River Monitoring
Fineshade Brook
River Monitoring
Rockingham Forest lies between two major rivers, the Nene to the east and the Welland to the northwest. (Read more here.)
There are opportunities for volunteers to get involved in monitoring both rivers and their tributaries through the work of the Nene Rivers Trust and, for the Welland, the East Mercia Rivers Trust.
New for 2027 - volunteers needed for the Nene and its tributaries
Nene Rivers Trust (NRT) are in the early stages of setting up a new monitoring programme, in association with the nationwide Riverfly Network . and the Wildlife Trusts. The programme will carry out water quality assessment through invertebrate surveys in a similar way to the previous River Warden project.
The NRT team are keen to build a network of individuals and /or volunteer groups in the area and from 2027 they will be offering training on how to survey local watercourses. This will involve finding a suitable monitoring location and then carrying out Riverfly sampling on a regular basis, sorting and identifying the samples, recording the results and submitting the data.
If you are interested in getting involved, please get in touch with the NRT team
As part of the Building the Links for Rockingham Forest Project, East Mercia Rivers Trust recruited a network of volunteer River Wardens to carry out water quality testing across all the watercourses of the Rockingham Forest.
33 people attended the River Warden Training courses and over 90 surveys were carried out. A huge thank you to all the volunteers who have taken part in the project!
The citizen scientists used the FreshWater Watch method to record the following.
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Basic visual observations of their chosen local waterbody, such as the surrounding land use, pollution sources, and algae.
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Nutrient levels, using simple water-chemistry testing kits that measure the presence of nitrates and phosphates.
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Turbidity (i.e., how clear or cloudy the water is), using a special optical test called a Secchi Tube.
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A summary of the results can be seen by downloading this short report.
Further detail can be found on the FreshWater Watch website - Explore our data | FreshWater Watch
As well as training on water quality testing, we undertook water safety training with Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue, and Priority Habitat Training with the Freshwater Biological Association. (see below)
The River Wardens project finished in 2024, but it was hoped that future funding would allow Citizen Scientists to get back out and learn more about the health of our local rivers and streams.
Former River Wardens project
Discovering Priority Habitats
The freshwater monitoring initiative wasg delivered in partnership between Natural England and the Freshwater Biological Association. They aimed to train people as citizen scientists to carry out ‘naturalness assessments’ on smaller rivers, streams, and lakes; areas that usually get missed by traditional monitoring methods. The collected data helped inform Natural England to identifyg and prioritise waterbodies for protection and restoration, as well as providing local communities with accessible information about the condition of their local water habitats.
Have a look at the Freshwater Biological Association's website for more details about this citizen-science initiative.
