Rivers Week in the Chilterns

Organisations from around the Chilterns are planning events to celebrate Rivers Week  between 18-24 September. Learn about your local chalk stream on a guided walk, help restore our rivers by joining a practical conservation task or add to our understanding by becoming a citizen scientist. See the full programme for details.

Chalk streams are a characteristic and attractive feature of the Chilterns landscape. They are also a globally rare habitat. There are a huge number of people fighting for their local rivers, helping to care for them and collecting data to increase our understanding. If you are interested in joining them, next week provides a number of opportunities.

There will be practical conservation activities on the on Tuesday 19th, both on the River Misbourne (led by Chiltern Society and Misbourne River Action) and on the River Wye (led by Chiltern Rangers). On Wednesday 20th the Ewelme Watercress Beds will be welcoming new volunteers – there’s always plenty to do, and with a range of tasks there’s something for everyone.

We have an active and growing citizen science programme. Volunteers are collecting a huge amount of data on water quality and on the wildlife of our chalk streams. You don’t need any previous experience to take part, full training is given. We’ll be running a training session on the River Chess for the MudSpotter survey on Monday 18th, and training for Riverfly monitoring on Saturday 23rd. for more information and further opportunities to get involved please contact chalkstreamsvolunteers@chilterns.org.uk.

The week ends with World Rivers Day is an annual global event celebrated on the last Sunday of September. It aims to raise awareness about the importance of rivers and promote the stewardship and conservation of these vital water resources.