Tyne Rivers Trust Spring/Summer Newsletter 2014

Newsletter
Issue 16 | Spring/Summer 2014
Bivalve blues
Taking action to save our
endangered freshwater mussels
10th anniversary
Plans for celebration
Water voles
Exciting new project in Kielder
www.tyneriverstrust.org
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Tyne Rivers Trust | Newsletter
Welcome to our 10th
anniversary newsletter
2014 marks a big anniversary for Tyne Rivers Trust – 10 years of
looking after the Tyne and its tributaries
The Trust was first formed
in March 2004, with the
support of our three
founding Trustees, using money
that had been set aside to mitigate
for the impacts of dredging when
building the second Tyne Tunnel.
By the time of our first AGM, in
September 2005, we had seven
Trustees and one employee who
was working out of a corner of
Northumbrian Water’s office in
Hexham.
We now have seven permanent
staff working from our own offices
at Corbridge, still with a dedicated
board of Trustees and with a
growing volunteer force. We’ve
come a long way in ten years and
hope you enjoy reading more
about our achievements and
planned celebrations in the centre
pages. If you can, please support
and/or join in our tenth anniversary
fundraising challenges to help us
carry on improving our rivers for the
next ten years!
A great loss
We were very saddened to hear of
the passing of Paul Torday in
December, after a long illness. Paul
was the Trust’s founding Chairman
and he steered us successfully
through untried waters when we
were established ten years ago.
Our current Chairman, Hugo
Remnant
remembers,
“His
judgment was much valued; his
leadership inspirational; and he
continued to support us through
his writing (and special screening
of the film ‘Salmon Fishing in the
Yemen’) long after he stood down.
His passing is a great loss to us all.”
In this issue...
10th Anniversary: Events
and achievements ...3-8
Bivalve blues ............9
Fish passage ...........10
Water voles .............11
River Watchers tackle
‘Invaders’ ..............12
The Tyne Rivers Trust team at Corbridge
and Malcolm (right) in the field
www.tyneriverstrust.org
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Issue 16 | Spring/Summer 2014
10th anniversary
events
Join us and help raise funds
To celebrate our tenth
anniversary
we
are
holding a number of
fundraising events this spring and
summer.
We are raising funds for ourselves
and for Fishing for Heroes. Why
these charities? Both are very
good causes:
Tyne Rivers Trust is celebrating
ten years as guardians of the Tyne,
overseeing
the
continuing
conservation and regeneration of
the river from its industrial past.
Despite our many achievements
over the past ten years,thereremains
much to do.
Fishing for Heroes provides flyfishing courses and instruction as
therapy for veterans and serving
personnel suffering from Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder, combat
fatigue or other emotional issues
due to active service.
Walking the Rede
Tyne Trial
The first event to kick us off is our
Chairman, Hugo Remnant’s
sponsored walk of his local part of
our Tyne river system: the River
Rede.
Our Director, Susan Mackirdy, has
set herself a big challenge for our
tenth anniversary fundraising
events. She plans to cycle 204
miles alongside the Tyne over three
days in May – a lot further than she
has ever cycled before.
In his words, “I walked the Rede
from near the Scottish Border at
Carter Bar to the North Tyne at
Redesmouth on Easter Saturday,
19 April 2014. The route was
about 28 miles following the river
as it flows south to join the North
Tyne at Redesmouth - if you’ve
travelled north on the A68 across
the border to Scotland then you will
have passed through the beautiful
Rede valley.”
Susan is hoping to raise £2,500 for
Tyne Rivers Trust and Fishing for
Heroes. To read all about the route
and the hard work she is putting in,
training for this challenge have a
look at her blog and see how many
times ‘cake’ is mentioned!
susanmackirdy.wordpress.com
Hugo walked to raise funds for
Tyne Rivers Trust, Fishing for
Heroes and to help put the roof
back on his local church at West
Woodburn.
Although this event was at Easter,
you can still sponsor Hugo and
help towards his fundraising target.
Help Susan and Hugo to
achieve their ambitious targets
through the fundraising page.
www.virginmoneygiving.com
Type ‘Susan Mackirdy’ or
‘Hugo Remnant’ into the
‘sponsor a friend’ box.
