As the clocks go back and the days get colder and wetter, you can’t help but think about warmer days gone by in summer; and what a summer we had! With the blistering heat and weeks with no rain, our volunteer team faced a challenge carrying out our summer programme of works. Nevertheless, our dedicated volunteers came out every Thursday and Friday, to continue making a difference to the becks and rivers of the catchment (with health and safety mitigations for the weather, of course).
Over the season, we carried out 30 practical sessions in 15 locations in the Aire catchment. Many of these workdays were undertaken along Fagley Beck, Bradford’s Becks, and in the Worth Valley as part of our Roots in the River project.
We had a total of 193 volunteers join us on workdays, with an average of 6 volunteers per activity. Additionally, 23% of the summer workdays included collaboration with a community group or partner, such as the Masjid Nur Mosque, the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, and the River Worth Friends, thanks to the skilful work of our Engagement Officer, Anna Williams.
The task we carried out most frequently was Himalayan balsam removal (no surprise there), and over the season we pulled a staggering 15,891m2 of this prolific non-native invasive species (INNS) (all recorded on INNS Mapper)! We also improved 480 metres of footpath, maintained 250 tools, built 2 hibernaculums for wildlife, collected 58 bags of litter & 5 wheelbarrow loads of fly-tipping, and painted the ART container blue. A particular achievement was the design and construction of a sustainable drainage system (SuDS) – built to reduce peak flows downstream – with the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway volunteers at their Haworth Station, which took the form of a memorial rain garden.
Our Citizen Science staff and volunteers have also had a very busy summer. Both new and old volunteers headed out along rivers and becks within the Aire catchment to carry out sampling of both Riverfly bugs and water quality.
New volunteers attended Riverfly Partnership training days to allow them to become qualified to sample their own site locally to them, with a partner. Riverflies are invertebrates that spend most of their life cycle in a river, stream, pond or lake. They are a vital link in the aquatic food chain, and are incredibly useful indicators of water quality, pollution, siltation and low flows.
Our citizen science volunteers are therefore playing an important role in protecting the health of our local rivers by monitoring populations of riverflies. After a busy spring and summer of sampling, we’re heading into our winter sampling break now.
If you would like to join the waiting list for Riverfly training in Summer 2027, contact us via contact@aireriverstrust.org.uk. We are particularly keen to hear from volunteers around Malham, Hetton, Earby, Kelbrook, Guiseley, Yeadon, Rawdon, Rodley and Apperley Bridge as the rivers in these areas present gaps in our sampling network.
Alongside Riverfly sampling, we have also run a new series of chemical sampling sessions along the River Worth. Our River Worth Water Rangers team, made up of volunteers from Aire Rivers Trust and the River Worth Friends, collected water samples from across the Worth catchment, and used chemical testing kits to examine the levels of different nutrients in the water, such as phosphates, nitrates and ammonia.
The levels of these nutrients can inform us about the health of the water and indicate any potential pollution incidents. Across the Worth catchment, summer sampling has produced some trends, with big nutrient spikes on Hogg Holes Beck (Long Lee) and Jonny Beck (Goose Eye), indicating that further investigation and reporting to the authorities is needed.
We couldn’t achieve what we do without our dedicated volunteer team, so thank you to everyone who came out and made a difference to the Aire catchment, learning & sharing skills along the way. If you would like to get involved, please visit our website to find out more and sign up.
This volunteering work has been part of our Roots in the River Project. Roots in the River Project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players.