article New clean-water ponds – a way to protect biodiversity in December's British Wildlife magazine.