Three historic ponds have been restored at Oldham's Northern Roots site and a series of new ones created to provide a habitat for a protected species.
The great crested newt is the largest of the UK’s three native species of newt.
Also known as the ‘warty newt’, it’s protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981 and is a European Protected Species, meaning people can face prison if they disturb, capture, or kill great crested newts or their habitats.
The team at Northern Roots restored three historic ponds and created a series of new ones with interlinked reed beds over January and February, in partnership with the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit (GMEU), who lead the project to create a new habitat for the newts.
The work took place on Bankfield Clough, a Site of Biological Importance (SBI), and the ponds were formerly overgrown and drained, having been taken over by vegetation and self-seeded trees.
Mandy Elford, an ecologist at the GMEU, said: “The restoration works at the Bankfield Clough Site of Biological Importance are part of a major initiative for the conservation of great crested newts.
“The ponds will be maintained and monitored as part of the initiative, using eDNA sampling, which will tell us if great crested newts are present in the ponds, and we will also check for eggs, which will tell us if they are breeding.
“The ponds will not look pretty at first, following the works, but they will recover quickly.”
The amphibians spend most of their life on land, meaning boggy grassland and hedgerows near ponds – their breeding grounds – are important to their survival.
Local company BPG Contractors helped to dig out the ponds – with volunteers set to help plant reeds in the ponds.
Great to be working with #local @BPGcontractors to create new wetlands @NorthernRootsOL.
— Northern Roots (@NorthernRootsOL) February 18, 2022
New habitat for #endangered Great Crested Newt & wide range of wetland birds, insects & amphibians.
Supporting greater #biodiversity on the 160-acre Northern Roots site. https://t.co/Nk7SYjSh3Z
After that, the ponds will be left to naturally restore and recover, with the hope that they will create an ideal habitat for the protected species.
As well as providing a potential habitat for the newt, the ponds and reedbeds will also support a variety of flora and fauna, as well as providing a place for people to visit.
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