Parham Ponds

Pond survey

By Lyn Briscoe, Aug 1998

{...add Annette's write up of the rest of the survey here...}

Pond near St John's Grove on the high ground along the boundary with Framlingham was well filled and teeming with life.

As far as we can determine, the pond never dries up. There is a good variety of vegetation around it including maple, oak, sallow willow, hawthorn, rosebay willow herb and cowslip. Specimens found in the water were: cyclops water flea, great water boatman, lesser water boatman, damselfly nymph, water skater, frog, spring tails, leech, mosquito larva, gnat larva. Plenty of rudd and moorhen were spotted.

Although surveys were not carried out of garden ponds, some of those around North Green have been reported as having frogs, toads, fish, mallard, moorhen, coot, newts, watersnail and numerous insects.

44 ponds are in existence today in Parham, excluding garden ponds. These are identified on the following map and categorised depending on how wet or dry they remain during the year. Over the past 25 years, many ponds in Parham have been filled in, as can be seen by comparing this map with the 1975 Ordnance Survey.