Riverfly Monitoring
I’ve always been interested in rivers, they are just such an inspiring part of the landscape, so when I saw an advertisement in The Galleries to join a river monitoring workshop being held by The Riverfly Partnership to be held in the Hope & Anchor in Midford, I thought I would go along to see what was involved.
Ten new Riverfly monitor volunteers turned up at the pub and we were all given a sampling net and a bucket and, under the guidance of two local co-ordinators, set off to the nearby Cam Brook.
We waded in our wellingtons into the brook and took what is called a kick sample for a set time of 3 minutes. A kick sample is where you place the net down stream on the bed of the water, then kick your wellington over the bed to dislodge any invertebrates and other wildlife, which then float with the current into your net.
Amazing Wildlife
The net was then emptied into a bucket of river water and we all went back to the pub to see what we had caught. It was amazing to see the amount of wildlife that we had collected. River beds look quite quiet and bare but they are actually teeming with life.
We were shown how to sort through the sample and what we were looking for specifically were 8 invertebrate groups which are particularly sensitive to changes in the water quality and commonly referred to as the rivers ‘canary’.
The numbers of these present in the sample is used to monitor the health of the river and warn of any pollution incidents.
Included in these 8 groups are the Caddisfly larvae, Mayfly larvae, Stonefly larvae and Freshwater Shrimp.
There are also some non-native species which have to be reported; one of these is the Killer Shrimp which has spread from Europe to our waters in recent years.
Having completed the training day, I chose my sampling site on the Frome just upstream from the Freshford Inn which is now where I will take all my samples. All the data from the sampling is entered onto a national database on the Riverfly Partnership website, and this data is freely available to the public. www.riverflies.org
Rivers are not all in good health; we need to treasure them
I would hope to take a river sample monthly but have been hampered by Covid 19 and high river levels; however, the samples I have taken so far show that the Frome is in good health at present. We are lucky as the Frome is a fairly short river and does not go through any large towns or industrial areas. Recent reports though, have shown that rivers generally are not in good health, with raw sewage being discharged into them and the problem of microplastics in them also increasingly worrying. Rivers are so important to us and we need to treasure them and report any pollution to the Environment Agency on 0800 807060.
If you would like more information about the Riverfly Partnership or wish to become a Riverfly monitor then please visit the Riverfly Partnership website.
Article by Richard Tibbles