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Lincolnshire Rivers Trust Newsletter Spring 2015
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Lincolnshire Rivers Trust
Spring 2015
Welcome to our first ever newsletter! We are a new freshwater conservation charity
with the aims of protecting, enhancing and restoring Lincolnshire's rivers and
wetlands for all to enjoy! We have been busy over the last year recruiting our first
staff member: Fiona McKenna - Project Officer, hosting the Witham Catchment
Based Approach Partnership (a DEFRA backed initiative) and getting our first
projects off the ground. There is a lot to update you on, so sit back and enjoy our
bumper newsletter!
Fundraising Update: As a registered
charity we are always looking for
ways to raise funds for our work. If
you visit our website you will find
links to our Give as You Live scheme,
ebay for charity, Paypal donation page
and our Recycle 4 Charity page where
you can register and order envelopes
to send off your old ink cartridges and
phones to raise money for us. We were
also nominated for Waitrose Lincoln
Community Matters and Asda Lincoln
green token schemes in 2014. If you
would like to help us raise funds please
get in touch. We appreciate any help.
The "Wonderful Witham" Video:
Late last year we commissioned
wildlife film maker and underwater
specialist Jack Perks to create a
snapshot of the Witham catchment,
it's wildlife, people and the issues it
faces. Click on the picture above to go
to our YouTube channel and watch
the video! Members of the Witham
Partnership feature in the film and
many helped with organising the
video shoot too, a huge thank you to
everyone involved. Premieres of the
film took place in Grantham, Boston,
Sleaford and Lincoln with support
from local councils and the University
of Lincoln. The film was well
received and we gathered feedback on
the issues in our catchment that matter
to the people who live here.
Big Lottery Funded Riverfly Project
Volunteers Needed: We have secured
funding from the Big Lottery Awards for
All fund to start up a Riverfly Monitoring
project in our catchment. Our project will
follow the standardised methods set out by
Woolly Witham WI Partnership
Project Launch: The Lincoln WI
group have kindly knitted us some
educational materials in the form of two
woolly rivers! One river is an example
of what makes a river healthy and
provides a home for many species of
wildlife. The other one is an example of
many of the issues our rivers are
currently facing. Our supporters have
also been knitting fish, flowers and
butterflies to line our rivers. Thank you
to you all! We are having a launch event
in Lincoln at The Collection on
Saturday 28th March from 11am-4pm.
Stokes Coffee shop have kindly allowed
us to use a space for free, so come and
chat to us about rivers, meet the talented
WI ladies and stay for a drink or
something to eat in the café!
the national Riverfly Partnership. This
involves taking kick samples from a
watercourse and recording the most
sensitive riverfly species on a regular
basis.We are currently looking for
volunteers who can dedicate one hour a
month to collect invertebrate samples in a
local watercourse within the Barlings Eau
catchment (pictured below). If you live
nearby and are interested please get in
touch! Full training will be provided by a
very experienced Riverfly trainer and full
kit will be provided free of charge. Training
days will take place on Saturday 25th July
and Sunday 26th July 2015 at Sudbrooke
(near Nettleham) Village Hall. Please
contact
Project
Officer
Fiona
:
[email protected]
or
phone
07895423983
#
Lower Witham: The Lower Witham is
lacking in natural refuge areas for fish
so we are taking part in a pilot project
in partnership with the Witham
Tattershall Group and the Environment
Agency (EA) to address this. Gabion
baskets filled with woody material have
been securely installed at suitable
locations in the river - as shown in the
pictures above. One basket has a
covered roof the other two are
uncovered so the EA will monitor their
use to see which design the fish prefer.
We will post updates on our website as
they become available.
News from members of the
Witham Partnership
Sleaford Opportunities: LRT have been
successful in gaining funding from Natural
England to undertake an Urban
Opportunities Study in Sleaford. This
involved gathering existing data from the
area, meeting with stakeholders to discuss
current issues and opportunities for
projects with multiple benefits and
employing a consultancy to undertake
detailed walkover surveys of the river
corridor and to map the opportunities.
Clear Environmental consultancy have
done a great job and we will make the maps
available on our website in the near future.
Alongside
this
project
we
also
commissioned the Wild Trout Trust to
undertake an advisory visit to the town
through their Trout in the Town initiative.
As many of you will be aware Sleaford
used to have a very healthy wild brown
trout population, but they have suffered
from historic pollution events and low
flows. We are working with local
stakeholders and the Witham Partnership
members to design habitat restoration
projects on the Slea following on from the
recommendations of both the Wild Trout
Trust
and
Clear
Environmental
consultants. Sleaford Navigation Trust and
the Slea RiverCare group have been very
supportive and volunteer help will be vital
to the success of any projects. This work
fits into the wider work of the Witham
Partnership as similar studies are being
carried out in Grantham and Lincoln too by
our partners. Boston has also had similar
studies in the past through the Lincolnshire
Waterways
Partnership,
we
are
investigating how to build on from these in
the future.
