Life in our river-2

Once again, our intrepid volunteers placed themselves on the riverbank and in the river at the Kiln Lane location – many thanks to Jenny for the use of her garden.

With a group of six, a portable table, and some hard-won experience under our belts, both sampling and counting was much easier and quicker than our first foray. The weather was calm and sunny, which made for a pleasant time overlooking the fields from under the shade of the trees. Also, despite the very long dry spell, the river level was reasonable for this activity.

The important invertebrate count went ahead in good order and good time. We found the following groups:

Invertebrate Counts

August June

Cased Caddis - 30 5;

Caseless Caddis - 4 6;

Mayfly - 0 0;

Blue winged Olive - 0 13;

Flat bodied stone clinger - 3 14;

Olives - 4 3;

Stoneflies - 26 12 and

Freshwater shrimp - 20 >100.

In addition, we found two fish fry, most likely bullhead. Also, a brown trout (probably) was spotted as it slipped under a rock for cover – can’t say I blame it with all those wellington boots!

Whilst we found the same variety of groups of wildlife as our first sampling at this location back in June, apart from the blue winged olive, some numbers were lower and some were higher. Also, we noticed that the stoneflies were generally much smaller than last time. At this juncture, we don’t have enough data to draw any conclusions as to why such a difference exists, though this could very easily be seasonal, and it is of course based on a sampling exercise only.

We will continue to monitor this location further developing the database as we do so. Hopefully we will gain a deeper understanding of what variation occurs through the seasons as we progress. All that said, the variety of species found does indicate that the river continues to support a variety of wildlife despite the challenging climate we have experienced over the summer period.