Community action kicks off Mending the Upper Mole

Category: Volunteering

Community action kicks off Mending the Upper Mole

Posted on by Ian Lamont

Engaging people with their local rivers is pivotal to the South East Rivers Trust’s mission to improve the health of our waterways. Communities that play a role in caring for their river are vital both in monitoring the river for signs of problems and for getting stuck in to help us fix them. Lewis Campbell, our Catchment Manager for the River Mole, reviews our recent community engagement events for the Mending the Upper Mole project and looks ahead to what we have lined up for 2024.

Lewis Campbell with volunteers at Horley
SERT’s Lewis Campbell with volunteers at Horley

Managing the amount of litter that ends up in our urban rivers is incredibly important. The presence of unwanted rubbish not only spoils the aesthetics of our waterways but also has significant ecological implications for the health of our rivers, streams and even our oceans.

For example, discarded plastic can cause problems if it is ingested by wildlife, or it can break down into microplastics and pose a significant pollution risk.

As part of our Mending the Upper Mole project, we have recently been out and about with our wonderful volunteers removing litter from two tributaries of the River Mole.

On 24th September, which just happened to be World Rivers Day, we set up our gazebo on Riverside Gardens in Horley and invited the local community to join us in a bankside cleanup along the bank of the Gatwick Stream. We were joined by our friends from River Mole River Watch and Horley Town Council.

Scout group members at our event
Local scout group members loved our event, from making crafts to taking part in the cleanup

Alongside individual volunteers from the local community, we also welcomed a local scout group, whose members not only enjoyed making crafts on our stand but set about gathering up the litter with tremendous energy.

After a few hours of work, we had removed a huge amount of rubbish from the landscape. Items mainly consisted of plastic bottles, drinks cans and food packaging. A shopping trolley and car tyre were among larger items.

Following the success of our Horley event, on 11th October we went south and hosted a group of enthusiastic volunteers for a clean-up along the Stanford Brook and its banks in Crawley. This time we were able to get into the river itself.

Looking in from the riverbank, the waterway looked relatively clean. Once we entered the water, however, the scale of the litter problem became clear: there was a lot of rubbish on the river bed which had clearly been there a long time. We collected large amounts of food wrappers and drinks cans and bottles. We also picked out three more shopping trolleys and the base of a vacuum cleaner.

Half a vacuum cleaner, found on the Upper Mole
The bottom half of a vacuum cleaner was found, among other items of rubbish

I’d like to extend a massive thank you to all who came and helped out at both events. To those who took part, the experience really emphasised the scale of the issue affecting our waterways: we can’t always see the extent of the damage being caused to our rivers, because much of it sinks to the bottom. Creatures in the river will try to feed on items such as plastic, while the larger items that we can see are an eyesore on cherished public spaces.

Besides tidying up our rivers, these events are also a great opportunity to engage with local people about our plans to improve the health of the waterways of the Upper Mole, around Horley, Crawley and neighbouring areas.

Back in 2017, a pollution event significantly impacted the health of the Upper Mole catchment. The South East Rivers Trust was given funding to deliver an ambitious suite of projects in order to improve the ability of the catchment to cope with such events in the future. These delivery projects will include removing barriers to fish passage, like the projects we have delivered on the Darent and Loddon, improving the quality of the river habitat, such as we have done on the Wandle, and creating wildlife refuges.

We will also work with schools and community groups in the Upper Mole to raise awareness of local rivers and to encourage engagement. Another aspect is to conduct citizen science to better understand how poor water quality is impacting the rivers and their wildlife, to help us form action plans to improve the river’s health. All of these projects come together to form what we have called the Mending the Upper Mole project.

We hope that 2024 will be the year when much of this work kicks off in earnest. A great appetite has already been shown not only by the volunteers who have turned up at our events, but by community leaders and conservation groups who are all keen to help.

There will be ample opportunities to get involved, whether you want to come and help us pick litter, clear overgrown river banks, take water samples, or all of the above. You can keep in touch with opportunities by bookmarking our events page, by signing up to SERT’s mailing list to receive our monthly newsletter or for direct enquiries email info@southeastriverstrust.org.

To learn about our Key Stage 1 and 2 sessions for primary schools on the Gatwick Stream at Grattons Park, visit our education page and read the Our River Our Water section.

The final haul at our Crawley cleanup
Volunteers with the final haul at our Crawley cleanup on World Rivers Day

 

Could you help us this Giving Tuesday?

