Anglian Water is the National Biodiversity Champion for the pool frog, a species that became extinct in the UK in the 1990s.
The habitats it had depended on had been under pressure from water abstraction and poor water quality, but both of these have improved in recent decades.
Since 1999 we’ve teamed up with Natural England and among many others, to work on the pool frog action plan.
Through painstaking archaeological and genetic detective work, the mystery was solved with their origin in East Anglia. The summer of 2005 saw the first reintroduction of this native frog. At a secret site in Norfolk, frogs brought over from Sweden (their closest living relatives) are regularly introduced to a specially restored pond.
Surveys carried out during 2007 and 2008 have shown that the frogs are breeding successfully. The frogs are being closely monitored before more populations are established, possibly at an Anglian Water site.