What To Look For: for plants and insects that rely on ponds, the first ten centimetres of water depth are generally the most important. While clear, shallow edges can be among the most species-rich habitats, ponds of different depths, sizes, shapes and degrees of permanence will all provide diversity as condition change throughout the year. The character of wetland areas can differ greatly depending on how they collect water and the way they flood, which in turn will directly influence the development of local ponds. On the Weald Moors rain-fed peatlands temporary ponds are very much a characteristic feature of the seasonally waterlogged landscape.

Flushes (areas where water flows out from underground to the surface) and scrapes (shallow depressions that seasonally hold water) are especially important for amphibians and invertebrates because their transitory nature means they do not support predatory fish. They often harbour diverse communities of plants, mosses and liverworts, too, whose fortunes are aided by the browsing cattle, livestock and birds that help to spread seeds and spores from site to site. For avian visitors, what is particularly important is the rate at which water is drawn down. Seasonal ponds that retain water into early summer are vital for wading birds, providing the soft, damp soils they need to forage for the food required by growing young. Those connected in some way to the drainage network will often be among the last to dry out and can be found in fields across the east Shropshire moorlands.