Posted on by Ian Lamont

Think of us on #GivingTuesday – 28th November

Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 and has now grown into an international movement that is embedded on the social calendar annually, with the simple idea of doing good.

What better way is there to do that than make a donation on Giving Tuesday (28th November 2023) or instead of a physical present this festive season, to help protect rivers – our very lifeblood?

While there are many great causes, one that underpins our very existence – water – is hard to ignore.

Much of our drinking water is abstracted from rivers, supplementing what is stored in reservoirs to supply the needs of our homes and businesses.

However, in the South East we live in an area that is classed as water-stressed. This means that we are already facing a water shortage because of a growing population and climate change, which brings with it erratic weather patterns, from sudden storms from which we can’t capture all the water to drought.

All this puts huge pressure on the wildlife that thrives in rivers. Your rivers. Rivers that have been straightened, boxed in by concrete or boarding along the edges thwarting animal movement between water and land, or restricted by weirs and other barriers – all in the name of convenience for people at various times in our history.

But this has left our rivers unable to function as they should, to allow fish to migrate (some as far as the sea) to better habitats, to allow flowers to flourish to attract pollinators, or to give creatures that move between water and land the chance to do so.

The very habitats that support the wildlife that supports our existence needs help – and we’re on a mission to make that happen.

However, we can’t install fish passes or ‘rewiggle’ rivers to make them places where aquatic life can truly thrive without funding.

By the end of November, many people are already making decisions about gifts for the festive season. Many of you might be tempted by offers on Black Friday weekend (23rd to 27th November). But many of you might be thinking that a gift to nature might be better for your recipients for Christmas-time festivities this year – a year in which we have made inroads in many areas.

Some highlights from this year include:

  • encouraging people in the Medway to take a first step to caring for their local river by addressing their reliance on single-use plastic – 70 people signed up to become official Medway River Guardians with many of them becoming River Champions.
  • working with landowners in the Beult to install nature-based solutions to retain back water in the landscape for the benefit of wildlife and people. We’re now building up similar work on the Darent
  • creating new fish passes, from a baffle weir to improving the wish stream so fish can access better habitats
  • training citizen scientists to map out invasive non-native species on the Wandle and continued our volunteering events at Morden Hall Park
  • starting to create a new wetland at Chamber Mead on the Hogsmill
  • introducing rivers to dozens of schools and hundreds of children through our education programmes
  • Hosting Loddon Rivers Week and contributing sessions to London Rivers Week
  • Setting up a project to reintroduce water voles, eels and trout to the Hogsmill
  • Advising the UK’s largest greenhouse salad crop grower on water resilience

We couldn’t do it without funding.

Please consider making a one off donation to the South East Rivers Trust this Giving Tuesday, or signing up to make a regular donation. Visit our donate page for details.

Loddon Rivers Week puts focus on the long term

Posted on by Ian Lamont

Volunteers came out in large numbers during this year’s Loddon Rivers Week, held in September, to enhance river habitats in various ways, such as by adding gravels and installing deflectors.

Some of the 80+ volunteers across half a dozen sites, who clocked up more than 300 volunteer hours, were part of established groups which regularly look after sections of this river network.

However, this year’s focus week on the Loddon, co-ordinated by the South East Rivers Trust, was also a launchpad for future action to enhance this river network, which stretches across Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire.

Many people became involved in caring the river for the first time, including families keen to get involved in volunteer work parties or learning to assess river health through carrying out Riverfly monitoring for invertebrates, which they can do regularly in the coming months.

Our Loddon Catchment Officer Lou Sykes reports.

The Fish: improving habitats

Volunteers prepare to install gravel into the River Whitewater
Volunteers prepare to install gravel into the River Whitewater

Volunteers installed 21 tonnes of gravel into the River Whitewater at Bassetts Mead, Hook, to establish deep pools and shallow riffles, creating a rollercoaster of newly improved habitat for fish and invertebrates. Fresh gravels allow fish to spawn.

Over the past three years, in partnership with Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, 81 tonnes of gravel have been added to the river, improving a 200 metre section of the river.

During this year’s Loddon Rivers Week activities, volunteers also built a willow dead hedge, protecting the new riffles from dogs and children passing by on the footpath.

