Find a pond or lake near you

You can carry out the water survey at any area of freshwater, from small garden ponds to large lakes. However, if you need a little help to find your nearest pond or lake, try some of the following helpful tools.

Bear in mind that just because a lake is on a map or in a database, it does not mean that it is open to public access. Please check with the owner or local authority first if you are unsure.

Ordnance Survey maps

A standard Ordnance Survey map (1:50,000) will show many lakes but small ones are not always marked. The Streetmap website provides online Ordnance Survey (OS) maps with a zoom facility. However, again not all small ponds are marked.

Google maps

Google maps can be a good way of looking for lakes and ponds across the UK. However, even in satellite view, small lakes and ponds are not always visible.

UK lakes database

The UK lakes database lets you search for lakes across the country by name or location.

1.    Go to www.uklakes.net.
2.    Click on the search tab at the top of the page.
3.    Search for lakes by county, district or town. The results will list all nearby lakes with the nearest at the top.
4.    Click on the name of the lake you want and you will see its details and location on a map.

Note: Many small lakes are listed as ‘Unnamed’, so try searching by location if you can't find one by name.

The National Pond Monitoring Network website

This website allows you to search for ponds by region of the UK.

1.    Go to the National Pond Monitoring Network website.
2.    Click on the region where you wish to find a pond.
3.    Select which groups of ponds you want to see.
4.    Zoom in on the map to view the area of interest.
5.    Ponds in the database appear as markers on the map. Hovering over the marker gives the name of the pond.

Clicking on the marker gives an OS grid reference and known details about the pond, such as information on public access and what data has already been collected for this pond.