A group of keen and enthusiastic people gathered to find out how to keep an eye on the health of their local river. They were shown how to identify various insects within the river and told how this gave an indication of the health of the river. The event was organised by Eden Rivers Trust, in partnership with the Environment Agency, and was funded by the Big Lottery.
Insects and other small aquatic creatures are ideal indicators of the health of rivers, and many are easily found and identified. Different kinds are adapted to live in different conditions and provide useful clues about the river, such as how clean the water is and how much silt is ending up in the river due to erosion.
As well as giving attendees a fascinating insight into the insects living in their local river, the event enabled people to identify if there are problems with the river – now and in future. Regular samples of creatures from the river enable those looking to detect whether any changes are occurring over time – whether beneficial or detrimental.
The day included short presentations and practical demonstrations by the river. Participants received a guide to the method and had a chance to try it out for themselves. Following the training participants were qualified to carry out river insect monitoring and received a set of monitoring equipment to take away with them.
The initiative comes from The Riverfly Partnership, an organisation which enables anglers to take action that will help conserve the river environment. This initiative provides a simple monitoring technique which anglers can use to detect any severe problems in river water quality and puts them in direct communication with the Environment Agency.
This monitoring scheme, used alongside routine monitoring by the Environment Agency, will ensure that water quality is checked more widely and action taken at the earliest opportunity should any severe problems be detected.
For details of further events, please contact Becky Helm, Riverfly Tutor, Eden Rivers Trust on 01768 866788 or email becky@edenriverstrust.org.uk.
For more details about the Riverfly Partnership and the Anglers Monitoring Initiative go to www.riverflies.org.