The new dead hedge at Bassetts Mead protecting the river
The new dead hedge at Bassetts Mead, protecting the river

The sun: bringing light to the Petty’s Brook

Petty's Brook cutting back trees to bring light to the river
Vegetation at the Petty’s Brook was cut back to bring light to the river

In Chineham, near Basingstoke, volunteers ‘daylighted’ a section of the Petty’s Brook. The stream in this section is largely overshaded, has a concrete lined bed and banks, and acts more like a small canal than river environment.

Overshading of a river can be one of the reasons that prevents the river from reaching good ecological status under the Water Framework Directive.

Trees are a vital element of the ecology of a river environment: they help to reduce water temperatures in summer months and to maintain oxygen levels in the water. Aquatic plants and algae are also an important component of a healthy stream, and excessive shading and reduced light prevents these from growing. We must create the right balance when restoring rivers, creating dappled shade to get the best of both worlds.

With the Chineham Volunteer Group, a relatively new group, we removed vegetation that was causing the river to be enclosed in a tunnel of trees and shrub, giving the stream encouragement to grow some aquatic plants.

Sticklebacks – a torpedo shaped small fish – moved in quickly post-clearance, giving young children at the event the opportunity to catch and inspect them in a net before setting them free back into their revamped environment.

The bugs: training communities to identify invertebrates

A riverfly sample from the upper Loddon
Families learnt to identify invertebrates in a Riverfly sample taken from the upper Loddon

Water quality is the hot topic in the Loddon catchment this year, with projects starting to accurately monitor the state of the water on our patch.

Riverfly monitoring, in part measuring which invertebrates are in rivers, is a nationally important citizen science initiative used to monitor the health of rivers and to detect pollution events.

This year, we included a riverfly ‘show and tell’ for a keen group of residents in and around Basingstoke who will soon be donning wellies or waders to start monitoring the upper stretches in our catchment.

We introduced the basics and set them up to get them identifying the invertebrates in the samples. The four bullhead fish that made it into the invertebrates sample were a happy addition to the , freshwater shrimps, mayflies, snails and leeches also found.

Revisiting the past to see the difference

In addition to all the new activities this year, we also revisited on old project at Arborfield near Reading – a novel nature-like bypass channel facilitating fish migration around four permanent weirs, which impound and restrict rivers: 11 years on, a quick fish survey showed brown trout, chub, barbel, perch and pike all living in the established channel.

As part of this event, the Wild Trout Trust demonstrated some habitat improvement techniques, installing a woody deflector and willow ledge, to improve habitat in the new channel.

Our video shows the water flowing over the new deflector.

Thank you to partners and funders

Loddon Rivers Week, which has been running since 2017, does not happen without an enormous amount of collective effort from partners, and a special thank you must go to the Environment Agency and Network Rail for funding the coordination of the week.

We would also like to thank the partners involved in the week, including Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Loddon Fisheries and Conservation Consultative, Wokingham Borough Council, Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council, Chineham Volunteer Group, Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership, SOLVE (Save Our Loddon Valley Environment), Hook Parish Council and Rushmoor Borough Council.

We’ll be back next year to repeat the progress made this year! Meanwhile, read our River Loddon storymap to find out the issues faced by this network, learn about what the catchment partnership, comprised of dozens of organisations, has achieved already and how you can become involved. Or keep an eye on our events page for volunteering opportunities.

 

Liven up the Loddon in Rivers Week

Posted on by Ian Lamont

Volunteers sought for gravel seeding and planting the ‘Loddon Lily’

Organisers of the annual Loddon Rivers Week are appealing for dozens of volunteers to don wellies and waders and help meet ambitious targets to put 75 tonnes of gravel into riverbeds.

‘Gravel seeding’ events, which will improve spawning habitats for fish and invertebrates, are among seven public volunteering activities during the annual focus week on the Loddon, co-ordinated by the South East Rivers Trust since 2017.

Another key activity of the week, running from 18th-24th September, will be a chance to plant one hundred Loddon Lily bulbs, re-establishing a rare species.

The Loddon Lily
Replanting the Loddon Lily we be a big focus of the week – Summer Snowdrop, by Elizaveta Mitenkova/Pexels

Adopted by many as the Emblem of the Loddon, where it was first found and categorised, this plant is also known as the Summer Snowflake. It looks similar to a snowdrop, but has more open flowers of drooping, white six-petalled bells. Growing next to rivers in April and May, the Loddon Lily produces seeds in July, which disperse along water courses.

The River Loddon, which rises in Basingstoke and stretches across Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire before reaching the Thames at Wargrave, has plenty of special characteristics. Its upper reaches – where many of the Loddon Rivers Week events will take place – are globally rare chalk stream habitats, hugely valuable for biodiversity and home to brown trout, water voles and otters.

