We’ve been working hard this month on our pond restoration work at our sister estate Gawdy Hall in Norfolk.

A team of us, including some hardworking volunteers, Ella Warren-Cooke and Ben Newton of Norfolk Wildlife Trust, got together to tackle some pond maintenance and restoration projects.

Our work included lopping and cutting small scrub and bushes from the southern and western banks of the ponds and even removing a larger willow from one pond.

We’ve got many ponds on the estate including some ghost ponds, which are old pond locations that were filled in decades ago. We’ve been doing some research and looking at old maps showing their original locations.

Given all the rain we’ve had this autumn, some of them have been revealing themselves in our arable fields for the first time in years. Our aim is to dig them out and to restore as many of them as we can.

Over the coming months we’ll be monitoring the impact of our work. Ponds play a key part for wildlife and habitat but if they become overgrown, their value is significantly reduced.

With all the new light now reaching the ponds we’re looking forward to seeing a greater diversity of plants emerge in the spring, which will help to support more wildlife. We’ve already spotted a beautiful Kingfisher at one of the ponds we renovated.