At this time of year we like to take stock and celebrate the good things happening for the Westcountry’s freshwater habitats.
Our highlights in 2022 include our successful Green Match Fund Homing in on Rivers public fundraiser. This saw us raise more than £5,000, which will create in-situ wildlife homes in early 2023 such as an otter holt and bird and bat boxes – more soon on that.
While on World Rivers Day in September we had a fantastic litter pick with Waterhaul along the River Gannel, Newquay, removing 38kg of litter (29kg of which was plastics) from its banks and making sure our rivers and sea had some help in staying healthy and safe.
And the Girls Go Fishing project, funded through This Girl Can via the National Lottery and Sports England and led by our fisheries officer Mia Bryant, saw several women pick up a rod to give match pole fishing a go. Attendee Ann said: “What a brilliant day all of us had; we all caught fish and are ‘hooked’ and hope to fish together again.”
Then we ended the year with the news that our charity will receive £18,000 to support habitat work on the River Mole following a successful private claim against a polluter – read more at fish-legal-case-closed-for-river-mole.
Message from our CEO, Dr Laurence Couldrick
“As the end of the year is in sight, it’s good to highlight some of the amazing things we’ve achieved as a Trust and as part of the Rivers Trust movement.
“In our region, our work has continued at volume and at pace.
“The flagship South West Water-funded Upstream Thinking programme has been delivering farm interventions to improve water quality while also aligning to flood risk management through the Rapid Response Catchment project.
“Through the Devon and Cornwall Soils Alliance, we continued building capacity and capability in soils advice through various training and mentoring opportunities, saw a significant amount of river habitat management and creation work, and improvement at Bridegtown weir with the installation of a fish pass to enable migratory fish to access high quality spawning habitat in the upper reaches of the Exe, and one on the River Ashburn’s Ashburn Check Weirs too.
“Our Westcountry Citizen Science Investigations continued to prove popular, with more volunteers taking part and river surveys conducted, as well as our participation in the building of a national citizen science scheme through the CastCo project.
“Alongside this, our work with residents in Plymouth and the wider Tamar to reduce and remove plastics from getting into the river continued with several events and river cleans.”
There is so much more we could reflect on as our teams work tirelessly to keep bring rivers to life.
Nationally, we supported the movement on key drives, including the Defra announcement that fines issued by the Environment Agency and Ofwat to water companies for pollution incidents would be reinvested into schemes that benefit the natural environment.
Laurence added: “This is welcome news, especially as the example schemes mentioned include the bread and butter of the Rivers Trust movement: creating wetlands, re-vegetating riverbanks, and reinstating meanders to rivers.”
Additionally, the Environment Agency announced that they are committed to doubling the number of natural flood management projects to complement more traditional flood defences. This followed the results of 60 pilot studies that improved 610 kilometres of river, planted 100 hectares of woodland, and increased flood resilience to 15,000 homes.
Laurence – in conclusion
“2023 is shaping up to be a strong year with a huge amount of delivery and action planned across the Westcountry. We are keen to work with partners, old and new, to deliver change for our rivers.”
We look forward to sharing more about our work to keep bringing rivers to life and hope to see you by the river soon.