Water
What?
The more you can create spaces where water can safely collect, the better the wildlife results will be. Ponds, either sunk or raised, will help amphibians, dragonflies, water beetles, bats (feeding on the gnats!), birds and mammals needing a drink or to wash.
Where?
Everywhere: on buildings, within lawns and borders. For site-specific actions, check out the Isle of Wight Habitat Map, and find out what is particularly special around your garden or space.
How?
Water features can be permanent or seasonal and can include small ponds, lakes, a dish or a bog.
Small, seasonal and temporary water features are all great additions too, no matter how little space you have.
Water features can include clusters of pots and planters that fill with rain, perhaps connected to gutters or water butts, or more sophisticated raingarden and Sustainable urban Drainage systems (SuDS) designs.
Even if they dry out for some of the year, these interventions will boost your local biodiversity (and muddy damp ground is still a wetland!).
Provide a variety of water depths.
Plant or encourage aquatic, emergent and bankside vegetation.
Provide a safe route out of ponds and a corridor towards nearby shelter.
Retaining a useful proportion of the water that lands on or flows across your land can achieve a multitude of environmental and sustainability goals.
When?
Water features can be added at any time and are useful throughout both the summer and winter.
Why?
Working for wildlife is almost always working for climate and working for health.
Water and wetland features provide Natural Flood Management by absorbing and diverting water offsite.
They also function as important ‘blue spaces,’ which have wellbeing benefits for humans and make for a happy team!
Think about how you can manage your grounds, position objects and boundaries, to channel surface water into corners and hollows, wherever you can safely store it, whether in the soil or in containers.
Actions for Isle of Wight Species
Frogs and Toads need ponds plus damp ground for protection and hibernation over winter.
Attract dragonflies and damselflies to your pond by including marginal plants, and rocks that stick out of the water.
Observe and Record
Take photos before and after — even a few months apart shows change.
Note what wildlife visits: bees, birds, butterflies, mosses.
Watching your patch change is part of the recovery story — and your records can feed into the Island’s Local Nature Recovery data.
Resources
Freshwater Habitats Trust – Clean Water for Wildlife
RSPB – Build a Mini Pond
Wildlife Trusts – Rain Gardens and SuDS
Island Nature – Wetland and Pond Projects
“Supports LNRS Pond conservation and creation and related measures to improve wetland habitat provision: CR6.1 Pond Conservation and Creation | LP1.6 Conservation headlands | UGG1.1 Urban habitat enhancement | UGG1.5 Brownfield conservation management.”