There can be no wildlife without water. All life responds to it: after rain, the ground wakes, larvae hatch and the air begins to hum. A pond takes that fleeting abundance and makes it permanent – water that lingers. Add one to your garden and its rhythm changes: insects arrive in greater numbers, frogs and newts appear. Ponds become pockets of refuge, especially in cities where concrete dominates.

In recent decades, Britain has lost vast numbers of its ponds. Fewer than one in 10 gardens contain a wildlife pond, and entire networks of water that once supported insects, amphibians and birds have been paved over, filled in or drained. To us, the distance between water sources may seem negligible. To a frog, it can be crucial. And, during weather extremes, ponds play a quiet but important role: in long, hot summers, they help to cool the landscape, while during heavy rain they hold water and ease pressure on drains.