Tyne Trial training
www.tyneriverstrust.org
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Tyne Rivers Trust | Newsletter
Tyne Tidal Challenge
Come and join us walking the tidal
reach of the Tyne on 21 June 2014.
Choose from three distances:
23 miles from Wylam
13 miles from Newcastle
Quayside
4 miles from South Shields
(including the ferry across the
river).
All walks finish at Tynemouth,
where we will have a celebration
for the walkers and supporters.
It’s £15 for adults to enter, and all of
these entries will receive a 10th
anniversary T-shirt. If you raise
more than £100 in sponsorship we
will refund your entry fee on
request. It’s only £1 for under-16s
and there will be a prize for the
child that raises the most
sponsorship.
Deadline for registration
is 8th June
More details are on our website at
www.tyneriverstrust.org/events,
including details on how you can
register and set up your own
fundraising page. All funds raised
will be split between Tyne Rivers
Trust and Fishing for Heroes.
If you want to help out but don’t
feel up to the walk, we need help
on the day with organisation and
running food and drink stands, so
please get in touch.
Do your bit
Bit of talker? Stay quiet for 24
hours!
Master cake baker? Organise a
coffee morning.
We’re encouraging everyone to do
their bit, big or small, to raise funds
to help us continue our vital work.
Please try your hand at fundraising
for us in your own way … if you
can’t join our Tyne Tidal Challenge,
then why not organise your own
event? You can set up a
fundraising page through Virgin
Money Giving and nominate Tyne
Rivers Trust (and other registered
charities of your choice) to receive
donations and sponsorship you
raise. It’s a straightforward process –
visit virginmoneygiving.com to
register and create your own
fundraising page. Please tell us
about it so we can tell others.
Why we are supporting Fishing for Heroes
Most of us appreciate how good a beautiful stretch of river makes us feel. It’s a nice
environment, peaceful, quiet and calm. Many people enjoy that environment by fishing,
and often it’s more about being there enjoying the peace and quiet than about catching any
fish.
Fishing for Heroes is a charity that supports current and ex-service personnel who are
suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other issues related to active service.
They provide fishing training and days out as therapy from the effects of often horrifying
combat experiences.
By looking after our rivers, Tyne Rivers Trust provides the environment; Fishing for Heroes
provides the experience and training.
To find out more about Fishing for Heroes’ work visit their website:
www.fishingforheroes.com.
www.tyneriverstrust.org
Celebration
Proud guardians
of England’s greatest river
www.tyneriverstrust.org
Top 10 achievements...
Our work in the Tyne catchment is wide-ranging and ongoing.
Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve accomplished over the past decade
River Watch
1
• 412 River Watch events since 2007, attended by around 2,000 supporters
• Volunteer effort has contributed £67,860 in kind
• Trained 76 Riverfly invertebrate monitors for the Tyne catchment
and 87 for neighbouring catchments
2
3
Invasives
• Surveyed 135 km of river bank for
invasive non-native plants
• Organised 619 adults and 73 children to carry out
‘balsam bashes’; removing an estimated 400 million
Himalayan balsam seeds
• Trained 17 volunteers in pesticide application
and stem injection to tackle Japanese knotweed
Education
• Worked with 24 First, Middle and Secondary Schools on in-river activities
as well as course work and theory sessions.
• Enthused seven youth groups about topics from the mining heritage to
‘Keeping Rivers Cool’
• Supported 11 university students in dissertations and work experience
5
4
Pollution
Reported 42 pollution incidents and worked with
the Environment Agency and land owners to
resolve 28 of these, to date
Forestry
• 126 km of walkover surveys in 17 river sub-catchments
• Logged 512 chemical measurements (pH, turbidity, conductivity and
temperature) and surveyed 13 invertebrate populations
• Working on 30+ issues of road drains entering watercourses and four silt-trap
ponds created
Tree planting
We have planted 5,920 trees
throughout the catchment,
creating 1.8 hectares of
new cover and stabilising
and shading 4.2 km of
riverbank.
