Back for good Reviving lost zombie ponds is an easy win for farmers

When Joe Gray coppiced a patch of woodland on his Essex farm, he noticed that an abandoned farm pond sprang back into life after it was exposed to sunlight. "It was a hole in the woods with some leaves in it. We didn't think of it as a pond," he said.

- Patrick Barkham

When Joe Gray coppiced a patch of woodland on his Essex farm, he noticed that an abandoned farm pond sprang back into life after it was exposed to sunlight. "It was a hole in the woods with some leaves in it. We didn't think of it as a pond," he said. Since then, he and his wife, Emma, have restored 11 "zombie" ponds on their 450-hectare (1,112-acre) regenerative farm. They have also persuaded a group of neighbouring farmers to bring back to life 80 ponds within a three-mile radius near Braintree.

Ponds that were dried up or shaded have been opened to sunlight and dug out. They are now filled with rare aquatic plants, dragonflies and great-crested newts, while providing food and water for birds and bats.

"It's ideal for farmers," said Emma Gray. "You get a lot of biodiversity bang for your buck in a marginal area for farming. You're not taking productive land out, but quickly you build up a network for species to hop across a landscape. It's a no-brainer."