Landschaftspflegeverband Mittleres Erzgebirge e.V.

Semi-Natural Ponds

Ponds

New refuges for rare animal species

By creating and restoring ponds and spawning waters in our agricultural landscape, we are creating new refuges for rare animal species.

A well-suited habitat is one that is free from disruption and that has a variety of structure in terms of water depths, types of embankment and neighbouring vegetation.

Dragonflies, frogs, toads and newts need pools and ponds for their way of life and for reproduction. Waterfowl use these ponds as places to breed and rest.

In turn, the diverse range of insects in and around the pond provides food reserves for insectivores such as bats. Every species of bat that is native to Saxony is under special protection.


Ponds

If the environment is right, the rare grass snake will also make the pond area its home.

Even if the surroundings are used intensively, unused pools and ponds that are free from disruption provide spawning waters and stepping stone biotopes for some species of animals and plants – in the context of a biotope network.

In Saxony, semi-natural ponds, with their siltation areas and transitional zones, are classified as highly endangered open land biotopes and are therefore protected by law.


Ponds in the Grumbach district

With the help of various funding sources and the dedication of individual landowners, we have been able to create around 20 new semi-natural ponds and breeding waters.
The map section shows a network system of 8 ponds. We used compensatory funding to create the system along a tributary of the Rauschenbach in the Grumbach district.