6
7
Fish passage
TRT has built nine fish passes to
date and we are currently
working to tackle a further five
major obstructions to fish
migration. These have greatly
improved access for fish along
over 80 km of upstream
watercourse.
www.tyneriverstrust.org
8
Riverbank improvements
• 28 km of fencing has been erected with 24 associated livestock watering points.
• Tackled 112 diffuse pollution issues with riverbank management and
used our green engineering approaches to assist natural recovery along
2.2 km of river bank.
9
To date we have used 58 invertebrate and 99 electrofishing
surveys to gather evidence at our project sites, trained 23
e-fishing volunteers, and gathered many thousands of water
temperature and quality measurements.
Great years...
Where we’ve been active...
10
Monitoring
www.tyneriverstrust.org
What remains to
be done?
Anyone who knows the Tyne, particularly those who
have witnessed its vast improvement in quality over the
last 60 years, would be forgiven for thinking that it is
‘fixed’. Within living memory it was a dirty, smelly,
heavily polluted river, particularly in its tidal reaches.
While the industry of Newcastle and Gateshead thrived
on its banks, the salmon fishery, always a good
indicator of river health, died away.
The huge improvements to the Tyne and its tributaries
over recent years are a big reason to celebrate. Millions
of people now enjoy the Tyne, from its regenerated
quayside to its wild open spaces and its opportunities
for canoeing, rowing, swimming and fishing. Water
quality has improved enormously and the Tyne now
lays claim to being the best salmon river in England.
The greatest positive changes to the Tyne, and all
rivers, have come about as a result of more stringent
environmental laws. But legislation doesn’t tackle all of
the problems. Our work with communities proves that
often the local concerns, of sewage discharges on river
banks or non-native species invasions, are too small
to show up on the legislative radar. We are concerned
that school-age children do not receive the practical
riverside learning that allows them to really understand
how important rivers are for people, for biodiversity,
and for industry. Few habitats and species can fully
recover from the damage done in the past without a
helping hand; and the threat of climate change in the
future makes this an even bigger ask.
Did you know?
The impacts of metal mining in the North Pennines,
started by the Romans, are still seen today with very
high levels of zinc and cadmium, both highly toxic, in
many places along the Tyne.
While the otter population has vastly recovered since
the 1970s and re-colonised most of the Tyne
catchment, the once widespread water vole cannot
travel large distances and so has not managed to
re-populate its former habitats.
Intensive land management, both rural and urban,
has an impact on water quality; 98% of the rain falling
on the Tyne catchment falls on land, and collects
sediments and pollutants as it travels into our rivers.
The Tyne is home to one of only two viable freshwater
mussel populations in England, but the current age
structure is heavily biased towards older mussels with
a mean age of 50 to 80 years old. There is no evidence
of population recruitment from the last 10 years.
We are proud of all that we have achieved in our first
ten years, though much remains to be done.
Tyne Rivers Trust
Unit 8, Shawwell Business Centre, Stagshaw Road,
Corbridge, Northumberland NE45 5PE
Telephone: 01434 636900
Email: [email protected]
Registered Charity No 1107358
Company limited by guarantee. 5086888
Schoolchildren learn about river catchments
using flow models
www.tyneriverstrust.org
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Issue 16 | Spring/Summer 2014
Bivalve blues
Taking action to save our endangered freshwater mussels
Tyne Rivers Trust has
been working for several
years with the Environment
Agency and Natural England to
improve the habitat in the North
Tyne / Rede river system to help
the rare and endangered
Freshwater
Pearl
Mussel,
Margaritifera margaritifera. The
Tyne mussels form one of only two
remaining viable populations in
England, and although these
molluscs live for 80-100 years,
surveys
show
that
these
populations are simply ageing and
not successfully breeding - many
have not successfully reproduced
since the Second World War. They
are filter feeders, extracting fine
organic particles from the water
and they need fast-flowing,
nutrient-poor rivers with clean,
gravelly beds. The main suspected
causes of the mussels’ decline
include
siltation,
nutrient
enrichment and non-natural flow
regimes.
Much of the poor habitat is the
Narrowing the channel to increase flow
result of historic river dredging:
over-widened river sections have
sluggish flows allowing fine
sediment to accumulate, and often
suffer bank collapses with
associated loss of trees and
increased sediment inputs.
