Extended Riverfly Monitoring

Extended Riverfly with the Don Catchment Rivers Trust River Went Project

The usual hazard I encounter getting to river volunteer event days is sleeping through my alarm clock. This Friday I had a legitimate extra hour in bed courtesy of the Don Catchment Rivers Trust, who had organised an event close to me. However, my pleasant walk to the site, a favourite walk for me, was held up by a large cow making strategic use of a necessary gate as a scratching post. I tried five minutes of gentle cajoling, before deciding to risk being crushed and squeezing past.

The event was an introduction to Riverfly Extended Sampling. The site chosen, championed by Hiram and Jason, was the intriguing location of before and after run-off from the A1. There is an iconic viaduct, built in the 1960s, which brings a gentle roar to the valley, which houses attractive villages and the beautiful unspoiled Brockadale woodland. Also in attendance were Sally and Rebecca from DCRT, Dave and Sue who river monitor locally, and the ‘Knowledge Man,’ who was indispensable over the course of the day, Sheffield-based Paul. Throughout the day Paul frequently identified several species at once, and wryly commented to me when I announced that I thought I had a tray, “with nothing in it,” that “there’s a sleeve in it.” As with all of his pronouncements over the day, this was duly proven to be correct.

My walk to the event, much more direct than the route by car, followed the river Went the whole way. Whilst I have a sentimental attachment to this river, my dad having played in it in the sixties, and some of the locations are beautiful, let’s not pretend it’s teeming with life to the fullest extent. I walked past the large sewage treatment centre a mile and a half upstream of the sampling site, which discharges so frequently that it is rumoured phosphates are going to be removed first in a facility upgrade.

Why is an extended riverfly necessary? It runs alongside the regular ARMI count and is cross-compatible, although the stone search is slightly shorter, replaced by a surface sweep. It is designed to give a more detailed picture of the character of a river. After numbers are inputted into a bespoke spreadsheet, the output is a Water Quality score and a Silt and Flow score. It is a new scheme, developed from two pilot schemes in Dorset and Lincolnshire. Unlike the regular riverfly, there are not currently trigger levels. Typically, this type of survey would be completed two to four times a year.

When I arrived, three tables were set up in the shelter of the viaduct, one laden with coffee and treats, one set up with traditional “party food” trays placed on laminated A2 labelled sheets, and the third with a more compact and orderly labelled trays with compartments of the type you might keep beads or nuts and bolts in, with some leaflets and books. I’m afraid I didn’t refer much to the printed matter, preferring instead to defer to Paul and Sally’s knowledge. There were also sturdy long-lived Soviet-era microscopes inherited from the University of Sheffield, which revealed surprising details and colour in our invertebrates, an ample supply of plastic spoons (for sorting insects, although Dave and Sue came armed with long-handled paint-brushes, a tip new to me), and small-handheld lenses, in addition to a fair amount of river-water confidently dispensed by Sally at one point as she tried to pour some of the sample through a tiny net.

After an explanation of the survey we proceeded to our first sample. The underlays to the trays were beautifully designed. Sally had done an amazing job using colour and type of species to delineate them. We gravitated towards the table with the octagonal trays for the most part. I did make a token effort to use the bead-box system, but for me at least the larger layout was far more intuitive and educational. In practice the more compact version is probably far more viable in the field, but for accessibility, ease and enjoyment I’d plump for the space-consuming way.

Our first sample had everything from bivalves to olives, and plenty of them. We spent about 90 minutes sorting through the weeds, leaves and vegetation, rescuing the occasional fish, then completed the first survey form. The form is straightforward and is cleverly designed to make obtaining the standard ARMI numbers very clear.

I didn’t find it intimidating or overwhelming. For some reason I was able to spot incredibly tiny invertebrates comfortably – I often struggle with doing things involving very fine motor control such as embroidery, but in the context of shuffling little invertebrates around outdoors with other people this was fine. Many of the additional species were immediately obvious, such as leeches and hoglice, and those that weren’t became more familiar over the day, such as blackfly larvae. I remain incompetent at distinguishing blue-winged olives from regular olives, as of the several species of mayfly covered only olives had received the invitation.

