The last few months have been a mixture of getting to know some communities and their respective local stretch of river alongside training and fieldwork.
Back in July I joined the Friends of the River Kelvin (FoRK) on one of their regular litter picks along the banks of the River Kelvin and more recently I organised and delivered some community consultation activities with the community of Twechar
The litter pick with FoRK was a useful opportunity to see first-hand how the river benefits from the hard work of volunteers. It was also useful to explore the value river users other than anglers and school children place on their local river, and to discuss their concerns and interests regarding the river.
Similarly, the consultation event with Twechar was extremely useful for gathering information on people’s thoughts about the Board Burn. The river is valued highly by the community even though it’s acknowledged that there’s room for improvement in the future – I’m looking forward to working with this community in the near future to improve their river.
Mapping views of the Board Burn
The interests, issues and wishes of the people of Twechar on the Board Burn
Some of the fish living in the Board Burn
Aside from this, electrofishing surveys have been in full swing with the Clyde River Foundation during the last couple of months and I’ve been out and about meeting some of the fish living in the tributaries of the River Clyde, as well as putting my recently attained Introduction to Electrofishing SQA qualification into practice!
Last weekend, I also had an enjoyable and busy day helping out with various wildlife surveys at Edinburgh Zoo’s Bioblitz whilst promoting TCV’s citizen science work. The zoo wildflower garden was a great spot for introducing people to wildlife recording and I’m pleased that we found an excellent range of species throughout the day from white-tailed bumblebees to Devil’s coach-horse beetles and kestrels to common frogs!
Thanks for reading…..