Emily M Lewisham Rivers, Volunteer

Volunteer Sessions in August

August brought the volunteer team some hot weather, so being in the river was a pleasant break from the heat! We started the month working on the boardwalk section of Cornmill Gardens, removing plants that had grown up through teh accessible viewing platform then reducing the vegetation height so you can get a clear view of the river. One bonus from our time at Cornmill was we got to watch Lewisham town centre’s resident peregrine falcons flying overhead!

We’ve also continued the job of clearing eel tiles around the catchment, and monitored the areas where we know siltation happens in backwaters and small channels.

We were also very lucky to have Philippa Nicholls, European Eel Officer, from Thames21 come along to our group and present on London’s European Eel population and some of the challenges and obstacles they face within the Ravensbourne Catchment.

Emily M Volunteer

Rivers & People Volunteer Programme [October – December 2023]

Autumn/ Winter is when we can get many of our hands on practical tasks done as most of the wildlife on the banks are hunkering down for the colder period. Why not join our Tuesday volunteer sessions? 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.

Emily M 3 Rivers Clean Up, Lewisham Rivers, Volunteer

Volunteer Sessions in July

Continuing on from last month, we spent the first couple of weeks in July taking part in the 3 Rivers Clean Up. After 3 weeks of being in river we removed over 5000 Himalayan balsam plants from the River Quaggy and River Ravensbourne.

One fantastic sighting when we were downstream of Manor Park was a large European Eel feeding amongst the gravel riverbed. Can you spot it in the photo below?

Whilst in Manor Park it was also wonderful to look at the bug hotels that the 12th North Lewisham Scout Group have been looking after.

Emily M Rivers, Volunteer

Volunteer Sessions in June

June marks the beginning of the Three Rivers Clean Up, also known as 3RCU, for the London Borough of Lewisham. Rivers & People, Nature’s Gym and various river projects/ user groups combine to make a group effort to remove Himalayan Balsam before it seeds around the banks of the three rivers.

Whilst bashing the Himalayan balsam we also litter pick the channels and take the what3words locations of any other invasive plant species, such as Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed. These plants get treated and tackled by the wider Glendale team, whilst we focus our efforts on the Balsam.

Read more about the 3RCU initiative at https://3riverscleanup.co.uk/

Emily M Rivers, Volunteer

Volunteer Sessions in May

May saw a varied programme for our volunteers, from taking part in the EU-wide Preventing Plastic Pollution‘s #PlasticBlitz event to water quality testing to heavy silt removal in a pond fed by one of Lewisham’s rivers.

We were also joined by a group of students from Goldmith’s University who are looking into prevalence of plastics and invasive species in Rivers in urban areas.

Emily M 3 Rivers Clean Up, Lewisham Rivers, Volunteer

Rivers & People July- September Programme

Summer is when we start tackling some of our invasive species in the river and on the banks, which is both great for the health of the rivers and great at keeping you fit!
Why not join our Tuesday volunteer sessions? The volunteer session programme has now been released for July to September 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 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 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.