After a delicious lunch thoughtfully provided by Hiram from legendary local bakery Hinitts, I helped Sally as timing buddy and spotter for the second location downstream. My favourite spot in Brockadale is the wall of Hart’s Tongue fern, and our second sampling location was right there, approached from the south bank after squeezing through a gate. I’m not sure how Sally got the bucket through, I was too busy wiggling and hoping I wouldn’t get stuck. There were significantly less reeds at the second location, but we made do, Sally performing the surface skimming which is added to this sampling type with confidence. With the light and people’s energy fading, we analysed the second sample, which was less abundant, particularly in gammarus, but very rich on minute bivalves, which were challenging to count.

The day was extremely well-organised and we were lucky with the weather. As for the sampling itself, obtaining the sample is mostly the same, and analysing it is not too taxing. I’m still at the happy to be able to identify a cased caddis stage, never mind whether they have hoods, bush-tails, or weighted cases, but I will know to look more closely the next time I see one.

If you have tried the standard riverfly and not enjoyed it, Extended probably won’t change your mind, but I would recommend trying out Extended to anyone who does river sampling, to bring a little more context to regular sampling. The final scores were Site 1, an ARMI score of 7, Water Quality 28, and Silt and Flow 32, Site 2, ARMI score of 5, Water Quality 21, and Silt and Flow 26.

I’m disappointed that the River Went, through unspoiled woodland, couldn’t muster better ARMI scores than I get with monitoring with the Calder and Colne Rivers Trust, on my blue-tinged stretch of Spen Beck. I guess that’s what you get when you channel run-off from a dual carriageway into a watercourse, which is itself already essentially an outfall for a large village by the time it reaches Wentbridge. Sally and Paul were optimistic that the phosphates measure will improve matters.

Please contact Sam Riley-Gunn at contact@aireriverstrust.org.uk if you are interested in monitoring with the Aire Rivers Trust next season, or if you would like to hear more about other river-related events.

Sally of DCRT can be contacted at info@dcrt.org.uk or www.dcrt.org.uk if you are in the catchment area for the River Don and would like to know more about standard or extended riverfly or practical days.

In the embrace of the Aire

In the next blog from the wonderful Lucy Johnson, one of our volunteers, we learn about birdwatching on the ings (riverside wetlands) at St Aidan’s.

For many of us, when we think of our rivers it is fish and invertebrates, or maybe even aquatic plants, that come to mind. For others, they are a magnificent habitat for birds of many species. In this blog from one of our volunteers, Lucy Johnson, we read about birding on the long-disused coal mines at St Aidan’s just a short way below Leeds. St Aidan’s is a 355 hectare (877 acres) nature park located between Leeds and Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. The land was formerly an opencast coal mining area that was flooded in 1988, after the riverbank collapsed.

In the Embrace of the Aire, Birding at St Aidan’s

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, perfect conditions for a birding walk at the beautiful St Aidan’s Nature Park near Leeds. I carefully reloaded my camera with different batteries before setting off…they were also flat. In the absence of my capacity to provide good quality bird pictures, you can drink your fill over at “St Aidan’s Nature Park” on Facebook, where many beautiful shots of the park’s birds, both visitors and residents, are frequently posted. St Aidan’s is a former opencast mining site owned by Leeds City Council and managed by the RSPB. It reopened in 2017 as an RSPB site. There is currently a small footprint of café, information stand and toilets between the car park and Oddball.

A Park For Everyone

I was greeted by Peggy, a smart, vibrant young woman in much demand between the café, RSPB stall and visitors. Peggy is one of 16 permanent staff across St Aidan’s and its sister site, Fairburn Ings Nature Reserve. In addition to the permanent staff, the sites benefit from 230 regular volunteers, who may act as Rangers, perform regular bird surveys, undertake tasks such as creating dead hedges and litter picking. St Aidan’s is designated a park because it is meant to form a space for leisure activities for people as well as the birds. Ranger Jerry who led the talk along with three other volunteers emphasised that all are welcome, from horses to cyclists and runners, and that the birds are accustomed to their presence. The just under 900 acre site also plays a vital role protecting Castleford from flooding. The lakes fill up counter-clockwise, leaving the most precious reedbed habitat for last.

Key Species

The park is important for its role in providing a home for six key species – black neck grebes, black headed gulls, lapwings, bitterns, kestrels, and little owls. Jerry has personally spotted at least eleven raptors in the last two years, including red kite, buzzards, marsh harrier, ring tail hawk, osprey, little owl (who like Oddball), barn owl, tawny owl, short-eared owl, long-eared owl, and of course peregrine.

