Every year our Rivers & People volunteers take part in the PlasticBlitz scheme run by Thames21. This is a 2 week period where we itemise exactly what types of litter and any prevalent brands that we are finding in our rivers and their banks in Lewisham.
In the beginning of July we were still in the midst of the #3RiversCleanUp, so our wonderful volunteers were busy removing Himalayan balsam from our waterways. There was less balsam on the catchment than in previous years, testament to our volunteers fantastic efforts each year. We do have a few sites lower down the catchment, like Brookmill Park, which are hit harder by the invasive plant, but it’s still no match for our volunteer effort!
Later in the month, we started on a plastic clearance project in the middle of Lewisham town centre. Wading upstream from Cornmill Gardens we’d identified a fallen willow earlier in the year which needed a bit of maintenance so it didn’t block the whole width of the channel and to remove all the plastic detritus that had been caught by it. As a rule we don’t remove all deadwood/ fallen branches from the river as they create brilliant ecological niches for some animals to use. In this case a whole shoal of chub were sheltering behind it in the still water, perfect spawning and sheltered space for young fish.
Amongst the litter we do occasionally come across offerings to the river, in most circumstances we do leave these within the water as most are made of materials that eventually break down, and it’s wonderful to see people have that connection with our rivers. Unfortunately we do sometimes find plastic offerings, or items within plastic bags that need to be removed for the health of the river.
First up in June, our team of volunteers tackled the weir in Ladywell Fields, next to the Kenneth White Bridge and hospital. At this time of year the water level is low enough to allow us safe access onto the gabions to clear any obstructions caught on the weir itself. The larger area of branches and brash on the side gets removed by the Environment Agency periodically.
Heading downstream and through the secondary channel we found this old Sainsbury’s reward card which expired in Dec 1999! Shows how long plastics will remain in our environment and waterways.
Elsewhere in the catchment, the lovely riverfly monitoring volunteers Tom and Julia were in the middle field in Ladywell fields performing a kick sample.
The volunteer session programme has now been released for October to December 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.
May was a month of variety with tasks. Starting off with a wade from Ladywell Fields (North) to Riverdale Sculpture Park, where we both litter picked and did some maintenance on lower tree branches/ fallen trees that were blocking the river channel.
Following that session, we spent a few weeks finishing off our berm in Ladywell Fields (Middle). The horizontal struts were put in to secure the added soil and brash bundles to the banks, a ridge to catch silt in the winter months when the river flows higher, and some finishing touches of planting pendulous sedge.
Heading to the River Quaggy later in the month meant climbing into the channel in Manor House Gardens and working our way up towards Lee High Road. Here we focused on a thorough litter pick to remove anything that had been dropped in (Especially near pedestrian bridges). One in particular a hotspot for disposable vapes- which we recycle separately due to the lithium batteries
April has been a month of building and fixing for our team of volunteers. Starting the month with rebuilding the steps to the river in Brookmill Park to clearing the boardwalk in Chinbrook Meadows of encroaching vegetation. At Chinbrook Meadows we were working along the River Quaggy’s floodplain removing dominant nettles in two areas to allow for a richer, more diverse array of plants to grow.
We’ve also had some trying weather on some days, with thunderstorms and hail during tea breaks to whipping wind whilst wading (quite a tongue twister there!)
Lewisham’s river is also diverse in it’s appearance, with some areas still being fully encased in concrete and ominous to approach to wonderfully wild and green spaces. Just upstream and downstream from Cornmill Gardens you can find nature competing with street art for the wall space, creating stunning pockets tucked under developments.
March has seen our volunteers working in the ponds adjacent to some of Lewisham’s rivers. Mid-March generally marks the common toad migration in London, and as one of our 8 priority species within Lewisham we survey the ponds and migration routes at this time of year. Our volunteer sessions changed from morning and afternoon to being ‘in the parks after dark’, one of these ponds that we surveyed was Bell Green Pond (alongside and connected to the River Pool). Common frogs, smooth newts & common toads all found, with common toads seen in mating pairs and toadspawn present.
Onto another set of ponds in the borough, but this time brand new ponds being planted up by Thames21 and our volunteers. Purple Loosestrife, Brooklime, Yellow Flag Iris are a few of the plant species that have recently been planted in.
February was a busy and very wet working month for our volunteers, we fixed brash bundles into our berm in our ongoing Ladywell Fields (middle field) project and weaved the main ‘wall’ of the structure with coppiced hazel and lime that was situated alongside the river.
For the latter half of the month we were digging out reeds, iris and encroaching grasses from the ephemeral pool alongside the secondary channel in Ladywell Fields. Although the recent wet weather made it easier to dig the soil, it was still a heavy and very mucky task to do!
It’s January and the Rivers & People volunteers are back in the water! After heavy rain and storms you’ll notice that the banks collect both litter and fallen branches. some of which restrict the flow of the river and mean that the banks burst. Our group started the year at Cornmill Gardens and was busy clearing the dipping platform of debris. We also managed to collect 8 bags of rubbish and a bicycle from the banks, collected by the Glendale park cleansing team.
At Chinbrook Meadows, our volunteers continued cutting back the overhanging willows and other trees around the pond to allow more light onto the water’s surface. Whilst there we cleared an obstruction in the River Quaggy to reduce localised flooding onto the path adjacent.
Rivers & People is one of many projects and organisations where you can get involved with the Ravensbourne Catchment, here’s a short list of some of our friends also working in Lewisham, and neighbouring boroughs:
If you know of any other groups, organisations of projects that should be added to this list, please feel free to get in touch and we’ll get them added!
Rivers and People 