£1,000 prize for the best UK ponds and backyard wetlands

Even the smallest wetlands and ponds can sustain wildlife. Credit Wildlife Extra

July 2007. WWT London wetlands centre is asking everyone's help to improve the UK's ponds and backyard wetlands, and their first step is a complete survey (see www.wwt.org.uk/wimby). Tell them how great your pond or backyard wetland is and you could win a £1,000 Marsh Award for Wetland Conservation.

"We've lost a huge number of small wetlands such as ponds, bog gardens and streams over the last century, which is really bad news for wildlife and for people. But the good news is wetlands are one of the quickest habitats to create. WWT wants to help everyone to build and to care for their own small wetland. And first, we want to get an idea of what wetlands are already out there in people's backyards. So we're running an online survey until the end of August. If you think the wetland in your backyard is the best in the UK, tell us about it on our website and you could win £1,000" Martin Senior, centre manager.

Kate Humble 

Wildlife presenter Kate Humble has joined in too. She's building a mini-wetland in her back garden and blogging about it on the WWT website. WWT wetland expert Seb Buckton is giving valuable advice on the blog too. So, if you're thinking about building a pond or bog-garden, follow the blog at www.wwt.org.uk/wimby .

The survey will help identify where ponds and bogs exist, how people feel about them, what lives in them and where the water comes from. The results from the survey will help us all get out there and create or manage a backyard wetland for wildlife and for people.

WWT London centre manager Martin Senior says: "Wetlands are home to a huge range of wildlife, from the rare and endangered to the common, from the pretty, to the ugly, to the just plain weird. But wetlands aren't only good for wildlife, they're good for people too - they store and clean our water, they can help to prevent your house flooding in a storm, they can even help reduce the rate of climate change by storing carbon."

We don't really know how many of these incredibly important places there are in the UK, where they are, or even how well we're looking after them. We want to get more people building more wetlands in more backyards. And we want to help people learn how to make the most of them. Visit www.wwt.org.uk/wimby and take part in the survey to be in with the chance to win £1,000.