What To Wear

I would advise attendees of the walk to wear sturdy, comfortable footwear and to bring binoculars if they have them, although I was perfectly happy watching the birds hover with just the aid of my specs. Jerry shared a wealth of information about the site and was not outmanouevred by any question no matter how varied or specific. His deep familiarity with the site made for a very enjoyable and informative tour, taking in everything from kestrels’ scrying mammals’ urine through ultra-violet vision, to Oddball and Big Bob’s history, to vulpine predators.

The Local Residents Show Off

As for the birds, a kestrel kicked proceedings off by sweeping in dramatically to its exposed nest on Oddball at the top of the site, tearing into lunch. The walk was not an aerobic challenge by any means. We simply meandered along one of the main paths at the park’s perimeter, ending at the reed beds to listen to the bitterns boom, accompanied for the most part by swooping kestrels and lazily hovering buzzards, with the occasional dart of the kestrel, asserting territory to an unwary buzzard. Near the end of the talk a sharp-eyed attendee spotted a peregrine moving swiftly in, and a red kite with its distinctive V tail was also spotted. Unfortunately the little owls which have a fondness for Oddball were elsewhere at the time of the walk. Do take the time to look both above and below Oddball for kestrels and little owls if you visit.

How to “Cheat” at Birdwatching

I would have appreciated a quick rundown of each bird’s characteristics and perhaps a factsheet or two, but it was equally valuable seeing a smaller number of species in the wild and taking a detailed dive into where they spend their time and why. There was a reassuring lack of pretension about the whole affair. Jerry cheerfully admitted to “cheating” by using the excellent Merlin app for identification, and Steph, one of the volunteers, was very democratic in her thoughts about developing as a birdwatcher.

Gordon Denison

Another birdwatcher passionate about making access to the hobby more open was the legendary Gordon Denison of Halifax Birdwatchers Club, who recently passed at the age of 90 after a lifetime spent supporting and encouraging others. Not only a much loved father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Gordon was a key member of Halifax Birdwatchers Club and took part in many projects over the years. His projects included establishing a trophy for the member who spotted the most species over the year, and creating detailed sighting maps. He particularly enjoyed birdwatching at Fly Flatts Reservoir, his favourite bird was a grey wagtail, and he had a distinctive whistle imitating a curlew to communicate with daughter Jayne, who was also on the walk with her partner Graham.

Throughout the talk I chatted with Jayne and Graham, who had kindly offered to rescue me from West Yorkshire public transport hell (three buses to travel a total of eight miles). Jayne was bright-eyed and warm, carefully clutching a pair of binoculars much older than those round the necks of other attendees. She described her father as “a smart and helpful gentleman to everyone and dedicated to his family.” Gordon had a good sense of humour, although it took him a little while to warm to Graham’s bird jokes. It was a poignant reminder that while life flows on, there are many people who came before us who made our experiences and knowledge possible. If Gordon had been able to atend, he would have been extremely smartly attired, delighted to have the day out with Jayne and Graham and to meet newcomers to birdwatching, who he always encouraged. All in all, a lovely afternoon, and Gordon’s binoculars sighted a few kestrels more.

Be safe near water

Hardly surprising that much of our work is in or near water, so this blog from Lucy Johnson, one of our volunteers, is very timely.

Clambering carefully up the wooden steps in the old boat house, we find a cosy space, brightly lit. A half circle of chairs surrounds Dave of the Northallerton-based River Mountain Experience, ready to deliver another insightful session on water safety. Dave delights in defying expectations, in presenting a fact then placing it in context, or conversely, turning it on its head. His enthusiasm and evident expertise in his subject comes across clearly, lighteningsome of the somewhat sobering facts he covers.

The upstairs room is peaceful, as occasional pairs of rowers glide by, visible from the balcony. The floorboards are worn, and staircases lead off in all directions. Bright sunshine comes in through the skylights angled in the wooden roof. On the walls are photographs of various rowing teams going back through time, framed newspaper articles, and a large-scale river map with hand-marked additions. Dotted around the room are loud-hailers, indeterminate plastic boxes and a covered pool table. There is also an A frame stand, which turns out to be Dave’s, not part of the general fixtures and fittings.

Dave runs over some of the key facts related to drowning in the UK, and highlights that traditional Health and Safety regulations target fixed not dynamic situations such as water environments. We created a lengthy list of specific water environments and hazards we might encounter, with everything from livestock to World War 2 ordinance. Next we assessed a series of photographs showing a range of water environments, including weirs, tidal rivers and becks covered in vegetation.

