How the ‘Picasso of ponds’ went from shaping golf courses to making freshwater homes for wildlife

Automatisch samengesteld met AI uit de vermelde bronnen

At Heal Somerset, a 185-hectare former dairy farm being rewilded, Shaun Hancox is excavating four clay-lined ponds for great-crested newts, including a 30-metre double-bowled basin that is fed solely by rainwater and groundwater. The ponds are shaped with multiple depth zones to prevent aquatic life from becoming stranded as water levels drop, and are part of the Newt Conservation Partnership’s NatureSpace-funded programme, which secures 25-year maintenance agreements and annual landowner payments.