River Conservation Volunteering

[Pete Tyjas]

From Dave Chapman at WRT

River Conservation Volunteering – The Westcountry Rivers Trust is running three conservation sessions on the Langham Lake, a tributary of the River Taw. The first session will take place on Thursday 19 May starting at 5.30pm, please see the attached map for meeting location. This session will be an introduction to river conservation, the main factors impacting our rivers, survey methods and practical restoration techniques.

Once the volunteer group is established we hope to run a least a couple of additional session, at a time to suit the group, to go into greater depth and undertake some practical work with the assistance of a professional landscape contractor.

We hope the sessions will be of interest to anyone with an interest in wildlife and our rivers. Our approach is very much a holistic one where we look at the whole ecosystem so we can benefit all wildlife including invertebrates, mammals and fish.

If you are interested in attending the first session or any of the subsequent meetings please email me at [e-mail].

[Pete Tyjas]

A follow up day planned for this Saturday. More below.

We had a good session last Thursday despite it being a rather dank evening. This session was more about assessing the situation but we did undertake a water quality sample with the volunteers, something that anyone can sign up for through the water watch scheme if they are interested, further details here - wrt.org.uk/project/become-a-citizen-scientist/.

We are now thinking about another session this Saturday morning but I would really like to get at least 8 people along as I wanted to, amongst other things, have a go at removing a small debris dam and tying in a small section of coarse woody debris (CWD). We have three definites already so I’m hoping to get some more people interested? Just in case you or some of your group may be interested, the benefits of attending are detailed below.

I’m envisaging starting at about 10am and going on until lunch time of just after depending on what people would like to do. If you are able to come along and/ or advertise this for us it would be great, if you know of people that are likely to be keen by all means let me know and I can contact them directly.

Any salmon up with you yet? Regards, Dave


River Conservation Day

For anglers – find out more about the invertebrates that are essential for fish and that you need to imitate to catch fish. These invertebrates can also tell you a lot about the health of a stream. We will also be looking at habitat types which can help you identify where fish will be and what they are most likely to be feeding on. Most of the fish in the main river and larger tributaries actually start life in one of the smaller streams, like the one we will be working on, so it is important to know where it all begins! In addition all of the below may also be of interest?

For riparian/ fishery owners and managers – the initial task will be to undertake a fisheries habitat walkover. This may sound a little boring but is the first step in the process of identifying the character of your water and the restricting factors, in terms of fish recruitment (numbers and size of fish). Once problems are identified management objectives can be identified and prioritised. Depending on the river section in question, this may be problems with fish passage (which effect all fish species not just migratory species), lack of suitable spawning sites, lack of suitable habitat for juveniles and/ or adults and wider water quality issues.

[boisker]

Sry already committed Saturday

[paul]

Small successes! Or not so small! Encouraging!

Got these through the Volunteer Bailiff system!

www.plymouthherald.co.uk/plymouth-fisherman-ordered-to-pay-back-104-000-made-from-illegal-fishing/story-29468236-detail/story.html