We discussed the drawbacks of using PPE, and the importance of staying alert to weather conditions. Different hydrology features were discussed, some of which can easily catch the unwary out, such as the rolling movement at the bottom of weirs.

Next was an equipment run-down, split into things that keep you dry and things that keep you afloat. Waders can actually cause accidents as they will fill with air if you slip. We looked at life jackets and buoyancy aids (the difference is in the amount of buoyancy they provide) and tried various models on. We also checked the internal workings and discussed the various ways in which they operate.

Cold water immersion is a key factor in water safety in the UK, as the water temperature is often below 17°C. Different factors affect the onset of hypothermia but it is a real risk. The fire service is responsible for river rescues, but access points may not always be ideal. Be prepared to provide as much location information as possible, such as postcode, grid coordinates and a what3words location.

The final part of the course was spent outside in warm sunshine reliving school sports days. We lined up one by one to carefully throw a tow-line using the correct technique to a hand-made, red-painted wooden casualty, who obligingly had his arms up in the best position to receive the rope. This is a skill worth having; take up the chance to practise on a practical volunteer day with one of the Trust’s tow-lines.

Airedale Group supporting the Environment

We are delighted to announce that Airedale Group, a Crosshills based award-winning manufacturer and distributor of speciality and commodity chemicals, has pledged 200 hours of volunteer time to support the Aire Rivers Trust with our work to improve the Aire Valley rivers, reducing flooding and encouraging nature in the area..

The move formalises a commitment by the firm to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2045 and strengthens their commitment to working with businesses in a joint commitment to a wide range of river-centred environmental improvements.

The first group of volunteers worked to improve the Site of Special Scientific Interest at Bingley South Bog. They trimmed the hedgerow that can be seen from Bingley Relief Road so that the site’s meadow can now be seen from the road. The hedgerow is a mixture of hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple, hazel and dog rose and provides habitat for birds and invertebrates. The resultant brash arisings were used to make habitat piles to further improve the site. Bingley South Bog is an SSSI with it being home to the regionally rare marsh cinquefoil (Potentilla palustris).

Richard Ward, managing director of Airedale Group, explains: “Over recent years we have implemented many projects to increase sustainability and lessen our impact on the environment, from the installation of solar panels on our warehouses, to creating wildflower areas in our local park.

“But with the launch of our ‘net zero by 2045’ journey, we wanted to mark the occasion with something special that really demonstrates our commitment to making a difference.

“Aire Rivers Trust seemed the perfect partner. The work of the trust directly impacts the immediate environment of our Airedale Group headquarters, we work closely with Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency and have many customers in the water treatment industry.”

If you would like more information about volunteering, either as an individual or on behalf of your company, please contact the office via email at contact@aireriverstrust.org.uk

We were delighted that this announcement generated some significant media coverage, read the links below for more detail.

Keighley News
Bradford Means Business
Chamber of Commerce
Business up North
Airedale Group News Release

Chellow Dene resurrected

The Aire Rivers Trust presents the Chellow Dene Wetland Project! The Chellow Dene Wetland is a small green space in Chellow Dene, Bradford, tucked away behind several houses. Chellow Dene Beck runs through the site, and this wetland acts as its floodplain in high rainfall. The Aire Rivers Trust and partners have transformed the site by implementing changes to re-naturalise the beck.

The Changes

The old design for the Chellow Dene Wetlands included a few cells of reedbeds that would filter water from the beck and act as flood storage for high rainfall events. These reedbeds had since silted up, meaning they no longer held floodwater, so they would not have mitigated any damage in the event of a flood. There was also a small weir that was blocking fish passage up and down the stream. The Aire Rivers Trust implemented features such as a log mattress and leaky dams, which will help to re-naturalize the beck, connect the beck back to its floodplain, and slow the flow of water. A weir bypass was also built around the weir to allow fish to move freely along Chellow Dene Beck.

A Space for Wildlife and the Community

Chellow Dene Wetland is an excellent asset to Bradford, as it provides a diversity of habitats for wildlife, helps mitigate damage in local flooding events, and provides amenity space for the local community. The Aire Rivers Trust and the Friends of Bradford Beck have hosted volunteer events at the wetlands with groups like the Scouts to do conservation work, including tree planting, Himalayan balsam pulling, and litter-picking. Many people have since walked through the Chellow Dene Wetlands and commented that the work has greatly improved the site!

