We know that one of the best things you can do for wildlife in the garden is to put in a pond. But amazingly nobody really knows what you need to do to make a great wildlife garden pond. So The Freshwater Habitats Trust has now opened up their ongoing survey to help find out the answers.

The results will help answer questions like "What’s the best size and depth? How important is really clean water? What should the edges be like? Is there enough shallow water?" and "How much plant cover do I need?"

Once you’ve created your pond there are lots of other questions too. "How should I look after my pond? What should I do to safeguard wildlife during the winter? How do I manage algae, blanket weed and invasive plants?"

There are lots of myths about making ponds in garden – and the Big Pond Dip wants to try to get to the truth. By taking part in the Big Pond Dip, you'll be helping the Trust to find out what's living in garden and school ponds and to start answering some questions.

The information you gather will help show how good garden ponds are for wildlife as well as what types of pond support the most animal life. The Trust will then use this information to give advice about how to make garden ponds even better for wildlife.

Pond dipping is something that childhood memories are made of. It’s a veritable underwater micro-safari waiting to be discovered at the bottom of your garden, village plain or school quad. So why not relive those memories, and help out at the same time?

If you want to get involved in the survey, visit The Freshwater Habitat Trust's Website for lots more information and get dipping!