Emily M Rivers, Volunteer

Volunteer Sessions in April

April had our volunteer team venture to Beckenham Place Park to clear the river channel of large fallen tree branches, obstructions and litter. All removed branches were cut down and used to create habitat piles along the higher banks.

After a successful grant award from Groundworks, Rivers & People joined forces with the Friends of Chinbrook Meadows for a celebration event for how diverse the park is. Read more about the event at https://chinbrookmeadows.wordpress.com/. Twenty different species of aquatic species were found during the day of pond dipping, including smooth newts and common frogs.

Emily M Lewisham Rivers, Volunteer

Volunteer Sessions in March

March gave our volunteer team some kinder weather, which was particularly welcomed as we spent 3 weeks in Ladywell Fields (North Field) widening the secondary channel around the bridges. Since the works have been completed at the entrance to the secondary channel you can now see the channel filled with water everyday through the field. As this waterflow moves through the channel it naturally erodes areas of the banks where it is moving fastest and drops silt in the slower areas. This is a wonderful natural process to watch happening through the middle of the park. Our volunteers have managed to rework the meander by the middle bridge to reduce any erosion where the bridge is connected to the path, and to open up the inflow channel to the backwater located here.

Further south into the borough our volunteer team have been removing litter and being vigilant for invasive non-native plant species in the Manor Park section of the River Quaggy.

Emily M Rivers, Thames21, Volunteer

Thames21 WATERBLITZ [30th May 2023]

A WaterBlitz is a water sampling event that helps provide a snapshot of pollution issues across a river’s catchment area.

This event is for local people and citizen scientists to take water samples of points of interest to them across the Ravensbourne Catchment (which includes the Ravensbourne, Pool, Chaffinch Brook, The Beck, Quaggy, Kyd Brook) to identify ongoing pollution issues impacting the catchment’s water quality. This event will also be an important opportunity to sample areas in the catchment that generally have relatively good water quality to understand how poorer quality stretches of our rivers could perform throughout the catchment in the absence of pollution challenges.

There is booking page for people to sign up

Emily M Lewisham Rivers, Volunteer

Volunteer Sessions in February

February threw us some colder and wetter weather, which meant on some sessions we focused mainly on bank side work rather than being in the river channel itself. When the weather gave us some respite we spent a few sessions in Ladywell Fields litter-picking in the channel, we often find smaller items within the channel like cans, plastic bags etc. Sometimes we find much larger items, like the lime bike and building sign above. The wonderful volunteers managed to get these out of the channel then Glendale’s park cleansing team were able to take them away from the site.

Another of our projects in February was working on the main dipping pond and it’s channel at Chinbrook Meadows. Over time silt and leaf litter had filled up the inflow from the River Quaggy, so our team cleared a nice secondary channel that feeds into the pond under the boardwalk. Keeping water in this pond will allow for a wide variety of invertebrates (and a few vertebrates) to thrive in the standing water habitat, rather than the moving water from the River Quaggy.

Emily M Volunteer

Rivers & People April-June Programme

Spring and early summer is a great time to be in the river, and track how the banks change and flower as the seasons change. Why not join our Tuesday volunteer sessions? The volunteer session programme has now been released for April to June 2023. Check out the programme HERE. If you would like to get involved in volunteering on Lewisham’s rivers please read through the the River Volunteering web page, and if you have any questions or queries please get in touch with Emily.

Emily M Lewisham Rivers, Rivers, Volunteer

Volunteer Sessions in January

We started 2023 with a sunny session at Cornmill Gardens, where we cut back any branches overhanging the river and clearing all the twigs that had collected on the bank from the recent rains. We don’t remove any of the deadwood from the site, but rather move it further up the bank to create habitat piles that won’t get washed downstream.

Next up we visited the River Quaggy, at Chinbrook Meadows, where we de-silted the secondary channel that feeds into the pond and wetland area. Also that afternoon, our diligent volunteers scraped the leaf litter from the boardwalks to make them easier and safer to walk on.

After a wet December where we couldn’t get easy access to the Ladywell Field backwater channel, we returned to finish the de-silting here. The heavy digging work certainly lent itself to an extra biscuit with our tea afterwards!

Our last session of the month was in the north of the borough at Brookmill Park, where we completed our bank work to allow any pedestrians a sight line down onto the river. As an added bonus we came across a common frog, Rana temporaria, and two common toads, Bufo bufo, which is one of Lewisham’s priority action species.

