March has seen our volunteers working in the ponds adjacent to some of Lewisham’s rivers. Mid-March generally marks the common toad migration in London, and as one of our 8 priority species within Lewisham we survey the ponds and migration routes at this time of year. Our volunteer sessions changed from morning and afternoon to being ‘in the parks after dark’, one of these ponds that we surveyed was Bell Green Pond (alongside and connected to the River Pool). Common frogs, smooth newts & common toads all found, with common toads seen in mating pairs and toadspawn present.
Onto another set of ponds in the borough, but this time brand new ponds being planted up by Thames21 and our volunteers. Purple Loosestrife, Brooklime, Yellow Flag Iris are a few of the plant species that have recently been planted in.
Rivers and People 