Written by Eve Goddard, Transforming Lives Trainee
A wetland is an area of land that is either permanently or seasonally covered by water. They are areas where water and land meet, can be as small as a puddle or as large as an ocean and can be natural or man-made. They form when water can’t drain away from an area.
They include marshes, fens, bogs, wet grasslands, wet woodlands, rivers and ponds.
Wetlands, when healthy, are one of the most biodiversity-rich environments in the UK and home to many species of bird, invertebrate, mammal, reptile and amphibian.
The juxtaposition of land and the water is integral to the lives of these species, and so from a conservation point of view, both elements need protecting from human disturbance and destruction. The UK has lost nine-tenths of its wetlands in the past 100 years; much of it has been drained for construction or agricultural use.
Wetlands are also vital for humans, they play a key role in limiting the amount of carbon in our atmosphere and research is beginning to show the impact of blue spaces on our mental health and wellbeing.
What can you do to support our wetlands?
By building a pond in your garden. No matter how small, you are creating an important addition, a stepping stone in a wider wildlife corridor. Water beetles will fly from pond to pond, mammals and birds will drink and hunt, tiny mosquito larvae will eventually take flight and provide food for bats. If you are lucky enough amphibians will breed!
Download Froglife’s Pond Visualizer App to help you get started!
You can also find guides on building different types of ponds here.