Open Country Pingos and Pool Frogs
Sep 4, 2025
This time, Martha Kearney chats with Nick Atchison, a Norfolk Wildlife Trust ambassador, who reveals the fascinating origins of pingos and their crucial role in biodiversity. John Baker, a herpetologist, shares insights on the northern pool frog's comeback after extinction and why these ice-age ponds are perfect for them. Conservation manager Jonathan Preston discusses innovative habitat management using grazing animals and the restoration of ancient plant seeds. Their conversation highlights the importance of ecological preservation in Norfolk's unique landscape.
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Pingos Are Ancient Ice-Age Ponds
- Pingos are Ice Age features formed when springs froze and pushed soil into hillocks that later collapsed into round ponds.
- Thompson Common holds about 400 pingos, making it the UK's most important pond-wildlife site.
Dry Ponds Are Ecological Assets
- Drying pingos create bare mud crucial for life cycles of specialist species like the scarce emerald damselfly.
- Management maintains a range of wet-to-dry conditions to support different rare species.
Pingos As Time Capsules
- Pingos formed around 12,000 years ago during the last ice age and have persisted as ecological and palaeoenvironmental archives.
- Their sediments preserve pollen and landscape history spanning thousands of years.