This project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, worked with Brighton & Hove City Council, the National Trust, East Sussex County Council and the South Downs National Park Authority to restore twelve dewponds, working closely with land managers to achieve conservation goals. The project also worked with local communities in Brighton to create three Neighbourhood Wildlife Corridors, improving green spaces, parks and school grounds for wildlife. Alongside this habitat work, the project delivered a wide ranging programme of public engagement, including three large events and three toad summits, as well as a programme of reminiscence sessions to gather wildlife memories and exhibit these in an audio-visual display.
Read the Discovering Dewponds Final Report here:
What were the project’s aims?
This project addressed the loss of dewponds in the South Downs. Prior to the project, it was estimated that 39% of the dewponds in the region had been lost, with many more no longer visible in the landscape. In addition to reversing these losses, the project raised awareness amongst local residents of the importance of dewponds to wildlife, particularly amphibians. The volunteer training programme offered by the project equipped volunteers to manage and monitor dewponds for wildlife. Froglife delivered a total of 248 events and directly engaged with a total of 9,568 people across the region between 2021 and 2024, including working with over 3,600 residents in the project’s Neighbourhood Wildlife Corridors.
What did we do through the Discovering Dewponds project?
Habitat Restoration: Froglife restored twelve dewponds in the South Downs National Park, across Stanmer Park, Saddlescombe Farm and the Ouse Estuary Nature Reserve. This work provided vital habitats for our amphibian species and a wide range of other aquatic wildlife, with amphibians observed at 3/4 of the ponds by the end of the project. We also enhanced the surrounding terrestrial habitats by building hibernacula, overwintering shelters which will support amphibians, such as common toads and great crested newts, as well as reptiles such as grass snakes and slow worms.
Volunteering: We ran 36 two-day volunteer training workshops focusing on amphibian and reptile ID, survey techniques and habitat management, providing skills to local organisations and residents to manage and monitor ponds and associated habitats in the region beyond the close of the Discovering Dewponds project. Additionally, 80 volunteer sessions were held, the majority to carry out practical works including pond restoration and hibernacula creation in the Neighbourhood Wildlife Corridors and beyond. We would like to thank all those who dedicated their time and energy to supporting the project as part of a diverse team of committed and enthusiastic volunteers.
Wildlife Gardening Workshops: 44 fun, interactive workshops were delivered offering an introduction to our amphibian and reptile species and how we can manage our gardens or allotments to benefit them and other wildlife. We enjoyed delivering these workshops across Sussex and the South Downs, helping people to create homes for wildlife, such as ‘Toad Abodes’ and ‘Bug Hotels’, as well as providing useful tips and tricks for encouraging amphibians and reptiles into urban greenspaces.
Neighbourhood Wildlife Corridors: The project worked in Brighton with local communities to improve habitat connectivity through the three key areas of Moulsecoomb & Bevendean, Coldean and Hollingbury & Hollingdean. Our aim was to encourage more ponds, bug hotels, wildlife homes and more. Communities here responded enthusiastically to the project and helped us to create and restore 63 habitats in these areas! Creating even small features for wildlife that connect gardens to other urban greenspaces is key in keeping our amphibian and reptile populations safe.
Take a look at our interactive Neighbourhood Wildlife Corridor (NWC) Map below and click the icons to see pre-existing wildlife habitats in the area alongside habitats created as part of the project.
Dewpond Celebration Days and Neighbourhood Wildlife Corridor Open Days: Froglife held three large scale events to showcase the dewpond restoration and habitat creation work undertaken by the Discovering Dewponds project. Events were held at One Garden (Stanmer Park), the Ouse Estuary Nature Reserve (Newhaven) and Hollingdean Park (Brighton) across 2023 and 2024 and were attended by 1,213 people.
Reminiscence Project: The project held 13 reminiscence sessions with older people to discuss their wildlife memories of Sussex, the South Downs and beyond, of which some were recorded and subsequently displayed as part of an artistic and informative audio-visual display that toured community venues in 2024. Reminiscence sessions encouraged older residents of the area to share their memories of nature and the display provided people of all ages with the chance to learn how our natural heritage, and relationship with it, has changed throughout our recent history.
Reptile and Amphibian Talks: The project ran 16 talks on the history and significance of dewponds for people and wildlife, how to ID our amphibian and reptile species and how to manage habitats, both gardens and nature reserves, for amphibians and reptiles.
Toad Summits: These events enabled local community toad patrols to meet, share ideas and to encourage new patrols. Toad patrols are incredibly important as a means of common toad conservation, as patrollers help toads to return to their ancestral breeding ponds each spring by transporting them across roads.
We hosted our inaugural South-East Toad Summit on 5th February 2022, which, despite being held online as a COVID-19 precaution, was a resounding success. We were really pleased to be able to hold our second South-East Toad Summit in person at Adastra Hall, Hassocks, on Saturday 28th January 2023. The summit was attended by toad patrollers from across the local area, sharing their ideas and expertise with each other to increase the effectiveness of their own efforts. The afternoon additionally featured informative talks from speakers including ecologist & author Hugh Warwick, Froglife trustee Xavier Mahele, Froglife’s Conservation, Evaluation & Research Manager Jenny Tse-Leon and Brighton toad patroller Paolo Oprandi. The programme of speakers was accompanied by information stands provided by Anne at Hurst Hedgehog Haven and Amanda from Kent Reptile & Amphibian Group and supported by activities that offered attendees the chance to put their toad knowledge to the test and vocalise their thoughts, advice and questions on toad patrolling.
The third South-East Toad Summit was held in February 2024, at Lewes Railway Land Wildlife Trust’s Linklater Pavilion. Toad patrollers from across the southeast & interested volunteers attended for talks from amphibian researcher Dr Inga Zeisset (University of Brighton), patrollers Jessie Bartholomew-Smythe (Stone Street Toad Patrol, Kent) & Paolo Oprandi (Roundhill Toad Patrol, Brighton) and Froglife staff. Listen back to these talks here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YtHprNbsw8&t=845s.
You can get involved with a local toad patrol by visiting Froglife’s Toads on Roads page and using our interactive map to find your nearest toad crossing. If you know of a stretch of road in Sussex where toads are known to cross in the early spring and there is no toad patrol set up, please register a crossing and make a positive difference for common toads in the area.
How can you continue the work of the Discovering Dewponds project?
- Sign-up to help out at your local toad patrol.
- Join the Discovering Dewponds Pond Monitoring Scheme Volunteer List by emailing jenny.tse-leon@froglife.org.
- Support local volunteer groups that Discovering Dewponds has worked with, to manage habitats for amphibians and reptiles:
- Brighton and Hove City Council Volunteers
- National Trust South Downs Volunteers, through the Changing Chalk Project
- Growing Hollingdean (Neighbourhood Wildlife Corridors)
- Friends of Hollingbury and Burstead Woods (Neighbourhood Wildlife Corridors)
- Sussex Amphibian and Reptile Group (SxARG)
- Whitehawk Community Food Project
- Friends of Preston Park
- Friends of the Dewpond, Seaford
- Friends of Falmer Pond
- The Benfield Wildlife and Conservation Group
- Create your own wildlife habitat, following guidance on our Wildlife at Home page and through our Just Add Water pond-building guide.
- Record your amphibian and reptile sightings on the Dragon Finder App.
With thanks to our Funders
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