Solutions
To address these problems we
have undertaken catchment-scale
interventions to reduce diffuse
pollution and decrease the high
levels of sediment currently
reaching the river. Interventions
include miles of riverside fencing to
exclude livestock, new river
crossings, farmyard improvements,
tree-planting and stabilising
eroding river banks.
At the same time, a programme
created by the Environment
Agency and the Freshwater
Biological Association aims to
return captive-bred mussel larvae
(glochidia) to these rivers.
For this to succeed we have played
a vital role preparing selected
stretches of river; improving
dredged sections by narrowing
channels and re-planting trees.
This two-year river restoration
project was funded by the SITA
Trust. We are now seeking further
funding to continue our efforts to
save our endangered mussels.
Funders:
The Environment Agency, The
Freshwater Biological Association,
The SITA Trust
Ageing, adult pearl mussels
www.tyneriverstrust.org
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Tyne Rivers Trust | Newsletter
The finishing touch
Theory and practice: final adjustments to fish passes
An important part of our
work is making sure that
our interventions are
having the desired outcome.
Following the completion of our
Defra-funded fish easement work
last year, we monitored the
effectiveness of our improvements
under many differing river
conditions.
At Stocksfield ford we observed
the flow of the river across the
simple structures during the first
year; it became apparent that we
had dramatically improved access:
we watched fish moving through
the structure and observed new
spawning sites (redds) upstream.
However, we also witnessed a
continuing problem at low river
flows at a particular point, where
some fish were having difficulty
because of a sudden slowing of
flow and a difficult, steep change in
swimming angle. To solve this final
issue we placed three further
Stocksfield before
wooden baulks, which remedied
the situation permanently.
The multi-stage process of
observation and improvement at
Stocksfield was invaluable, and the
techniques we have developed
can be safely and inexpensively
Stocksfield after
retro-fitted to improve fish
passage. We are extremely grateful
to Stocksfield River Watch group
for their continued support and
valuable observations which
helped us to tweak and perfect this
structure.
Devil’s Water
A similar cycle of careful
observations and assessments, at
all flows, led to further improvements
to our Environment Agencyfunded fish easement at Barker
House Bridge, where the Ham
Burn was channelled and slowed
by adding an additional pool to the
original design. This fine-tuning
approach really optimises the
effectiveness of the various
structures helping the movement
of all fish up and down river.
Barker House bridge
www.tyneriverstrust.org
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Issue 16 | Spring/Summer 2014
Other news
Funding news
As always, our programmes
of proposed good works
are dependent upon finding
money to do them:
We are delighted that Natural
England are funding us to tackle
Himalayan balsam to protect
alaminarian Grassland sites.
Our new water voles project in
Kielder has won funding from
the Heritage Lottery Fund (see
right).
The Allen Valley Landscape
Partnership HLF bid led by the
North Pennines AONB has
received Stage 2 funding – we
will be partners in delivering
substantial
environmental
improvements,
including
looking after river banks and
tackling invasive species.
Bringing water voles
back to Kielder
In partnership with the Forestry
Commission and Northumberland
Wildlife Trust, we have received a
grant of over £40,000 from the
Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for an
exciting 2-year project about the
heritage of water voles in Kielder
Forest.
The water vole, brought to life as
‘Ratty’ in Kenneth Grahame’s
Wind in the Willows, is now
thought to be absent in the Kielder
area. We will work with local
volunteers to pave the way for a
future re-introduction of the oncecommon water vole, including
training and educating volunteers
to monitor for mink and voles and
collating recollections of this once
common creature.
Once this preparation work is
completed, an application for
further funding will be made to
re-introduce water voles to the
Kielder area.
Funders: Heritage Lottery Fund,
Forestry Commission
Kevin O’Hara (Northumberland Wildlife
Trust), Susan Mackirdy (Trust Director),
and Tom Dearnley (Forestry Commission)
With the pilot phase of our
three-year Forest Streams
project coming to an end, we
are hopeful that funds may be
found to extend this important
work in partnership with the
Forestry Commission.