Check out the video to learn more about the project! The Chellow Dene Wetland Project – YouTube

Find out more about the work the Aire Rivers Trust does at our website – Home – Aire Rivers Trust

On 18th September, a small but select group gathered for the Offical Opening of the new wetland area. Representatives from our funders were there, and the odd passer by was treated to an explanation of what we were doing and why we bothered.

Partners and Funders

The Chellow Dene Wetland Project is funded by the Environment Agency, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and Britvic. Britvic’s funding is part of a partnership with The Rivers Trust to care for water resources and nature in the areas they operate. This project is part of the Environment Agency’s Water Environment Improvement Fund. The changes made were designed by Wetland Engineering and implemented by Conservefor. The Friends of Bradford Becks have provided great support and expertise to the project.

Ellie’s Weir…ed Blog

In this post our GIS whizz Ellie Spilsbury outlines some of the work we have been doing to identify ways to improve the sustainability of the fisheries in our rivers and hopefully aid the return of salmon for the first time since the Industrial Revolution.

*Look closely and you will see hundreds of Minnows collecting at the bottom of this weir, unable to ascend. See the area in the water that looks dark brown; they are Minnows.*

Visit each of the three sections for more detail:

A familiar Story

Data analysis with a Salmon Splash of professional opinion

(Tr)outcomes expected

A familar story

Once upon a time, our River Aire had the highest Salmon population of any Yorkshire river. Then came the Industrial Revolution, which saw the wool and fabric industry boom throughout Yorkshire. Mills were constructed accompanied by weirs to harness our river’s energy. Although the mills are now closed and are becoming swanky new flats, the weirs often remain, isolating ecosystems that lie between them. Weirs disrupt the natural transport of sediment downstream, causing a build-up of silt and gravel behind the weir, which is detrimental to the habitat of spawning fish. Since 2011, one of the Aire River Trust’s goals has been to increase the connectivity of our river and its tributaries by removing or re-configuring weirs to allow fish passage. Following earlier work to install fish passes through and downstream of Leeds, significant steps towards this goal were made in 2022 with the successful construction of four fish passes as part of the DNAire project.

When we see water flowing over weirs, creating the sounds of waterfalls and visually pleasing white waters, it is easy to forget their man-made heritage and artificiality. It is hard to imagine seeing through the eyes of a migrating trout or salmon; every cell in its body instinctively directing it upstream to spawn, using both the stars and the earth’s magnetic field for navigation and then facing an unpassable wall of Yorkshire-dressed stone. It is often not just the height of the weir that presents the issue but the combination of weir height and the shallow depth of the concrete sill below the weir. The height at which salmon and trout jump is directly affected by the relative depth of the water at the foot of the barrier and the “hydraulic jump,” which boosts their leap.

The Environment Agency (EA) has identified around four hundred river obstacles within the Aire Catchment. However, we believe there to be many more. For example, the EA recorded two barriers to fish passage on Pitty Beck, yet on our Bradford Becks Walkovers, we found 11. This pattern is most likely repeated on each beck. Currently, tackling the removal of every weir in the catchment is unattainable. So, how did we prioritise them into a workable top twenty?

Data analysis with a Salmon splash of professional opinion

With help from The Rivers Trust, we are the first regional rivers trust to code an ArcGIS tool to accurately calculate the length of a river (including tributaries and forks) that would be opened and re-connected by the removal of every mapped weir in the Aire Catchment. Alongside this, we analysed ecological assessment data, invertebrate biodiversity, local community data (including deprivation), and weir visibility to the public. We assigned a score to each outcome and designed a weighted decision-making matrix that identified the weirs that scored the most highly. The data only tells us half the story, so we took our results to our expert team and discussed those weirs for which a solution in the short(ish) term might be feasible.

Once we had twenty feasible weirs, it was time to ground truth our ideas. The purpose of site visits is to add or, more often, diminish our confidence in the feasibility of the weir so that we only carry the most achievable sites to the next stage. We evaluated the weirs’ condition, site access, utility services or abstraction points, and landowner engagement by photographing and recording the area, our thoughts, and encounters.

The most surprising discovery for me was the actual size of a weir. After months of viewing photographs without visual perspective, weirs can appear to be half the scale of the real-life structure. Take a moment to analyse this photo: how tall do you believe it to be? See the very bottom of the blog for the upside-down answer.

