Riverfly volunteer training – River Loddon

Tag: Riverfly monitoring

Riverfly volunteer training – River Loddon

Are you interested in surveying and protecting the river Loddon and its tributaries?

Do you have an interest in what creepy crawlies live in a river?

 

Join us for a riverfly training session to become a certified riverfly monitor to learn how to survey river invertebrates as an indicator for water quality on your local river.

Please note that this opportunity requires a regular monthly commitment to conduct a riverfly survey at a specific site on the Loddon. The monthly survey dates are a pre-determined date window and can be conducted on a weekday or a weekday.

 

Where? Frank Goddard Room, Old Basing Village Hall, The St, Old Basing, Basingstoke, RG24 7DA

If you sign up for training we will share further details for the day by email.

 

What do I bring? Please bring your own lunch, steel-toe waders or wellies (if you have them) and clothing suitable for spending a few hours outside. All training resources, nets, trays and buckets will be provided.

Booking is essential for this training, please RSVP using the button below and complete the form to secure your spot. If the event is already fully booked, then please sign yourself up to the waiting list and we’ll be in touch if a space becomes available.

Please email lou@southeastriverstrust.org to:

  • Find out more information
  • Cancel your space if you can no longer make it

Booking for this event will close at 5pm on the 17th April.

Photos and video footage will be taken at this event and used by the Trust for promotional purposes (including but not limited to printed materials, social media, newsletters and the website) and potentially shared with our external partners and funders. From time to time, external media agencies could also take photos, film or record our events.

The Trust’s lawful basis for processing this is “Legitimate Interests” under the General Data Protection Regulations. As an individual you have rights. If you wish for SERT to stop processing this data for you, please talk to a member of staff or email info@southeastriverstrust.org.

To read our Privacy Policy and see how we use and look after the information you provide when booking your spot at our events please click HERE.

Ploughing a joint course for the Medway’s rivers

Posted on by Ian Lamont

Sharing a stand with the Kent Wildlife Trust at the Weald of Kent Ploughing Match in September gave us a fantastic platform to tell the public all about rivers – and in particular our work nearby, writes Cleo Alper, our River Medway Catchment Officer.

SERT and Kent Wildlife Trust at the Ploughing Match. Picture by Anne Tipples
SERT and Kent Wildlife Trust at the Weald of Kent Ploughing Match. Picture by Anne Tipples

The popular annual ploughing match, run since 1947, was held near Tonbridge alongside the River Beult, where we have carried out a great deal of work, including nature-based solutions to improve water sources on land.

Demonstrating what's in rivers with a riverfly spot check
Demonstrating what’s in the River Beult with a Riverfly spot check

Through a Riverfly sample we sourced on the day, we demonstrated some of the life below the surface in the River Medway – of which the Beult is a tributary.

We were able to discuss with the public the importance of monitoring our waters for riverflies – mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies – which are at the heart of freshwater ecosystems and a vital link in the aquatic food chain. Visitors to our stall were delighted to learn about these species and also see we had found shrimp and pea mussel, among other creatures.

It was inspiring to talk to more than 100 people who had a wide range of interests, knowledge and experiences of the river and local wildlife.

We had encouraging conversations around observations of what is happening with our rivers and about what the community would like to see in the future.

Listing what we found in our river sample taken from the Medway
Listing what we found in our river sample taken from the Medway

The event demonstrated both how much local people are aware of the importance of their local river and the range of concerns they have. These include diminishing wildlife and nature, water quality issues, and low water flow.

Collaborating with Kent Wildlife Trust on the stall was a real pleasure. A shared stand allowed us to talk about the work we are doing in partnership to restore rivers and our landscape and to showcase the wide range of partnership work and restoration occurring in the River Beult, one of four catchments on the Medway, and beyond.

Among the work we spoke about were the benefits of natural flood management and how these manage flood risk, increase water storage and create habitat. We also spoke about the benefits of nature-based solutions and our work on the River Teise. Here we are working on restoring wetlands to create more habitat and increase resilience to low water flows, plus putting in leaky woody structures to improve the river flow and the range of habitat. We are currently working on installing a backwater to increase biodiversity and prevent flooding.

We also told the public about our PROWATER work, managing landscapes to retain water for longer, the results of which include restoring key habitats and healthy soils and grasslands.

Co-Ceo Hester Liakos with staff at the Weald of Kent Ploughing Match
Our Co-CEO Hester Liakos with staff at the Weald of Kent Ploughing Match