We have just launched a major
fund-raising campaign for our
successful pilot scheme of
River Watch groups; we aim to
launch new groups, give
support to the existing ones,
and to develop a new Tynespecific education programme
for young and old alike.
www.tyneriverstrust.org
Tyne Bites
Fishing with Tyne Angling
Passport
Accessible, affordable fishing on
the Tyne through the Tyne Angling
Passport scheme has now
become even easier to book. The
recent change from a paperbased system to an online
booking system - including a new
interactive map - on our website
(www.tyneriverstrust.org) gives
anglers the flexibility to decide
last-minute to take advantage of
good weather and fishing
conditions. Beats of many kinds
are available for just £8 per day,
from remote trout streams in
Kielder Forest to quiet locations
only a few miles from Gateshead.
The Trust is very grateful to fishery
owners who donate their fishing
to the Passport scheme.
Sharing expert knowledge
Our own Professor Malcolm
Newson has been sharing his
unmatched river knowledge up
and down the country, delivering
short courses on geomorphology
and river processes to many other
organisations (organised by our
umbrella body, The Rivers Trust).
Events
Wednesday 14th May 7pm ‘Haltwhistle burn: a total catchment
approach’ presentation to the South Tyne Wildlife Group in Haltwhistle.
Booking essential. To book &/or to join the Haltwhistle River Watch
Group, please contact Ceri Gibson (see below)
Weekend 24-26th May Susan Mackirdy’s Tyne Trial bicycle ride (see
10th Anniversary Events in this issue).
Monday (Bank Holiday) 26th May Northumberland County Show,
Bywell. In the Indoor Shopping Marquee, come and find out about the
vital work we do to improve the Tyne. Admission fee to access show
ground.
Thursday 5th June World Environment Day. Please join us for a guided
walk of our Haltwhistle project in the evening. Contact Ceri Gibson (see
below)
Saturday 21st June Tyne Tidal Challenge (the sponsored walk). See
our website for details on how to join and raise vital funds.
Sunday 6th July ‘Try It’ Day: Try out fishing and learn more about your
river at Featherstone Castle, NE49 OJG. 11am - 3pm.
River Watch groups
tackle ‘Invaders’
As usual at this time of year
we’re receiving requests for
help managing invasive nonnative species; Himalayan
balsam and Japanese
knotweed in particular. See
our factsheet for more
information
about
the
threats our rivers are facing
from
invaders
at
www.tyneriverstrust.org/hab
itat-improvements/invasivespecies.
Our thanks to volunteers
from Stocksfield and Riding
Mill River Watch groups who
have all sailed through their
recent Pesticide Application
training. Having more trained
‘stem injectors’ will help in
our battle against the
dreaded Japanese knotweed,
which occurs right across
the catchment.
A timely grant from Natural
England will enable us to
continue a survey and
management
strategy
throughout our headwaters.
If you would like to help,
please get in touch with Ceri
Gibson on 01434 636902 or
[email protected]
and look out for ‘Balsam
Bash’ dates and other River
Watch activities on our
website and in local press.
Sunday 27th July ‘Try It’ Day: Try out fishing and learn more about your
river at Derwent Park, Rowlands Gill, NE39 2PX. 11am - 3pm.
Sunday 10th August Have a Go! Day (joint river users) 11am - 3pm at
Hexham Tyne Green, hosted by Friends of Tyne Green.
May - September Invasive Species Survey and Management: if you’d
like to help out, please contact Ceri Gibson
Tuesday 20th May – 10th anniversary River Watch celebration
Hexham Community Centre, 6.30 - 9pm. Celebrating 10 years of
volunteering on our rivers. Find out about new projects, how you can
help and have your say. Booking essential - please contact Ceri
Gibson (see below)
Contact Ceri on [email protected] or 01434 636902
Events are subject to change. Please check www.tyneriverstrust.org/join-in for updates
Tyne Rivers Trust
Unit 8, Shawwell Business
Centre, Stagshaw Road,
Corbridge, Northumberland
NE45 5PE
Telephone: 01434 636900
Email: [email protected]
Registered Charity No 1107358
Company limited by guarantee.
5086888
www.tyneriverstrust.org

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