Carl Sayer
@carlsayer.bsky.social
Professor at UCL, Restoration of freshwaters, ponds, lakes, rivers, meadows, plants, diatoms, fish, eels, burbot, crucians, palaeoecology, rewilding, Norfolk: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/geography/carl-sayer
Big news for macrofossil enthusiasts! We have just published a book!! Now available from lnkd.in/eqgQ_gAx!! This book is a comprehensive tool to help aid in the identification of aquatic plants that leave remains in the sediment across Northern Europe. @carlsayer.bsky.social
Lots of wonderful Clouded Yellow butterflies in Sayer's Old Meadow, North Norfolk, eastern England last few days. Must have been a big influx. First time ever seen this butterfly close up - very thrilled!!! @bchighland.bsky.social
Small Copper showing why Common Fleabane is an important flower in later summer. Sayer's Old Meadow, Norfolk, eastern England #wildflowerhour
Where is the UK's most important freshwater wetland? ANSWER: Upper Lough Erne system, Northern Ireland. A huge area of satellite shallow lakes varying in connectivity to main Lough Erne. An analogue for the Norfolk-Suffolk Broads pre-eutrophication. BUT: it is under decline. Do we want to save it?
It's great to know how quickly nature can restore itself when we stop damaging it. It's high time we put nature first, for without it, we are nothing. www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/ju...
Abandoned farmland restored to wildflower meadow without sowing seeds
Abandoned farmland can be transformed into wildflower-rich grassland habitat without the need for expensive and labour-intensive seeding, finds a new study by UCL researchers.
ucl.ac.uk
To quote from the piece: "our study poses the question: should we be employing patience over seed packet more often?” Yes we should, if we want rich, vibrant plant communities as part of nature recovery.
George McGavin@georgemcgavin.bsky.social · 4w agoIt's great to know how quickly nature can restore itself when we stop damaging it. It's high time we put nature first, for without it, we are nothing. www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/ju...
Day 4 of surveying plants in shallow lakes of the Upper Lough Erne system, Northern Ireland, our 20th year! - the most impressive freshwater wilderness in the UK, but hugely under pressure from eutrophication. Thick swamps full of rare wetland plants still hanging on @bramblebotanist.bsky.social
To save rivers we need to set farming & any necessay fencing way back from rivers. We need to support farmers to *farm back* from river channels in headwaters & floodplains lower down.
NationCymru@nation.cymru · last mo.The River Wye remains under pressure from pollution and habitat loss, but recovery is within reach, according to two major new studies wp.me/p8Mk4U-1ojM
Fine-leaved water-dropwort giving lots of opportunity for insects at a restored North Norfolk farm #pond #wildflowerhour
Huge crop circle in shape of a red deer this morning. Bodham, Norfolk, eastern England.
Have you ever tried walking 1/4 of a mile to survey a #pond in the middle of an oilseed rape field going against the grain? It only takes 4.3 days.
No need to seed: restoring former arable land to species‐rich grassland by mowing & natural regeneration over 18 years. Paper published today by myself, with my amazing 86 year old father & farmer Derek Sayer. A visit to the meadow is like stepping back through time. doi.org/10.1111/rec.70487
Seaching for "paydirt" aka seedbanks & lost #ghostponds in the Brecklands of Norfolk, eastern England today with heck of a team @timholtwilson.bsky.social
How do you cope with running a @norfolkponds.bsky.social @freshwaterbio.bsky.social #pond restoration training course in a heatwave in a super-heated metal & wood world war 1 village hall hut? Easy...you move it to the village church 200 m away. 10° C cooler & a wonderful welcoming atmosphere!
We just finished running a 2-day #pond restoration training course for @freshwaterbio.bsky.social at our demonstation restored pond landscape in Heydon, Norfolk. Brilliant fun & successful despite the heat in a metal world war 1 accomodation hut (village hall) @uclgeography.bsky.social
Ponds are cooking!!! Out surveying #ponds restored in Autumn 2025 in Norfolk, eastern England. Water temperature of 34 degrees °C at 3.30 pm is too hot for pond creatures & surveyors 🥵
Sayer's Old Meadow is covered in wildflowers 21 yrs post-arable. The soil must have healed & every 2 paces there are oak or other tree saplings. If we did not mow it would rapidly be trees. So do we really have to plant trees to get forest on former farmland? Or just patience & trusting in nature?
No need to seed #meadows!!! Sayer's Old Meadow was an arable field bathed in chemicals until 2005. It was abandoned for 5 years & since then it has been mowed annually. No seeds/plants have ever been introduced to it. It is very species-rich. Ecological restoration is often best when we do less!!!
Ghostpingo #pond restorations are doing what they needed to do! We are recovering a lost wetland flora buried alive out in the corn fields by careful digging @georgemonbiot.bsky.social @patrickbarkham.bsky.social @wildernorfolk.bsky.social @brecksfarmerswn.bsky.social @farmwildlifeuk.bsky.social
Norfolk Ponds Project@norfolkponds.bsky.social · 2mo ago#Ghostpond restoration is rocket fuelled conservation! Over 4-5 years we have seen 100s of wet-loving plants return to 30 resurrected ice age ponds in Norfolk, England. This year's surveys saw us find more scarce species: Marsh Pennywort, Marsh Speedwell & Fringed Heartwort. So Thrilled!!!
Help with this sedge at edges of a #ghostpingo #pond, Norfolk. Want to call Common Yellow Sedge (Carex viridula agg.) which have had before but no beak on fruits. Help!!! Needs a proper botanist!!! @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social @bramblebotanist.bsky.social @astridbiddle.bsky.social
A lake edge full of abandoned toilet brushes? Either that or a bed of Marestail Hippurus vulgaris? @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social @astridbiddle.bsky.social
Fun to show @norfolknats.bsky.social some restored ancient #ghostponds today at East Harling with the fab @timholtwilson.bsky.social. At least 40 wetland plants in this pond resurrected 20 months ago. Most successful form of ecological restoration known? @billsutherland.bsky.social #ghostpond
Want to learn wetland botany as part of your MSc? In our @uclgeography.bsky.social MSc Aquatic Conservation, Ecology & Restoration MSc we teach a mega loved Aquatic Macrophytes field module in Dorset that takes us to ponds, saline lagoon, lakes & chalk streams
Come and do our amazingly popular @uclgeography.bsky.social MSc Aquatic Conservation, Ecology & Restoration. Now in its 24th year, the course famously underpins practical aquatic conservation & restoration with the very best science @tonyjuniper.bsky.social @craigbennett3.bsky.social
A four day fieldcourse to @kneppwilding.bsky.social as part of our @uclgeography.bsky.social MSc Aquatic Conservation, Ecology & Restoration & MSc Conservation Rewilding module. Beetles, eels (71 caught & recorded), birds, plants & mammals all closely studied in & around our "Wild Futures" camp!
🌱 "Seeds carry knowledge of the ancestors and the future of what things are going to be." —H.P. Lovelace
Come & do this brilliant pond restoration training course run by myself & Helen Greaves of @norfolkponds.bsky.social. Pond Restoration Training: 25th & 26th June 2026 — Freshwater Biological Association share.google/YcHC0RT99yAj...
Pond Restoration Training: 25th & 26th June 2026 — Freshwater Biological Association
Ponds are increasingly being recognised as critical to biodiversity conservation in UK landscapes. This two-day course will introduce participants to pond restoration science and best practice. Hele...
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