Twelve organisations, from conservation groups to local authorities, are ready to welcome volunteers, or simply people who are interested in learning more from experts in their fields.

Lou Sykes, Catchment Officer at the South East Rivers Trust, said: “Like most rivers in England, the Loddon faces many challenges such as pollution, invasive species and poor habitat and water quality. Loddon Rivers Week gives local people a real chance to do something about this by getting involved in conservation.

Bassetts Mead gravel seeding
Gravel was added to the river at Bassetts Mead in Loddon Rivers Week 2022

“This work is vital to improving rivers and helping a wide range of wildlife thrive around it. Last year, volunteers were thrilled to see instant results of fish investigating the 30 tonnes of newly laid gravels on one riverbed and this year we have several opportunities to do this vital work in different places.

“Improving rivers and their surroundings makes them wonderful places not only for nature but also to visit. So, we’re particularly excited about boosting numbers of the beautiful Loddon Lily at our planting event, which will be huge fun for all the family.”

Loddon Rivers Week is supported by the Environment Agency and, for the first time, Network Rail.

The public will need to sign up in advance for activities:

Monday 18th September and Tuesday 19th September: Get stuck in to gravel seeding to create spawning ground for fish at Greywell Flyfishers Club, Hook, on the River Whitewater, 9am to 5pm.

Wednesday 20th September: Don waders for restoration work at Ivy Park Rec on the River Blackwater, Aldershot with the South East Rivers Trust and the Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership, 10am to 3pm.

Wednesday 20th September: Come and install woody deflectors in the River Whitewater, creating some fantastic flow diversity in the watercourse at Greywell Flyfishers Club, 9am to 5pm.

Wednesday 20th September: Plant the Loddon Lily, re-establishing this rare species at Wokingham’s riverside parks.

Thursday 21st September: Join in gravel seeding at Bassetts Mead on the River Whitewater with the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Network Rail and Hook Parish Council, 9am to 3pm.

Saturday 23rd September: The Chineham Conservation Group wants your help clearing vegetation to provide some much-needed light to the Pettys Brook. Tasks also involve a litter pick.

To book a place on any of the activities, visit our events page.

 

Volunteers needed for Outfall Safaris this spring

Posted on by Ian Lamont

Do you see drains – known as outfalls – spilling pollution into rivers when out on riverside walks? Do you know why this happens and would you like to help sort out the problem?

Our rivers should be healthy spaces for wildlife, but need protecting from many forms of pollution. One of them is household plumbing that is misconnected, meaning that foul water goes straight into the waterways through drains that should be connected to the sewage system.

This spring, river lovers along the Wandle and the Cray and Shuttle are being given the chance to train as citizen scientists to help rectify the problem in the latest roll out of the Outfall Safari programme.

Launch yourself into Loddon Rivers Week

Posted on by Ian Lamont

Come and join the South East Rivers Trust and partners for a fun-packed series of events to improve the health of the River Loddon.

During Loddon Rivers Week, running between Monday 26th September and Sunday 2nd October, there’s something for everyone, whether it is joining in guided walks or donning waders and taking positive action via restoration work in rivers across several parts of the catchment.

You’ll need to sign up for all activities in advance on our events page or via the contact details below.

Sign up to be a River Guardian on River Medway

Posted on by Ian Lamont

Residents living close to the Medway and its tributaries are being called on to take action against plastic pollution by joining a new River Guardians Team with the South East Rivers Trust (SERT). 

The waterways charity, which is providing free River Guardian kits, is asking people to adopt their local stretch of river and carry out regular litter picks alongside the banks to keep the water plastic free.

Equipment includes a litter picker, hoop, gloves and first bag, as well as information on how to report other issues affecting the river such as pollution.

Rethinking single-use habits during Plastic Free July 

Posted on by Ian Lamont

Preventing Plastic Pollution

The South East Rivers Trust has been tackling pollution in rivers ever since it was formed – as the Wandle Trust – 20 years ago. 

Becoming involved with the Preventing Plastic Pollution project, on the River Medway, seemed a natural step. Plastic pollution affects all rivers, however. Therefore we want to develop our work beyond one area by engaging with a wider public as well as including the issue in our catchment action plans.