(Tr)outcomes

We are fast approaching the end of the site visits and write-up stage. It is time to narrow our shortlist of twenty weirs down to four. So, it will be back around the table for our professionals to decide on the four “leak” proof projects to invest in. These four weirs will be subject to a comprehensive feasibility study and design process. I hope my next blog post will include more designs, machinery, hard hats and re-naturalised rivers.

OurCleanRiver 2024

Last year 13 groups joined the Aire Rivers Trust’s OurCleanRiver event. The highlights were clearing tons of debris at Bull Greave Beck and using the steam train in Keighley to transport rubbish and volunteers.

In 2024 we want to involve even more groups in community action to improve our river from Gargrave to Leeds and beyond. These clean-ups will remove litter and debris pollution to help boost the entire river’s health.
River clean-up events will start on Thursday, 14th March until Friday, 22^nd March 2024.
This also ties in with the dates of Keep Britain Tidy Spring Clean.

This is the 3rd year we are running events bringing together community action and improvements in your local river.
The improvements are beneficial for wildlife as well as the visual appearance of the district.

How Can Your Community Group Join OurCleanRiver 2024?

Similar to last year we would love you to pick a section of river or beck local to you and organise a clean-up between the dates.

We are able to support your group with equipment, risk assessments, social media templates, and arranging the removal of the collected rubbish.

This is just one of a selection of photos and suggested wording for social media posts we have to share. We can use your logo and wording to complete the phrase.

After you have completed the cleanup, we will ask you to record your achievements and send a photo of the group with the rubbish you have collected.

Join us for River Clean Ups 2024

Aire Rivers Trust will be leading several River Clean Ups across the middle catchment. Dates and locations are available below. Please sign up as a volunteer via our My Impact system at the bottom of the page.

Date and Time	Place	Organised by	Lead by
Thursday 14 March 10:00-15:00	Kirkstall Goit, Kirkstall	Aire Rivers Trust contact@aireriverstrust.org.uk 01274 061902	Gareth Muir gareth.muir@aireriverstrust.org.uk 07883 892634
Friday 15 March 10:00-15:00	Buck Lane, Baildon	Aire Rivers Trust contact@aireriverstrust.org.uk 01274 061902	Gareth Muir gareth.muir@aireriverstrust.org.uk 07883 892634
Thurs-Fri 21-22 March 10:00-15:00	Holme Beck Holmewood BD4	Aire Rivers Trust contact@aireriverstrust.org.uk 01274 061902	Gareth Muir gareth.muir@aireriverstrust.org.uk 07883 892634
Thursday 28th March 10:00-15:00	Fagley Beck Foston Lane BD2	Aire Rivers Trust contact@aireriverstrust.org.uk 01274 061902	Gareth Muir gareth.muir@aireriverstrust.org.uk 07883 892634
Thurs-Fri 4-5 April 10:00-15:00	Fagley Beck Ravenscliffe BD10	Aire Rivers Trust contact@aireriverstrust.org.uk 01274 061902	Gareth Muir gareth.muir@aireriverstrust.org.uk 07883 892634
Thurs-Fri 11-12 April 10:00-15:00	Bradford Beck (Poplar Rd-station) Shipley BD18	Aire Rivers Trust contact@aireriverstrust.org.uk 01274 061902	Nick Milsom nick.milsom@aireriverstrust.org.uk 07378 878857
Thursday 18 April 10:00-15:00	Keighley Worth Valley Railway, Keighley	Aire Rivers Trust contact@aireriverstrust.org.uk 01274 061902	Gareth Muir gareth.muir@aireriverstrust.org.uk 07883 892634
Friday 19 April 10:00-15:00	Aireworth Grove, Keighley	Aire Rivers Trust contact@aireriverstrust.org.uk 01274 061902	Gareth Muir gareth.muir@aireriverstrust.org.uk 07883 892634
Thurs-Fri 25-26 April 10:00-15:00	Eller Beck, Skipton	Aire Rivers Trust contact@aireriverstrust.org.uk 01274 061902	Gareth Muir gareth.muir@aireriverstrust.org.uk 07883 892634

How To Get Involved

Click here for volunteering opportunities at the Aire Rivers Trust

Practical Conservation update January 2024

Project Officer Gareth Muir gives us an update about what the volunteers have been up to last month.

