Rare Grass-Poly rediscovered in Norfolk ’ghost pond’

A rare and endangered UK wetland plant has been found in Norfolk after more than a century in hiding, report UCL researchers. In July a survey team from UCL's Department of Geography discovered the flowering plant, known as Grass-Poly, at a farmland pond restored by the Norfolk Ponds Project back in February 2020. Pond restoration in Norfolk's farmland has involved removing trees and mud from ponds that have been become overgrown through decades of neglect. This work brings the sunlight back into ponds, often called 'ghost ponds', and has been shown to have many positives for wildlife. As well as benefitting amphibians, birds and pollinators, the restoration of farm ponds has also been found to help wetland plants through exposing seeds buried for centuries under a thick layer of leaf matter and mud. Remarkably, UCL research shows that many water-loving plants can come back from seeds that have been dormant for centuries in old ponds. Just six plants of the rare Grass-Poly were found in July at the edge of an old cattle-watering pond on the Heydon estate in Norfolk, where restoration work involved pulling out large willows, resulting in disturbance of the wet soil.