A year’s worth of cleanups give us the perfect evidence to shape behaviour change across our whole area – and the annual Plastic Free July campaign presents an appropriate moment to raise awareness of the issues and strive to change our habits. Set up in 2011, the annual campaign aims to help people reduce their reliance on single-use plastic and live by more sustainable methods.  Below, we’ve come up with several suggestions for you to try in July – and hopefully continue with well after one month.   

Volunteer river restoration at Morden Hall Park

Posted on by Ian Lamont

In March 2022, our volunteers and members of the Morden Hall Park Nature Group spent three days in the glorious sunshine restoring a stretch of the River Wandle as it flows through Morden Hall Park.

Now owned by the National Trust, Morden Hall Park was once a deer park for a country estate. With the Wandle splitting into many meandering channels, the park remained as a green oasis throughout the river’s industrial heyday.

This was the latest stage of an on-going project, started in 2015 and due to run until 2024, giving volunteers the chance to improve the river channel at the park, writes Jess Mead.

 

Volunteers find double number of eel barriers on River Mole

Posted on by Ian Lamont

European eels face more than double the number of barriers as had previously been recorded when travelling along the River Mole and its tributary rivers, a pilot conservation project has found.

Volunteers trained by the South East Rivers Trust (SERT) as part of the Thames Catchment Community Eels Project found 119 impediments – such as weirs, sluices and culverts – 66 of which were new to existing data.

Making a difference during Loddon Rivers Week

Posted on by Ian Lamont

Almost a year to the day that the South East Rivers Trust constructed a backwater on the River Loddon in Charvil Meadows, we were back to do further enhancements as part of Loddon Rivers Week 2021.

This was just one of a series of river work that took place during this celebration of the River Loddon and its tributaries, between 18th-26th September. The work to co-ordinate the week was funded by the Environment Agency.

During the week, volunteers planted native plants to stabilise the banks of the previously constructed backwater, put in gravel to a chalk stream, tackled invasive species and enjoyed learning about bats.

Several partners were involved in the week, including Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, the Loddon Fisheries and Conservation Consultative, Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership, Hampshire County Council and Dinton Pastures County Park.

Eat, Sleep, Restore, Repeat

Posted on by Ian Lamont

Our volunteers were incredibly busy back in February 2020, carrying out River Restoration on the Beverley Brook and Wandle.

At the start of 2020, a new group of volunteer River Restorers came together to learn about natural river processes and how heavily modified waterbodies (such as the Beverley Brook) have been altered over time. These changes stop the natural processes which would usually shape a healthy river ecosystem, leaving us with a degraded river that has few, good habitats for wildlife.

Early in 2019, we carried out a large-scale restoration project along 1.3 km of the Beverley Brook through Wimbledon Common. Our River Restorer volunteers came on board to help us extend the work upstream – this time using people power alone!

We worked together to plan and design the work, ready to deliver as a team in mid-February.

Drain misconnections and our rivers

Posted on by Ian Lamont

A guest blog written by Jennifer Connelly

According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, there are still an estimated 150,000 to 500,000 UK homes with misconnected drains. Dodgy pipework or old houses with out of date plumbing can cause wastewater to end up in our rivers and seas, creating serious problems for wildlife. So what are drain misconnections, what causes them and how do they affect our environment?

First rain garden complete

Posted on by Ian Lamont

The weather could not have been better for our planting day at Sutton Council’s Denmark Road Offices, writes Charlene Duncan. This planting day was organised to enable staff members to contribute to the new rain garden. Thanks to the hard work of everyone who came out, the rain garden is now complete!

Nearly 30 members of staff volunteered their time to transform the area in front of the building. It was a great chance for staff to meet people from other departments and to socialise with colleagues.  Staff members gave what time they could, from 20 minutes to more than three hours!  Every contribution was greatly appreciated.

This rain garden is part of our SuDS in Sutton’s Schools project.  It demonstrates sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) to the schools involved in the project and the wider community. SuDS are measures that divert water from the drains to reduce flood risk and improve the quality of water flowing into our rivers.

By waiting until the autumn to plant up the rain garden, we have increased the new plants’ chances of survival.  Planting during this summer’s drought would have meant the plants required a lot of watering.  While a bit of watering is still necessary for the newly planted garden, once established, the water from the offices’ downpipes will be all that is needed.

So, a massive thank you to all volunteers who gave up their time.  And, an extra thank you for those of you who could not give your time but offered moral support and encouragement on the day.  The garden is looking lovely and it’s all down to you.

Now all we need is some rain.

Watch our timelapse video of the rain garden being constructed