Freshwater Habitats Trust

Over the holiday period, we'll be a bit quieter than usual. We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and send a huge thank you to all of our supporters and partners for their support this year. We're looking forward to another year of protecting life in freshwaters. 💙

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to join the Newt Conservation Partnership as their new Chief Operating Officer. The application deadline is 31/01/2025, see below for full details. 👇

As 2024 comes to a close, we are reflecting on another year of making a difference for freshwaters. 🪲 💦 With the help of our partners, funders, landowners, volunteers and many of you, we have been able to protect freshwater habitats and the species that depend on them. We send a huge thank you to all of our supporters and look forward to another year of working together to protect life in freshwaters. 🩵

Today, Ofwat has announced an unprecedented £24 billion of environmental investment by the water industry. Delivered effectively, investment on this scale could transform the state of our freshwaters. However, we are concerned that most of the investment planned will be misdirected, and deliver only modest improvements to a relatively small portion of the river network. Read our full response here: https://lnkd.in/gvuF33CR

🔎 Have you spotted any Common Toad and Common Frog spawn? If so, we want to hear from you! Whether your sightings are in your own garden, a community pond, or a chance encounter, you can submit your record to the Pondnet Spawn Survey. All records are submitted into Record Pool, the UK's data set on reptiles and amphibians run by Amphibian and Reptile Conservation and Amphibian and Reptile Groups of UK (ARG UK) helping to build a better understanding of where frogs and toads are breeding. 🐸 Visit our website to log your sightings 👉 https://lnkd.in/eQqtCuMK

We're excited to be part of this collaborative project and look forward to working with Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) and other partners to restore nature across Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. 🪲 🌿

🗞 Our next newsletter will be landing in inboxes this week! Make sure you're signed up to get the latest freshwater news from us. ✉ The December issue includes the launch of our #SpawnSurvey, a blog from our team in the New Forest, a round up of the work we have carried out in 2024, and more. To sign up, visit: https://lnkd.in/e8F9iN5m

The UK's fens are internationally important wetland habitats and support a huge diversity of plants and animals, some of them rare and not found anywhere else. 💧 Fens are wetlands whose waters are sourced from groundwater, such as springs and seepages, or surface water such as rivers and rainwater runoff. With their water coming from the surrounding landscape, fens are sensitive to how their surroundings are used by people and, like other freshwaters, are susceptible to pressures such as nutrient pollution. Fens often form peat, deposits of organic material formed by the partial decomposition of plant material. Peat is a vital carbon sink and helps with flood control. 🍃 Fens have declined greatly, due to pollution, climate change, changes in land use, and lack of management. It is estimated that 3,400 square kilometres of fen was present in England in the 17th century, yet only 10 square kilometres remain today. Find out more about fens and how we are working to protect and restore them here: https://lnkd.in/gPXgWZ2p

Small waters play a BIG role for nature. 💦  From streams and ponds to flushes and ditches, small water bodies are some of our most wildlife rich habitats. 🪲 They support over 70% of freshwater species, including rare and threatened plants and animals. Small waters can also be part of the solution to tackling climate change, water pollution, flooding and drought, but their value is often overlooked. In the Small Waters Charter, we’ve joined with the National Trust, The Wildlife Trusts and more to call for the creation, protection and restoration of these vital freshwater habitats: https://lnkd.in/egjbsjFb

Through our Pitsford Water Friendly Farming project, we are reconnecting blocked off stream meanders to provide flood storage and create important shallow water habitat along the watercourse. Find out more about this project with the Environment Agency and Anglian Water Services here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e7tQVRdA