Carl Sayer
@carlsayer.bsky.social
Professor at UCL, Restoration of freshwaters, ponds, lakes, rivers, meadows, plants, diatoms, fish, eels, burbot, crucians, palaeoecology, rewilding, Norfolk: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/geography/carl-sayer
Pinned
Carl Sayer
@carlsayer.bsky.social
· Dec 8
Bringing 'ghost' and 'zombie' ponds back from the dead
YouTube video by RAZOR Science Show
youtu.be
POND GHOSTS & ZOMBIES. A film on our #pond #restoration #Ghostponds work in @uclgeography.bsky.social by RAZOR Science featuring Norfolk Ponds Project, Helen Greaves, myself & many. Pond restoration achieves nature recovery so quickly: youtu.be/SYkbDdaUMBY?...
Reposted by Carl Sayer
This @freshwaterbio.bsky.social #pond restoration training course 25th, 26th June is well worth attending. Learn how to restore degraded existing ponds & #ghostponds with Norfolk Ponds Project founders Carl Sayer & Helen Greaves:
www.fba.org.uk/shop/p/pond-...
www.fba.org.uk/shop/p/pond-...
Pond Restoration Training: 25th & 26th June 2026 — Freshwater Biological Association
Ponds are increasingly being recognised as critical to biodiversity conservation in UK landscapes. This new two-day course will introduce participants to pond restoration science and best practice. Gr...
www.fba.org.uk
February 11, 2026 at 5:56 PM
This @freshwaterbio.bsky.social #pond restoration training course 25th, 26th June is well worth attending. Learn how to restore degraded existing ponds & #ghostponds with Norfolk Ponds Project founders Carl Sayer & Helen Greaves:
www.fba.org.uk/shop/p/pond-...
www.fba.org.uk/shop/p/pond-...
Very proud (as team manager) that our joint @uclgeography.bsky.social & @uclcber.bsky.social "Bloomsbury Botanists" team were joint leaders at the end of @bucbotany.bsky.social Round 1. Watch out Oxford we are coming for you with sharpened spines!!!
February 11, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Very proud (as team manager) that our joint @uclgeography.bsky.social & @uclcber.bsky.social "Bloomsbury Botanists" team were joint leaders at the end of @bucbotany.bsky.social Round 1. Watch out Oxford we are coming for you with sharpened spines!!!
Reposted by Carl Sayer
A previously restored farmland #pond managed yesterday. Now you can see the forest horizon. A better habitat for aquatic plants, Great Crested Newt & all sorts of other creatures. This pond is bang in the middle of a big arable field yet everything goes to it
February 2, 2026 at 7:10 AM
A previously restored farmland #pond managed yesterday. Now you can see the forest horizon. A better habitat for aquatic plants, Great Crested Newt & all sorts of other creatures. This pond is bang in the middle of a big arable field yet everything goes to it
Reposted by Carl Sayer
A flooded #palaeochannel #pond on a semi-natural English chalk stream floodplain. A great place for fishes on the move right now & for amphibians in a few months. By summer it will probably be dry. But while it is water-filled all sorts of species will use it
February 5, 2026 at 9:45 PM
A flooded #palaeochannel #pond on a semi-natural English chalk stream floodplain. A great place for fishes on the move right now & for amphibians in a few months. By summer it will probably be dry. But while it is water-filled all sorts of species will use it
Reposted by Carl Sayer
A farm #pond we restored in 2014 showing multiple valuable habitats. Open water with submerged plants, a thick bed of Typha, lightly vegetated shallow shelving edge, bramble patch, woodland fringe, mini ancient woodland meadow (promontary on R) with early purple orchid. All this in a tiny footprint
February 10, 2026 at 7:54 AM
A farm #pond we restored in 2014 showing multiple valuable habitats. Open water with submerged plants, a thick bed of Typha, lightly vegetated shallow shelving edge, bramble patch, woodland fringe, mini ancient woodland meadow (promontary on R) with early purple orchid. All this in a tiny footprint
River Stiffkey, Norfolk, eastern England showing what looks like a fairly natural chalk stream meander pattern in a snowdrop garden. This pattern is a good benchmark for re-meandering straightened bits of river locally. Always go with what the river is telling you :)
February 8, 2026 at 3:50 PM
River Stiffkey, Norfolk, eastern England showing what looks like a fairly natural chalk stream meander pattern in a snowdrop garden. This pattern is a good benchmark for re-meandering straightened bits of river locally. Always go with what the river is telling you :)
Reposted by Carl Sayer
We are managing previously restored farmland ponds in North Norfolk, eastern England over the next 3 days. Lots of volunteers coming in. Watch this space for top tips & wild #pond conservation action!!!
