Riverflies - Life in the Teign River Catchment
Back in the Spring, a group of anglers and conservation volunteers went back to school; Chagford Primary School, in fact. They had all taken the opportunity to learn how a river water quality monitoring project was being rolled out by the Riverfly Partnership, a network of organisations working together to protect the water quality of our rivers and actively conserve riverfly habitats. This ‘citizen science’ training day was being led by local charity, the Westcountry Rivers Trust, to pass on biological survey skills required for the Anglers’ Riverfly Monitoring Initiative.
The project website explains that, “Riverflies, along with other freshwater invertebrates, are at the heart of the freshwater ecosystem and are a vital link in the aquatic food chain … making them powerful biological indicators to monitor water quality, and are commonly referred to as the canary of our rivers.” The group that attended the training day all had a connection with the River Teign and its tributaries, either through fishing or an interest in wildlife conservation.
During the morning classroom session, the volunteers heard about the basic ecology of riverflies and other ‘indicator’ invertebrates. They learned how to identify them and classify them into eight invertebrate target groups but, the question was, how to take the samples? The survey technique of ‘kick sampling’ was then covered in theory, in preparation for a practical session later in the day.Where better on a beautiful sunny Spring afternoon, than a site visit to the upper reaches of the Teign near Chagford? The sparkling water, weaving its way from the moor over the gravelly granite river bed provided a perfect training opportunity. The practical monitoring included three minutes of kick sampling, a further minute of checking under boulders, carefully transferring the contents of the net into a sampling tray and examining samples before recording the species groups. When the real numbers of invertebrates are recorded, the data will go into a national monitoring scheme incorporating rivers right across the country.
The project website explains that, “Riverflies, along with other freshwater invertebrates, are at the heart of the freshwater ecosystem and are a vital link in the aquatic food chain … making them powerful biological indicators to monitor water quality, and are commonly referred to as the canary of our rivers.” The group that attended the training day all had a connection with the River Teign and its tributaries, either through fishing or an interest in wildlife conservation.During the morning classroom session, the volunteers heard about the basic ecology of riverflies and other ‘indicator’ invertebrates. They learned how to identify them and classify them into eight invertebrate target groups but, the question was, how to take the samples? The survey technique of ‘kick sampling’ was then covered in theory, in preparation for a practical session later in the day.Where better on a beautiful sunny Spring afternoon, than a site visit to the upper reaches of the Teign near Chagford? The sparkling water, weaving its way from the moor over the gravelly granite river bed provided a perfect training opportunity. The practical monitoring included three minutes of kick sampling, a further minute of checking under boulders, carefully transferring the contents of the net into a sampling tray and examining samples before recording the species groups. When the real numbers of invertebrates are recorded, the data will go into a national monitoring scheme incorporating rivers right across the country.
This will be an opportunity for volunteers to take part, learn the biological monitoring methods and become part of a nationwide group people who want to look after their local rivers. If you are happy to commit a few days of your time each year and become a guardian of your local river, joining anglers and conservation volunteers from across the country, please let Eleanor Lewis know (email her at eleanorlewis@woodlandtrust.org.uk )Olivia Cresswell of the Westcountry Rivers Trust is managing the Riverfly project in this area and each of the sampling sites is registered with her so that a coordinated approach covers the whole Teign catchment. The Riverfly training was funded through the Parishscapes project, by the Moor than Meets the Eye landscape partnership . If you would like to know more about the Riverfly project, please email Olivia at olivia@wrt.org.uk by Matt Parkins