An excerpt from Lewisham Council’s Biodiversity Action Plan ‘A Natural Renaissance for Lewisham (2021-2026)’

Amphibian species populations are declining at an alarming rate globally and despite its
name and that it is found throughout Britain the Common Toad is not so common anymore. A study in 2016 found a significant decline (68%) of the species in the UK since 1980s with an even steeper decline in South East England (www.froglife.org)

Common Toads breed in ponds but spend most of their lives on land away from water, walking (and not hopping) around at night looking for slugs, snails, spiders and other invertebrates. They spend winter buried under log piles, stones, leaf litter or compost heaps. Adult toads usually migrate back to their birth pond to breed which is becoming
more and more difficult with fences and busy roads blocking their way in urban areas. The disappearance of ponds in gardens and open spaces and two amphibian diseases (Ranavirus and Chytridiomycosis) pose further threats to toads. The Common Toad is protected from trade and sale under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) and was identified as a priority species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan in 2007.

References
– Volunteer Conservation Action Data Reveals Large-Scale and Long-Term Negative Population
Trends of a Widespread Amphibian, the Common Toad (Bufo bufo); Petrovan SO, Schmidt BR
(2016) Volunteer Conservation Action Data Reveals Large-Scale and Long-Term Negative
Population Trends of a Widespread Amphibian, the Common Toad (Bufo bufo). PLOS ONE
– https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69/schedule/5
– https://www.froglife.org/what-we-do/education/london-t-o-a-d/
– https://www.gardenwildlifehealth.org/

Emily M 3 Rivers Clean Up, Lewisham Rivers, Volunteer

Dates for your Diary!

2023 dates for the 3RiversCleanUp is 17th June – 15th July

The 3RiversCleanUp is an annual, intensive series of volunteering events that aims to improve and maintain the Rivers Pool, Quaggy and Ravensbourne that flow through Lewisham, Greenwich and Bromley.  The events are organised by a unique partnership between the Environment Agency, environmental groups and local authorities.

The first 3RiversCleanUp took place in 2008 with the main aim to control the growth of Himalayan Balsam along the rivers. Himalayan Balsam is an invasive non-native plant that spreads quickly, clogging up river banks and reducing biodiversity. It shades and crowds native species and causes riverbank erosion, leading to an increase in the risk of flooding.

Volunteers are still needed to help maintain these valuable local spaces for people and wildlife.

Read more about the 3RiversCleanUp on the event’s website at https://3riverscleanup.co.uk/ and keep an eye out for more details!

Emily M Lewisham Rivers, Volunteer

Volunteer Sessions in December

As usual, the Rivers & People volunteers have been busy keeping the rivers in Lewisham in good shape! A day of bramble bashing at the backwater in Ladywell Fields South took the brash line back by about 2 meters, which is great not only for regaining the visibility of the river but also protects the meadow area from any encroaching bramble! All the cut bramble was bundled and used in a brash pile within the nearby woodland.

Bramble Bashing in Ladywell Fields

Further upstream in the River Ravensbourne volunteer Donna cleared all the litter and fallen twigs from the Turning Tree sculpture in the channel, look at transformation below!

Turning Tree sculpture in Ladywell Fields

A river wade and litter pick also took place in the Manor House Gardens stretch of the River Quaggy, although chilly it was a fantastic day to be in the river!

River wade in Manor House Gardens
Emily M Lewisham Rivers, River Ravensbourne, Volunteer

Volunteer Sessions in November

The Rivers & People volunteers have been all across the borough this month despite the very wet weather. The volunteer team have opened up one of ponds in Chinbrook Meadows, by cutting back some of the overhanging willows and removing the encroaching sedge and grasses. They also got into the River Quaggy to unblock the channel from a fallen tree, the bankside volunteers then used the bras cutting to create a habitat pile further into the woodland.

The team also visited Brookmill Park to do a quick kick sample for the Riverfly Monitoring Partnership. Although it is later in the year it was interesting to find a selection of freshwater invertebrates such as caddisfly larvae, leeches, freshwater hoglouse, mayfly nymphs. After our short sampling session the volunteers worked to clear a section of the overgrown bramble on the bank, so that any park visitors using the pathway can now see the River Ravensbourne. We only clear half the sections in winter to keep some coverage for birds to forage in whilst maintaining a view of the river.

As a pre-festive period treat, you should visit your local blue space and see the wildlife that’s about. Black headed gulls, kingfishers and grey wagtails are common sights in ponds and on the river around the borough. If you do spot anything please do share your sightings with @GlendaleLew as we’d love to know!