January 30, 2026 at 7:49 AM
We are managing previously restored farmland ponds in North Norfolk, eastern England over the next 3 days. Lots of volunteers coming in. Watch this space for top tips & wild #pond conservation action!!!
Reposted by Carl Sayer
Solar blue is reflected in the placid water of a Bodham pond while @norfolkponds.bsky.social minions strip its brambley banks bare of scrub. Great pond restoration works are under way this weekend. Work will resume on an even more thorny pond today.
February 1, 2026 at 10:00 AM
Solar blue is reflected in the placid water of a Bodham pond while @norfolkponds.bsky.social minions strip its brambley banks bare of scrub. Great pond restoration works are under way this weekend. Work will resume on an even more thorny pond today.
Reposted by Carl Sayer
3 days of #pond management completed. We worked on 8 ponds that we restored over the last 10 years. Removing scrub is alot of fun & hugely benefits the ponds & so many species spanning plants, invertebrates, amphibians & mammals. *Thanks so much to all our brill volunteers*
February 1, 2026 at 8:51 PM
3 days of #pond management completed. We worked on 8 ponds that we restored over the last 10 years. Removing scrub is alot of fun & hugely benefits the ponds & so many species spanning plants, invertebrates, amphibians & mammals. *Thanks so much to all our brill volunteers*
Wilding for Conservation. Very proud to contribute to this fab new book with @reagan-envisci.bsky.social @uclgeography.bsky.social www.britishwildlife.com/wilding/ #rewilding
wilding - British Wildlife
Wilding for Conservation: An Exploration of Rewilding in Britain The complete collection of articles from British WIldlife‘s acclaimed Wilding for Conservation series – an unflinching appraisal of the...
www.britishwildlife.com
January 29, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Wilding for Conservation. Very proud to contribute to this fab new book with @reagan-envisci.bsky.social @uclgeography.bsky.social www.britishwildlife.com/wilding/ #rewilding
Reposted by Carl Sayer
A #ghostpond in the gloom. We resurrected this #pond about 8 years ago. As I approached I flushed 2 wild mallards & a snipe. Soon we will need to scrape out the bullrush - but the pond is still doing its thing lifting species populations in the farmed countryside
January 28, 2026 at 6:51 PM
A #ghostpond in the gloom. We resurrected this #pond about 8 years ago. As I approached I flushed 2 wild mallards & a snipe. Soon we will need to scrape out the bullrush - but the pond is still doing its thing lifting species populations in the farmed countryside
Can anyone help the wonderful @hayleymcmechan.bsky.social with this macrofossil from buried #ghostpond sediment? It has been a mystery for a few years in @uclgeography.bsky.social
@bramblebotanist.bsky.social @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social @annasolcova.bsky.social
@bramblebotanist.bsky.social @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social @annasolcova.bsky.social
Here's another tricky one.. just can't find these anywhere. They look like miniature leaves on a little stalk..in some samples I have 100 and in others I have none. Wondered if they might actually be something fungal. Anyone got any ideas please please
January 23, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Can anyone help the wonderful @hayleymcmechan.bsky.social with this macrofossil from buried #ghostpond sediment? It has been a mystery for a few years in @uclgeography.bsky.social
@bramblebotanist.bsky.social @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social @annasolcova.bsky.social
@bramblebotanist.bsky.social @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social @annasolcova.bsky.social
Reposted by Carl Sayer
Brilliant fishy #pond conservation. At Kelling Heath Holiday Park, Norfolk, E. England they have fish & non-fish ponds.
Science says that having some ponds with native pond-associated fish & others without fish increases biodiversity at the landscape-scale.
Science says that having some ponds with native pond-associated fish & others without fish increases biodiversity at the landscape-scale.
January 19, 2026 at 8:44 AM
Brilliant fishy #pond conservation. At Kelling Heath Holiday Park, Norfolk, E. England they have fish & non-fish ponds.
