(Image: Supplied)
Lost "ghost ponds" across the Yorkshire Dales are set to be brought back to life under a new conservation campaign aimed at restoring wildlife habitats across the national park.
The Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) launched the campaign with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and is asking landowners to help find and restore the ponds.
Mark Corner, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s member champion for the natural environment, said: "Ponds may be small features in the landscape, but they can make an enormous contribution to nature recovery.
"Restoring these lost 'ghost ponds' will create valuable habitat for a wide range of wildlife.
"As well as boosting biodiversity, ponds can help make our landscapes more resilient to climate change by holding water in the landscape for longer.
"We're delighted to be working with Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust on this initiative and would encourage any landowners who think they may have a ghost pond on their land to get in touch."
Ghost ponds are former ponds filled in or drained, often leaving only damp hollows in fields or pasture.
Many disappeared as farming intensified after the war, although some may date back thousands of years.
The project will re-excavate old pond basins, remove drainage systems and let water refill them naturally.
Dormant seeds and spores in the soil can quickly spring back to life, restoring pond ecosystems within months.
Professor Carl Sayer, professor of freshwater biology at University College London, said: "Once restored, the human-made farmland ponds become very diverse, very quickly.
"Within a year or two, they're as good as the best farmland ponds around.
"Their return to a pond ecosystem is extraordinarily rapid.
"Ponds are very important in supporting the wider countryside, not just aquatic environments, but the birds, the bats, the pollinators, the mammals.
"They are so important—like restoration on steroids.
"Even those that on the surface look like they’ve been destroyed can come back to life.
"There are huge benefits to the farmer as well.
"They're real hubs for pollinators that can go out and help pollinate the crops."
YDMT says many rare and distinctive plants from upland ponds remain dormant beneath the soil, waiting for the right conditions to return.
The campaign also supports new ponds where lost ponds cannot be found.
Mike Appleton, YDMT’s woodlands officer, said: "It’s not that long ago that the farmland of the Dales was studded with these little ponds, providing nature-rich oases amid the grazing land.
"We’re hoping to create or restore dozens of these ponds in upland meadows, and we’re particularly interested in speaking to landowners who remember these ponds and would like to bring them back to life."
Pond restoration is part of wider nature recovery goals shared by YDMT and the National Park Authority under the National Park Management Plan.
The organisations are also working together to create 6,000 hectares of native woodland in the Yorkshire Dales.
Scientists from the Freshwater Biological Association have described ghost pond restoration as one of the most cost-effective and impactful ways to boost nature recovery.
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Ponds boost biodiversity and help landscapes withstand climate change by storing water and easing drought.
YDMT and the National Park Authority want to hear from landowners who may have a ghost pond and want to restore it.
The campaign aims to revive lost habitats and strengthen the Yorkshire Dales’ natural resilience for generations to come.