Volunteers with the Lincolnshire Chalk Streams Project have led the way in trialling a new river surveying project which is being rolled out nationally.
The Lincolnshire Chalk Streams Project (LCSP), hosted by Lincolnshire County Council and the Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service, recruited keen volunteers who pulled on their waders and surveyed rare chalk streams in the county for aquatic insects called riverflies, as well as other invertebrates such as leeches and water snails.
Their scheme was developed by LCSP partners at the Environment Agency, who developed a system that adds to previous protocols, highlighting changes in water quality through recording invertebrates found living along rivers.
Under the new scheme, their relative abundance helps those involved in river management to also assess sediment build up and changes in the rate of flow, and may pinpoint areas that require improvement.
William Bartle, Lincolnshire Chalk Streams Monitoring Officer – Community and Education says,
"I'd like to thank our enthusiastic volunteers who played a pioneering role in testing out this new surveying method for our rivers. Their findings have helped understand what methods will work in a nationwide survey.
"The survey has now been launched by the Riverfly Partnership, so thousands more nature enthusiasts can get involved across the country."
"As soon as it is safe to do so, we'll be asking for more volunteers in Lincolnshire, who will receive training to ensure they can correctly identify the riverfly species, and work safely alongside rivers."
Richard Chadd, Senior Environmental Monitoring Officer, at the Environment Agency said:
“Citizen science has always been invaluable in the process of managing the water environment, never more so than now. With this initiative, we will be able to use volunteer data even more effectively, to protect and enhance our rivers and streams”.
More information on the scheme can be found on the riverflies website and through an online version of the 'Launch of the Extended Scheme' presentation now available on the Lincolnshire Chalk Stream Project's YouTube channel.
Anyone wishing to volunteer should contact William.bartle@lincolnshire.gov.uk tel: 07786173611.