The app can be downloaded for free onto a phone or tablet and allows users to follow tours of the Ice Age landscape of north west Herefordshire, on foot, by cycle or by car. Alternatively, follow the routes virtually from the comfort of your own home! There are six walks, including two around nature reserves owned by Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, three cycle tours and three car tours.

The app and linked website: (IceAgePonds.org) also give access to a wealth of information about the origins, land forms and wildlife of the Ice Age Ponds which can be found in a very special part of the Herefordshire Landscape.

As well as seeing the hummocks and indentations of this incredible landscape in a new light, users should look out for all sorts of pond life including frogs and toads, on the move in early spring, dragonflies and damselflies in the summer and wildflowers including yellow flag iris while water beetles and other invertebrates lurk unseen below the water. If you’re following the app you might also spot (virtually!) some of the animals that would have roamed the landscape at the time the ponds were formed!

The Ice Age Ponds Project began in 2020 with aim of mapping a network of ponds which were created during the last Ice Age as glaciers retreated from north west Herefordshire. These incredible heritage ponds were created around 20,000 years ago, when mammoths were still roaming the area and, today, are habitats for many rare and unusual plants and animals. While many of the ponds, remarkably, still exist today, many more have been lost and the project team are working with landowners and local communities to survey and restore a number of key sites to preserve them for the future. The project is being run by Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, the Herefordshire Amphibian and Reptile Team and the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust and has been made possible with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

To access the app for free, search for iceageponds in your usual app store and find out more at iceageponds.org.

Further Information

Restoring Herefordshire’s Ice Age Ponds

Our Ice Age Ponds Project aims to save the area’s unique glacial ponds. These incredible heritage ponds were created around 20,000 years ago during the last Ice Age, when woolly mammoths were still roaming the area. Remarkably many of these ponds still exist today!  This exciting project is being delivered by a partnership of local conservation organisations: Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, Herefordshire Amphibian and Reptile Team and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust and is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

https://www.herefordshirewt.org/iceageponds

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.org.uk

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust is the largest member-based nature conservation organisation in the county, with over 5,500 members, 500 volunteers and 55 nature reserves across Herefordshire. The Trust has over 50 years’ experience of managing sites valuable to wildlife and people and runs a variety of projects and partnership initiatives from environmental education programmes to conservation projects to protect, restore and celebrate Herefordshire's landscapes and wildlife. The Trust is part of the federation of 46 Wildlife Trusts based across the British Isles.  For more information visit www.herefordshirewt.org