A river monitoring project established to check on the 'health' of North Devon's
River Torridge has got off to a flying start. Set up earlier this year, the project
now has 34 trained volunteers who are carrying out vital regular monitoring.
The initiative, known as the 'Riverfly Partnership', is part of a national project
monitoring the long term health of our rivers and helps to pick up on pollution
incidents. The Devon version was set up earlier this year in the Torridge catchment.
It was put in place by the Northern Devon Nature Improvement Area (NIA). So far it
has generated a good deal of local interest.
After an initial call for 'river monitors' 34 local people came forward to help.
They come from a range of backgrounds and include teachers, anglers, farmers,
students and an acupuncturist! Members of the team have each been given their own
stretch of the river and are now surveying it on a monthly basis, looking for
freshwater invertebrates (minibeasts), hence the name 'riverflies'.
Louise Davis, the NIA's Riverfly Co-ordinator, explained: "The invertebrates found
in our streams and rivers can tell us a lot about their health. Their presence or
absence gives us vital clues as to what is going on beneath the water's surface. By
counting the invertebrates on a monthly basis, we are able to look at long term
water quality, and if all the invertebrates disappear, we know that something has
gone drastically wrong. The volunteers have been sampling over the summer months,
making sure that vital fish spawning grounds are not disturbed over the winter.
We're also careful to ensure that the volunteers are safe and that they are not
swept away by floods!"
The Riverfly project is being support by North Devon Fisheries Local Action Group,
and Torridge District Council. Their generosity allowed the NIA to purchase
equipment for the volunteers. Using hand nets, sampling trays and magnifiers, the
volunteers are tasked with identifying eight different groups of invertebrates.
Louise explained: "The work of the volunteers is not too technical, and the Riverfly
monitoring scheme is one that anyone can take part in, with no previous experience
required. It does however take an eye for detail and a certain level of patience to
identify the different flies that are found."
The project is keen to hear from other local people who might want to get involved.
If you would like to find out more about the Riverfly scheme, or to register your
interest as a volunteer for 2015, please email info@northerndevonnia.org
, or call
Devon Wildlife Trust on 01409 221823.
The monitoring scheme is part of wider work being undertaken by the NIA in NorthDevon. The project is one of 12 nationally important landscape scale wildlife
schemes across England. It is delivering an impressive and ambitious range of work
to restore Culm grassland and woodlands, create new wildlife habitat and improve
water quality in the Torridge catchment. It is a partnership project within the
North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, with Devon Wildlife Trust as the NIA's lead
partner and at least 16 other project partners making active contributions to the
project's outcomes.
"Riverfly training takes place on the River Torridge. The scheme is getting local
people to provide regular health-checks on their river."- Photo copyright DWT (All rights reserved)
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