A project to tempt wildlife back to a previously lifeless pond has been completed.
Cow Pond, near Leyton Flats, is one the 109 lake and ponds in Epping Forest.
However, in recent years the pond had dried up and become overgrown with vegetation.
Wildlife charity Froglife has teamed up with the City of London Corporation to restore the pond and create an open water habitat to support diverse wildlife including Common Toads – which have declined in population by 68 per cent in the last 30 years.
The state of the pond before work began. Photo: Froglife
Successive dry summers since 2013 have led Cow Pond to dry out for longer periods and the site was encroached by willows and sweetgrass, no longer providing suitable breeding habitat for the Common Toad - which prefers large, deep ponds.
Kathy Wormald, Froglife CEO said, “The works we have already been doing across London to improve sites for toads have been very successful and I’m sure the Cow Pond will follow suit. It’s great when our natural heritage and wildlife conservation meet in this way."
Cow Pond now, after restoration. Photo: Froglife
Now completed the pond has been left to fill naturally with water and colonise with plants. Froglife will return to carry out monitoring surveys and train site staff and volunteers on managing the restored habitats and on amphibian survey techniques to enable them to manage and monitor the site in the future.
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