Ice Age Ponds Conference, 2nd March 2022

A welcome from Alison Mclean, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and a word from Marion Blockley of the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Ali is Water Policy Manager at The Wildlife Trusts, working at a national level on policy related to all things watery, from water pollution to flooding to species conservation. She works across the Wildlife Trusts and in partnership with other environmental organisations, including as Chair of Blueprint for Water - a coalition of environmental groups that work together on key water policy issues - to call for better protections for the water environment. She is an advocate for the wider biodiversity benefits that catchment-scale delivery can bring, and is clear that this means considering biodiversity at all scales – from the largest rivers and lakes, to the flushes, ponds, headwaters and other wet features across a catchment which are a critical reservoir for freshwater life.

David spent most of his conservation career managing Nature Reserves in Kent as Head of Reserves for Kent Wildlife Trust. He came to Herefordshire following a family move in 2019 and has been managing the Ice Age Ponds Project from the beginning of its Development Stage. A keen ‘re-wilder’ he sees Ice Age Ponds, and ponds in general, as a hugely important component of our ability to bring wildlife back to all parts of the landscape.

Beth has worked in Geoconservation for 16 years, working with local communities to raise the profile of the, often hidden, geological heritage beneath their feet. She started working in Teesside, linking the geology and industrial heritage, before moving to Worcestershire to work for the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust on the geodiversity and local building stones project. With a longstanding love of mammoths, this Ice Age Ponds project linking ice age geology with modern biodiversity has been a fantastic way to share this passion.

Tim works in the environment and heritage sector in Norfolk and Suffolk, with a focus on Geoconservation, landscape and museums. Author of ‘Norfolk’s Earth Heritage’ (2012) and ‘Tides of Change – Two million years on the Suffolk Coast’ (2014). Member of the Quaternary Research Association and Geological Society of Norfolk. Working with the Norfolk Geodiversity Partnership since 2007 to develop a Geodiversity Action Plan. Working with CICs and charities, including Art Branches, the Restoration Trust and the Biodiversity & Environmental Education Society.

Here, Tim discusses the origins of the Ice Age Ponds in Norfolk.

Ian Fairchild describes himself as a "jack of all environmental science trades" having trained as a geologist (sedimentology) and specialized variously in carbonate geochemsitry, ice ages, water chemistry and the science of stalagmites as archives of climate and environmental change. He taught geology, physical geography and environmental science, latterly at the University of Birmingham. In his retirement he is currently chair of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust.

Sarah King  joined Herefordshire Wildlife Trust at the end of 2020 as a trainee on the Ice Age Ponds project, supporting the project with pond surveys, data collation and water sampling as well as working with the other trainees on the projects communication strategy. In October 2021 she took on the role of Team Wilder Community Engagement officer, developing the Team Wilder initiative in the Trust and helping to support local communities to take action for nature.

Warren J. Eastwood is currently an Honorary Lecturer at the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham. He is a biogeographer and palaeoecologist and researches past environmental change for the last 25,000 years or so in the eastern Mediterranean region where he has worked for the past 30 years. His main specialism is elucidating natural versus human-induced vegetation change using pollen analysis (palynology) and works closely with archaeologists and historians and is a core member of the University of Princeton’s Climate Change and History Research Initiative (CCHRI). His research interests also include climate change and the impact of major volcanic eruptions and tephrochronology of volcanic ash layers preserved in lake and peat sediment archives. Warren is currently a member and Honorary Secretary of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara (BIAA).

Olivia is currently studying for an MSc at Keele University. She received a bursary through the Conserving Herefordshire’s Ice Age Ponds project to undertake a new piece of research looking at Ice Age Ponds of Herefordshire.

As with so many ecologists it is hard to tell when the child with a net and jam-jar dabbling in a pond turned into the researcher with a net and a white tray dabbling in multivariate statistics. I am by training a zoologist (University of Bristol, 1980), the great good fortune of a doctorate from John Lawton’s lab at York, (1985) and five years at Edinburgh University’s Department of Forestry and Natural Resources before joining Northumbria University.

An Environmental Consultant with over 30 years experience, Will specialises in freshwater ecology and has a passion for water beetles and amphibians. His recent work has included surveys of priority ponds, writing management plans and supervising the restoration of ponds and lakes. In addition to work with the Ice Age Ponds Project, Will is Ecological Advisor to the River Lugg Internal Drainage Board and a stock photographer with the Nature Picture Library. In a voluntary capacity Will undertakes biological recording of a wide range of biological species.

Will Watson is the Ecologist for the Ice Age Ponds project.

Giles has been an ecologist with the Ice Age Ponds project since it started in 2019.

The “Conserving Herefordshire’s Ice Age Ponds” project would not have been possible without…

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.

Since the National Lottery began in 1994, National Lottery players have raised over £43 billion for projects and more than 635,000 grants have been awarded across the UK. Each week, thanks to National Lottery players, £30 million is raised for good causes across the UK.

www.heritagefund.org.uk @HeritageFundUK