Priority Ponds in the Chess Catchment
Fresh Water Habitats Trust
Freshwater Habitats Trust (FHT) is a national wildlife conservation charity and their aim is to reverse the decline in freshwater biodiversity. They work to achieve this through practical conservation, scientific research, community engagement and by influencing policy, where possible. As an evidence-based organisation, they target their practical delivery work where it will make a real difference. They have projects in many parts of the UK, focusing on restoring and protecting high quality habitats for freshwater wildlife.
The Chess Smarter Water Catchment project is delighted to be working with FHT, to develop our understanding of the condition of the ponds in the Chess Catchment.
Project Explained
What is a Priority Pond Assessment Tool (PASS)? |
| Pass uses non-biological metrics to determine how likely a pond is to be priority pond, and provides a quick and simple means for landscape scale assessment.
What’s involved?
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Project Aims |
| 1. Survey over 70 ponds across the Chess Catchment through the volunteer Priority Pond Assessment (Pass) |
| 2. Identify more than 15 priority ponds and survey these for wetland plants and freshwater invertebrates to understand more about the communities they support. |
| 3. Identify what conservation actions should be taken to protect and enhance these ponds through site walkovers. |
How its gone to date:
On 2nd July, we held a successful volunteer training event at Cholesbury Village Hall, attended by 20+ enthusiastic volunteers. During the session, participants learned how to use the Priority Pond Assessment (PASS) tool developed by Freshwater Habitats Trust. They were guided through key assessment areas, including levels of grazing, tree and plant cover, surrounding land use, and more, along with the use of water quality testing kits.
So far, approximately 63 ponds have been surveyed by 22 dedicated volunteers, with 12 ponds identified as potential priority ponds! Excitingly, one of these ponds has revealed the presence of Water-violet, a nationally scarce freshwater plant. These high-quality ponds will undergo further plant and invertebrate surveys in the coming weeks, conducted by Freshwater Habitats Trust’s ecologists. Following this, we’ll explore opportunities for pond restoration and potential new pond creation. In addition, discussions have begun to assess the suitability of reintroducing ‘GroWet’ rare wetland plant species into the catchment. The goal is to introduce seeds and cuttings from existing strong populations into these priority ponds and wetlands. Engagement with schools and local community groups is ongoing, and provisional dates for planting events have been scheduled, offering Chess PASS Survey volunteers more opportunities to get involved.