Working With Young Plumbers: In
December Lincolnshire Rivers Trust
and the Environment Agency ran an
event in conjunction with 30 trainee
plumbers on the pollution problems that
mis-connections can cause for urban
watercourses. The talk demonstrated
how trade professionals can identify
wrong connections and the practical
measures required to rectify them.
Opportunities will now be looked into
for extending this training to other
colleges in the catchment as well as
circulating guidance to builders
merchants. For more information:
http://www.connectright.org.uk/miscon
nections If this is something you or your
college/workplace would like to get
involved
in
get
in
touch:
[email protected]
Anglian Water's Latest Recruit:
Anglian Water has recently strengthened
its Catchment Management team with
the appointment of Kelly Hewson-Fisher
as Catchment Advisor based in
Lincolnshire. Kelly has a strong
Lincolnshire farming background and 12
years of experience as an ADAS
Agricultural
Business
Consultant.
The role of the Catchment Advisor is to
work in partnership with farmers,
landowners and communities to achieve
sustainable agricultural production
whilst maintaining the quality of water
resources.
Kelly will strive to
complement the wide range of existing
environmental
initiatives
and
organisations in Lincolnshire; working
with farmers to deliver measureable
improvements
in
water-quality.
If you have any events you would like
Kelly to attend, please contact her on
07802
856663
or
[email protected].
A better Dunston beck for wildlife and
the local community: Local residents of
Dunston, supported by the Wild Trout
Trust have completed a section of in
stream
habitat
improvements.
Lincolnshire
Rivers
Trust
are
also supporting this project by
volunteering at the work parties and
publicising them too. This important
work will help to improve the aesthetic
value of the stream for local people and
protect the wild trout populations that live
here. The third work party took place on
Sunday 22nd March 9am- 1pm. Dates for
the next ones are still to be arranged.
Please contact Matt Parr on 07903
662389 if you are interested in helping.
Where do fish hang out on the Lower
Witham? The Environment Agency has
produced its latest map of fish distribution
on the Lower Witham. Data showing fish
density from Boston to Lincoln was
collected in Summer 2014 using a boat
equipped with hydroacoustic sensors. The
bigger dots represent locations where the
density of fish is greatest and this helps to
hi-light the spots where lack of habitat is a
limiting factor for fish. Lack of habitat in
this stretch has been identified as one of the
priority issues for the partnership and we
are hoping to deliver projects in 2015 that
will help to target this. These include a
project to add additional fish refuge value
to Canal and River Trust Moorings and
proposals to construct off-line fish refuges.
Watch this space for further news.
Partnership helps to protect Upper
Witham from serious pollution
incidents: The Environment Agency
and the Campaign for the Farmed
Environment delivered an event to raise
awareness of serious pollution incident
on farms in one of the Witham most
sensitive catchments. The Lincolnshire
Rivers Trust was also on hand to lend
support. The Upper Witham catchment
has in recent years suffered from some
serious pollution incidents that have
done a great deal of damage to the
sensitive section of river here. 35
farmers received practical advice on
how to reduce the likelihood of having
a serious pollution incident and also
how best to respond if they do. The
event took place on 8 December.
Having a spill kit on site is a great
preventative measure for farms and
small
businesses.
For
further
information please go to:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collecti
ons/pollution-prevention-guidance-ppg
Upper Witham Habitat improvement:
Environment Agency works are
complete on the Upper Witham at
Easton Lane, Little Ponton, and Syston
which have involved installing woody
material in the form of logs and
brushwood mattress to create fish refuge,
scour gravels clean and create valuable
areas of marginal habitat benefitting not
just fish but general riverine
biodiversity. These works help to slow
the flow locally reducing the speed of
water which can aid flooding by storing
water in the headwater regions.
Working with the University of
Lincoln at Riseholme: The University
of Lincoln and the Environment Agency
have been exploring options to develop a
demonstration farm focusing on diffuse
water pollution. The long term goal is to
be able to show case techniques to local
farmers that both minimise diffuse
pollution in an economically viable way
for farming. Initial areas of work are
focusing on the use of cover crops to
reduce nitrates in groundwater but it is
hoped that further research and
demonstration ideas will be developed in
due course and as more partners become
involved.
For current information on the
Witham Partnership, our map of
known issues, project ideas and
meeting minutes see our website:
http://lincsrivers.co.uk/?page_id=171
Contact Fiona McKenna:
[email protected]
07895423983
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