Tool maintenance

After returning from the Christmas and New Year break, the practical volunteers got stuck into a spot of tool maintenance. Volunteers joined staff at our office in Greengates to sort, clean, sharpen and oil the tools used by the volunteers to carry out practical environmental conservation tasks. Without these tools, we could not carry out the work, so they must be in top condition! Staff and volunteers had the (un)enviable task of going through the Trust’s protective equipment (PPE), ensuring it was safe, working and effective. Thankfully, everything was ship shape and Bristol fashion!

Coppicing at Druid’s Altar, St Ives, Bingley

Volunteers undertook some coppicing at Druid’s Altar hazel coppice on St Ives Estate, Bingley. Coppicing is a traditional form of woodland management with roots going back hundreds if not thousands of years. Using hand tools including; loppers, bowsaws and the iconic billhook, volunteers cut hazel ‘stools’ to harvest ‘rods’ of various diameters for a range of uses. The main use was to produce hazel hedging stakes. These stakes were later used on sites within the catchment to lay hedges. In the process of producing these stakes, volunteers realised the perfect length for a stake was an ‘Olivia’ (our River Conservation Assistant) of 1.5 metres! Over the course of three work days, volunteers coppiced 21 stools and produced 112 stakes, some may say the stakes were…’high’.
Why not visit the National Coppicing association to find out more about this fascinating traditional craft?

National Coppice Federation – National Coppice Federation (ncfed.org.uk)

Two leaves sit in a graphic that divides text

Hedge maintenance at Trench Meadow, Baildon

The volunteers were busy trimming the holly hedgerow at Trench Meadow. A hedgerow, which in the past had been neglected was in need of some tender loving care. The volunteers provided this by cutting back the encroaching greenery onto the footpath, allowing footpath users to path through unmolested by errant pickily leaves! The volunteers also took the opportunity to remove encroaching bramble on the meadow, thus preventing it’s natural succession into woodland. Trench Meadow is a Site of Special Scientific interest (SSSI) containing a variety of flora, which the Trust aims to safeguard for the future.
To find out about Trench Meadow, why not visit this interesting blog post by ‘The Nature Guy’ who contacted the Trust in summer 2023:

Meet your local SSSI (natureguy.blog)

Hedge laying at Ryeloaf Meadows, Bingley

Hedge-laying continues to be a firm favourite with the Trust’s practical conservation volunteers. This month volunteers worked had to lay a predominantly hazel hedge at Ryeloaf Meadows, Bingley; a fantastically untouched site beneath the Bingley Relief Road. Accessed via Dowley Gap Waste centre, the site is managed by Bradford Council’s Countryside and Rights of Way team with the Aire Rivers Trust carrying out environmental conservation tasks onsite on their behalf. The traditional countryside management craft of hedge laying is enjoying some what of a resurgence of late and as an organisation the Trust is keen to keep these traditional skills alive and use them to improve habitat in the catchment and beyond. If you’d like to find out more about hedge laying, why not visit the National Hedge laying Society website:

Home Page (hedgelaying.org.uk)

Willow Clearance at Ryeloaf Meadows, Bingley

Willow clearance on the riverside at Ryeloaf Meadows continues, with volunteers removing dense patches of willow near the water’s edge. Large stands of willow deflect the flow of the river away from the site, which acts as a flood water overflow. The cut willow is stacked into dense brash piles, which will in time become a new habitat for invertebrates and potentially laying up spots for male otters in the summertime. The composition of the woodland at Ryeloaf Meadow is ‘wet’ woodland (predominantly common alder and crack willow), which is an under represented habitat in the Bradford area. Woodland management often includes thinning tree numbers and producing deadwood, so that multiple layers of habitat are present with a ‘mosaic’ of canopy, understory, shrub and herb layer.

January was a busy month with a variety of tasks. The ‘nature’ (pardon the pun) of practical conservation dictates that the tasks performed by volunteers vary greatly. Moving ahead into the end of winter the volunteers will be continuing hedge laying, tree planting and gearing up to the river clean ups, once the flood waters have subsided.

How To Get Involved

Click here for volunteering opportunities at the Aire Rivers Trust

Which tree is which?

One of our volunteers, Lucy Johnson, writes about trees.

