Biannual newsletter of the Wessex Chalk Stream & Rivers Trust THE WESSEX WATERWAY Issue 9 | September 2019 In this issue WCSRT immersed Guest feature: Spreading the in Watercress & More needs to be word about the Winterbournes done to protect plight of Atlantic HLF project our rivers salmon development WELCOME Dear Supporters, Most days this summer I have walked by the River Test, In the last five years WCSRT has deliberately diversified watching the level and flow reduce month by month. A its sources of funding. Some are national bodies like fairly dry winter and spring only partially recharged the Defra, the Environment Agency and the Heritage Lottery aquifer and the Test, like other chalk streams and rivers Fund, others are European like the Water Environment in WCSRT’s area, is now running low and very clear. Every Grant scheme which is paying for two big sediment frond of weed can be seen distinctly, with trout and reduction projects. Still other money comes from local grayling holding in the deeper holes. The river and its water companies to help fund our catchment surroundings look stunningly beautiful on a sunny day, partnerships, while vital funds for our core costs such as but I would rather see more flow and less clarity, not to staff salaries and office facilities are most generously mention a lower water temperature. More rain is urgently given to us by grant making charities at home and needed across the whole of the south coast which seems abroad. Supportive private sponsors fund projects in their ironic as we read of flooding in other parts of the UK. localities, riparian owners give us fishing days on their beautiful rivers to sell and from time to time daring The dryish spring and hot summer have worked wonders supporters jump out of planes or ride bicycles improbable in other ways. The water meadows where I live have seen distances to help us. We are tremendously grateful to the best display of wild flowers that I can recall, starting them all. Without their help our rivers and their valleys with cowslips in the early spring, then a mass of would be poorer places. buttercups, kingcups, ox eye daisies, mallow and many others, culminating with a tremendous flush of purple George Seligman pyramidal orchids in late June. 20 years ago these water Chair of Trustees meadows were in permanent set aside after being ploughed for potatoes and maize before that. Under successive agri-environmental schemes sponsored by Natural England and their predecessors the meadows have gradually gone back to flower-rich grassland with a simple restorative regime: cut hay in July, graze sheep in the autumn and otherwise leave Nature to her own devices. It seems to be working fine. This is the Year of the Salmon and we report below on some of the educational work in local schools carried out by WCSRT to highlights the plight of this iconic and inspirational fish. The decline of the Atlantic salmon has been rapid across its range: even countries like Iceland which have had huge runs in the recent past are seeing major declines. The small numbers of salmon now returning to the Test, Itchen and Avon make us all fear for their survival in the south of England. Much of the work of WCSRT and other charities is intended to prevent this potential catastrophe. We intend to redouble our educational efforts and in the coming year WCSRT will be raising funds specifically to expand our educational arm. In this edition of our newsletter you will read how WCSRT continues to grow and hire more staff to handle major new projects. Chairing a Rivers Trust feels like a continuous process of seeking out new ways to finance the almost unlimited number of tasks which can be carried out to restore our water bodies to better health. 2 ISSUE 9 | SEPTEMBER 2019 CONTENTS 02 Chairman's Welcome George Seligman CEO's foreword 03 CEO's Foreword Summer has come… and maybe already gone again when you get a Martijn Antheunisse chance to read the summer edition of the Trust’s newsletter. Record high temperatures in July, general lack of rain following a relatively dry winter brought together a perfect storm. When writing this, flows in all 04 WCSRT immersed in rivers were in significant decline leading to low water levels due to Watercress & very modest weed growths as well as high water temperatures. Winterbournes HLF project development Southern Water has already started the process to acquire a Drought Andy Blincow Permit – allowing them to continue to abstract even when this will impact the ecology of our rivers. It becomes more and more apparent that climate change is not a distant threat anymore but knocking very 06 Two WCSRT project loudly on our door. Global as well as local action is needed now to proposals funded by the Water Environment Grant prevent it from getting worse. Andy Blincow & Martijn Antheunisse The job of CEO of a Rivers Trust is always a busy one, but the last six months were exceptional. Especially