The publication of a 'Ponds for Wildlife' pamphlet has been launched by An Taisce’s Legacy4LIFE ponds biodiversity team.

The pamphlet celebrates biodiversity week and aims to "raise public awareness and mobilise communities to appreciate" the value of ponds for biodiversity.

The pamphlet folds out into an A2 poster designed by children's book illustrator Brian Fitzgerald. It is available to download and print from An Taisce's website.

“In my experience it is only when people become aware of all the wonderful plants and creatures a given habitat supports that they are moved to conserve that place”, team lead, Aoife O'Rourke said.

The pamphlet is part of a running pond biodiversity project by An Taisce, which began late last year.

The main objectives of the project are:

To establish a network of local authorities and other bodies that understand the value of ponds, and commit to protecting/creating ponds on public lands;
To create a set of demonstration sites across Ireland which demonstrate to practitioners and policymakers how ponds can help to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change;
To establish an ‘adopt a pond’ network of citizen scientists/community groups to monitor and manage the newly created ponds, or existing ponds. Information would be fed back to the National Biodiversity Centre;
To disseminate the project’s results to policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholders;
To engage individuals to establish ponds in their gardens, with clear guidance and tips, and a portal to enter their pond location, which could lead to potential for awards for the most ‘pond-friendly’ town/county in Ireland;
To build capacity within Ireland for pond expertise, and operators skilled in pond creation.

There are 12,200 small, enclosed water bodies across Ireland, and 8,000 are smaller than one hectare in extent, according to An Taisce.

The project organisers said that even the smallest ponds provide valuable habitats for a range of species, including dragonflies; amphibians such as frogs; and birds such as mallard, snipe, and sedge warbler.

They added that ponds act as "productive hunting grounds" for Ireland’s nine species of bat.