Ducks flee pond at Pymmes Park due to complete lack of water, reports Benjamin Kelsey

Pymmes Park's ornamental pond pictured this week (left) and in a previous summer (right) — Pymmes Park’s ornamental pond pictured this week (left) and in a previous summer (right)

Hot and dry weather this summer is being blamed for an Edmonton park’s popular pond drying up.

Ornamental Pond, located in Pymmes Park, dried up following weeks of high temperatures and very little rainfall.

The pond’s water is supplied by rainwater and is normally home to ducks and aquatic plants, but has been reduced to an empty bed of cracked earth after one of the hottest summers on record.

Many of the ducks have also relocated and the plants lining the surface have withered.

The pond has previously suffered from pollution incidents and flooding, but drying out is a more recent concern linked to rising summer temperatures and reduced rainfall.

Sabri Ozaydin, Enfield Council’s cabinet member for climate action and placemaking, said the weather had also affected rivers and streams across the country, including Pymmes Brook which flows underneath Ornamental Pond.

Cllr Ozaydin added that the council was continuing to work with the Environment Agency and Thames Water in hopes of revitalising natural water systems in the borough.

He continued: “Through initiatives like Pymmes Park Wetlands and borough-wide Suds [sustainable urban drainage] schemes, we’re restoring natural river systems, managing floods more effectively, and ensuring our rivers and parks are climate resilient.”

It comes as the council’s watercourses team looks to restore a section of Pymmes Brook that runs through Arnos Park, in the west of the borough. The project aims to improve biodiversity and reduce pollution to create a more natural waterway, as has also been done with the Turkey Brook in Albany Park.

This summer the UK has experienced four heatwaves, with a 16.13°C mean temperature from 1st June to 25th August likely to make it the hottest ever on average. In the south, rainfall levels have also been exceptionally low.

Met Office scientist Emily Carlisle said: “The current [mean temperature] record is 15.76°C, set in 2018. So, unless temperatures are around four degrees below average for the rest of August – which the forecast does not suggest – it looks like the current record will be exceeded.

“It’s very unlikely anything will stop summer 2025 from being the warmest on record.”

Lower rainfall and increased evaporation during hot spells reduces the amount of water available to feed rivers and groundwater, leading to dried up ponds as is the case in Pymmes Park.

The council has urged residents to help support local rivers and streams in the borough through volunteering with friends groups, conserving water at home, and reporting any pollution incidents to the Environment Agency.

This article previously incorrectly stated that Ornamental Pond was fed water from Pymmes Brook, but in fact the brook flows underneath the pond rather than directly into it.

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