our dealings with Southern Water required a lot of time. There is a clear need to work with water More needs to be done to 08 companies to tackle the impacts of abstraction and discharge, but the protect our rivers Dr Janina Gray, Salmon & fall-out of the (historic) failings of this specific one meant a lot of Trout Conservation additional media interest and concern. The Trust worked with other NGOs such as the Angling Trust, Salmon & Trout Conservation and neighbouring Rivers Trusts to convey our concerns to Ofwat, the 10 An online repository for Environment Agency and senior management of Southern Water. We project data and much have demanded to be informed on the actual impact of Southern more Martijn Antheunisse Water's failings and what the company has done and is planning to do to remediate the environmental damage caused. 11 A busy year for chalk Luckily there are also positive developments. We went through several stream education recruitment processes and have welcomed new staff members to the Vee Moore team. Through developing a new Delivery Team – led by Mike Blackmore, former Wild Trout Trust – we can now further focus on 12 Spreading the word about delivering projects that matter and help tackle the problems faced by the plight of Atlantic our chalk streams. salmon Vee Moore The project portfolio for the coming years is filled to the brim, with many projects proposed and developed on the Avon, Test and Itchen. 13 Two interpretation panels Topics range from fish pass improvements, habitat quality increase to installed on the Upper full blown river restoration. In addition, a further boost to the Trust's Itchen education and engagement work is expected as we have hired a new Vee Moore Education Officer and plan to further expand our remit. 15 Hello and goodbye Looking forward to seeing you all on the riverbank – or maybe even in Lee Bush the river if you are keen to do your bit and help out as a volunteer on one of our restoration projects. Contact us on [email protected] to sign up and for more information. Dr Martijn Antheunisse CEO ISSUE 9 | SEPTEMBER 2019 3 RESEARCH AND MONITORING Over the last six months, several WCSRT immersed in WCSRT staff members working in Watercress & Winterbournes the Test & Itchen catchment have been involved in the delivery of HLF project development various projects as part of the Watercress & Winterbournes (W&W) HLF-funded landscape partnership scheme. Andy Blincow, WCSRT The Watercress & Winterbournes landscape partnership project, led by the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and supported by WCSRT through the Landscape Partnership Board, is nearing the completion of the development phase during which partners have been focussed on gathering evidence, engaging communities and developing a wide range of project proposals for inclusion within the wider project. Shortly following the publication of this newsletter, a second bid will be submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund detailing In addition, our samples from the winterbourne proposals for the main four-year delivery phase of the reaches in April 2019 await analysis and should project, commencing spring 2020 if successful. confirm whether the W&W headwaters which dry each summer also have the rare invertebrate species WCSRT has continued to provide support and guidance confined to this stream zone in adjacent catchments. on elements of the project and delivered a number of projects including: riverfly monitoring, river restoration Volunteer Training Events and sediment pathways walkovers and reporting, In spring 2019 the Trust's Education Officer Vee volunteer training events and schools' engagement. Moore and T&I Catchment Officer Andy Blincow developed and led a series of training events aimed at Invertebrate Monitoring providing W&W project volunteers with the skills and As detailed in previous editions, WCSRT, led by our knowledge required to undertake surveys to inform Scientific Officer Jon Bass, was commissioned to the development phase bid. Training was provided to develop and deliver a biological water quality over 60 volunteers including those from W&W monitoring programme for the development phase of Community Catchment Groups, local conservation the W&W project. Capitalising on Jon’s vast experience groups, Parish Councils, landowners and anglers. of winterbourne invertebrate monitoring, the Trust has devised a volunteer-based sampling strategy covering Training courses were run in Alresford, Andover and the life of the project to 2024 for both perennial and Whitchurch and focused upon identification and winterbourne reaches and designed a sampling strategy recording of Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS), for the collection of professional baseline data. undertaking Access Audits, performing field water chemistry testing, and undertaking riverfly WCSRT have now collected samples from approximately monitoring.