Finding the Lost Ponds of Norfolk: The Guide

During the ice age, a large area of Norfolk changed shape, from being covered in small mounds with cores of ice, to being pockmarked with craters which became natural pools or pingos. However, over the years these pingos have been lost as we turned the land to farmland, or military areas and having lots of tiny pools everywhere was unwanted and impractical.

In our Lost Ponds project, Norfolk Wildlife Trust in collaboration with a network of partners, set out to find and return the pingos to the land, rediscovering a total of 15 pools with the support of BFER. The results of this uncovering have been astounding – with seeds that have lain dormant for hundreds of years awakening and springing to life to recreate new, ancient habitats. These habitats have proven to be harbours for a multitude of different species of plants, insects and animals – even rare species that weren’t recorded in the area before, and aren’t found in many other places in the UK! On their plants alone, 9 of these pingos have been classed as “Priority Ponds”.

Naturally, this project has attracted a lot of interest from researchers all over the UK and been referenced or covered by a number of academic papers. If you’re a historian, geologist, archaeologist, hydrologist, or ecologist, you can guarantee there’s something of interest for you in this project.

Researchers at University College London have been working closely with the team throughout the excavations, monitoring the habitats and studying whatever is uncovered. Now, Helene Burningham, Carl Sayer and Tim Holt-Wilson, with contributions from others, have created a full report of findings relating to the project. You can download a copy here: Lost Ponds: Reinstating Ghost Pingos

And, in case you own or manage some land in a potentially-pingo-affected area, Norfolk Wildlife Trust have created a handy DIY guide that reveals exactly how they embarked on this ice age adventure. You can download a copy of the guide here: Restoring Ghost Pingos.

With thanks to our partners: Norfolk Wildlife Trust, the Norfolk Geodiversity Project, Goldsmith Ecology, Archaeology East Anglia, the Norfolk Ponds Project, University College London and, of course, the National Lottery Heritage Fund without whom none of this would have been possible.