Science says that having some ponds with native pond-associated fish & others without fish increases biodiversity at the landscape-scale.
Science says that having some ponds with native pond-associated fish & others without fish increases biodiversity at the landscape-scale.
Reposted by Carl Sayer
We're often asked what we do with all the plastic we pick up from beaches. These rope floats are off to @carlsayer.bsky.social at UCL for use in eel surveys and conservation work
January 19, 2026 at 8:07 AM
We're often asked what we do with all the plastic we pick up from beaches. These rope floats are off to @carlsayer.bsky.social at UCL for use in eel surveys and conservation work
Reposted by Carl Sayer
Many Norfolk farm #ponds have steep sides especially at the old clay/marl pit digging face. Sometimes, if cleared of scrub, a stunning vertical meadow is formed along the sharp moisture gradient from waters edge to bank top. Here Sayer's Black Pit, the first pond we restored in 2011, shows the way
January 11, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Many Norfolk farm #ponds have steep sides especially at the old clay/marl pit digging face. Sometimes, if cleared of scrub, a stunning vertical meadow is formed along the sharp moisture gradient from waters edge to bank top. Here Sayer's Black Pit, the first pond we restored in 2011, shows the way
Reposted by Carl Sayer
One of Norfolk's very special farm #ponds during greenhouse gas sampling. Hello Pickpocket Pit. Treeless & enclosed by lesser tussock sedge & full of all sorts of goodies including the scarce greater duckweed. And bang in the middle of a big arable field. Invisible to all except for a passing eagle
January 12, 2026 at 6:13 PM
One of Norfolk's very special farm #ponds during greenhouse gas sampling. Hello Pickpocket Pit. Treeless & enclosed by lesser tussock sedge & full of all sorts of goodies including the scarce greater duckweed. And bang in the middle of a big arable field. Invisible to all except for a passing eagle
Reposted by Carl Sayer
Happy to share a new paper in Discover Conservation that gives an updated review of fish species reintroductions 🐟 and how they could be utilised in the UK! With @carlsayer.bsky.social from UCL and Michael Chadwick from KCL. Access here: tinyurl.com/28c498fh
January 12, 2026 at 9:39 AM
Happy to share a new paper in Discover Conservation that gives an updated review of fish species reintroductions 🐟 and how they could be utilised in the UK! With @carlsayer.bsky.social from UCL and Michael Chadwick from KCL. Access here: tinyurl.com/28c498fh
Reposted by Carl Sayer
Restored spring fed farm #ponds are the jewels of the countryside! Hence why we exist. They need to be cared for & managed & they should never be filled in!!!
January 10, 2026 at 3:57 PM
Restored spring fed farm #ponds are the jewels of the countryside! Hence why we exist. They need to be cared for & managed & they should never be filled in!!!
An updated review of fish species reintroductions: global lessons to inform future riverine fish conservation in the UK | Discover Conservation share.google/HsNqskxDVhmT...
January 10, 2026 at 7:27 PM
An updated review of fish species reintroductions: global lessons to inform future riverine fish conservation in the UK | Discover Conservation share.google/HsNqskxDVhmT...
Reposted by Carl Sayer
Rare plants often turn up in restored Norfolk farm #ponds: Translucent Stonewort (Nitella translucens), Tassel Stonewort (Tolypella intricata), Bladder Sedge (Carex vesicaria) & Marsh Speedwell (Veronica scutellata). Very special species usually confined to nature reserves
January 9, 2026 at 9:59 PM
Rare plants often turn up in restored Norfolk farm #ponds: Translucent Stonewort (Nitella translucens), Tassel Stonewort (Tolypella intricata), Bladder Sedge (Carex vesicaria) & Marsh Speedwell (Veronica scutellata). Very special species usually confined to nature reserves
Two of my favourite fish species!!! Why not follow Norfolk Ponds Project for very positive environmental news!!!
Fantastic farm #pond #fishes. 3-spine stickleback (Right) & 9-spine stickleback (Left). Both can go to sea! The 3-spine prefers open water & the 9-spine loves dense plant-filled water. The male 9-spine (Lower Left) goes entirely black when breeding. Crackers! @fishtwitcher.bsky.social
January 8, 2026 at 8:04 PM
Two of my favourite fish species!!! Why not follow Norfolk Ponds Project for very positive environmental news!!!