If you want to learn how to identify trees in winter when many of the most obvious clues are absent, you could do worse than buy a copy of John Poland’s “The Field Key to Winter Twigs,” published by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Alternatively, you could volunteer with the Aire Rivers Trust in the winter months and pay attention to detail, or give yourself a helping hand by attending Sheffield General Cemetery’s excellent tree identification event, intended to be held annually each January.

A Miniature Quest

As a regular Aire Rivers Trust volunteer who is not particularly observant, I went to Sheffield to learn more about the species we have been planting and to sneak a peek at the beautiful deconsecrated Victorian cemetery. I wanted to increase my ability to identify “whips,” the very young trees carefully planted by the Aire Rivers Trust in the winter months. Not just any old whip will do – the ones selected by ART are chosen to bear in mind their nativeness, their ability to coexist with water, how susceptible they are to climate change and sometimes how appetising deer find them. I was envious of the project coordinators’ and other volunteers’ ability to identify the whips at a glance, with a surety and ease that eluded me. With many phenomena, knowing how it’s done or knowing more about the topic can take away its simple enjoyment; let’s see if that would be the case for me.

A Picturesque Setting

Navigating to the cemetery was pretty easy – I headed out of the city centre and soon found a steep road heading up a hill signposted “Cemetery Road.” Reasoning that I was likely in the right place, I ended up in an oasis of calm, surrounded by lovely, currently unidentifiable to me, old trees and picturesque gravestones. There was a sense of peace in the setting, enhanced by the occasional strolling dog walker. Sally and a team of dedicated volunteers manage the cemetery. Sheffield City Council supports tree maintenance.

Three Experts in One Day

I quickly found my way to the Samuel Worth Chapel, where I was greeted by one of the day’s experts, Gerry, who has spent many years researching plants and is currently working on a monograph about the plants in the cemetery. Ushered inside to the warm, I was given a handout detailing eighteen types of trees; all merged into one to my untutored eyes. I chatted with Sally and Claire, who were highly knowledgeable about trees and birds, respectively. Sally’s interest in trees developed following her employment at the cemetery, whereas Claire has had an interest in birds since childhood, thanks to her father.

Out Into The Cold

The tour began with the languorously beautiful weeping ash pair that framed the chapel. These trees were planted to enhance the chapel’s design, which they have faithfully done for over a century. They are nearing the end of their life span. Fierce debates are underway as to which is the most suitable replacement for the good of the cemetery in years to come and to form a backdrop for weddings. During 75 minutes we saw everything from Turkey oak to Oriental planes, via ash, elm, elder and everything in between. Claire also identified the sounds of several less common birds for us.

A Little Bit Muddy

We were invited to step off the path at various points to get in the slightly squelchy ground among the trees – this was not a pickled-in aspic tour led from behind wire fences. While Sally ably led the tour and provided details on identifying key features, whether bark or bud position, Gerry provided a broader context and history. Of course, this being a graveyard, there was a glorious yew, which we were gently reminded was wholly toxic to humans.

A Final Test

Dodging squirrels and the occasional runner, we returned to the chapel for the dreaded test. We were encouraged to handle the long stems numbered on the table, representing 12 key species, all covered during the talk. I confidently identified yew, horse chestnut, hazel and hawthorn, and then my attention span maxed out after about seven guesses, leaving five remaining unidentified. Sally patiently guided me through the remaining five.

Some Wizardry Here

Are any Harry Potter fans reading? Does anyone recall the moment in the first book where Ollivander the wand-maker, says something to the effect of, “The wand chooses the wizard.” I got to experience something similar when Sally placed one particular branch in my hand – it felt so wholly right, and I am sure it would form my wand in a Harry Potter existence. Indeed, I think it does form the wand for at least one character. I shall re-read the whole series from a tree-lore perspective and report back.

Did 75 Minutes of Tree Talk Work?

A week later, waiting at the bus stop, I looked up, noting that the tall, bare trees marching down the road and clustered opposite were still a mystery to me. Then my eye fell on some unmistakable buds – horse chestnut. Conker cases still litter the ground. I am very familiar with this tree, but now I can decode its bare branches without needing to look down or to have seen the tree in summer. I may not be able to tell my rowan from my field maple yet, but my knowledge and confidence have improved. The trees have lost none of their beauty, for knowing a little more about them.

How To Get Involved

If you want to have your go at winter twig ID, this sheet from the Woodland Trust is a great place to start.

Sheffield General Cemetery can be found here. They run history tours year-round.

Click here for volunteering opportunities at the Aire Rivers Trust