Why All Ponds Need An Escape Route for Wildlife
Gibraltar Point Nature Reserve in Skegness has a couple of raised ponds made from railway sleepers in the educational section of the reserve.
Unfortunately whoever designed it did not take into account wildlife falling into the water. We found a dead thrush (probably a young blackbird) floating in the water!
It presumably fell in and because of the lack of escape routes, it drowned!
Will also add the raised design means no amphibians (frogs, newts, toads...) can get in/out of the ponds, so all you see are water snails, beetles and pond skaters. Small mammals can't use the ponds as a source of drinking water and it's clearly a risk to birds.
Really poorly designed, a nature reserve should do much better than this.