The Westcountry Rivers Trust has been actively involved in work along the River Sid – increasingly so since it looked at the River Otter & Sid a decade ago.
They were commissioned in 2023 by the Sid Valley Biodiversity Group to carry out electrofishing on the Sid which the WRT have repeated since. For the last three years or so, volunteers from the SVBG have been measuring and monitoring along the Sid as the Westcountry Rivers Trust Citizen Science Investigations monitoring team. And for more than a year now, the River Sid Catchment Group has been working with the WRT on projects such as the monthly riverfly monitoring of small river invertebrates.
Looking to the future, the RSCG are interested in creating riparian woodland along the Sid, which might include working with the Rivers Trust who have been developing their Woodlands for Water project with their partners, including the Westcountry Rivers Trust, who are working on projects along the Tamar and Fowey, for example.
And looking at the active social media pages of the WRT, there are all sorts of projects and initiatives which might be of interest and relevance to the River Sid…
For example, today’s look at #FloodActionWeek where “we are working on multiple projects to reduce flood risk in rural catchments that react quickly to rainfall, putting the downstream communities at risk”.
A fascinatingly geeky peek at why different sediment sizes in rivers are important – because diverse sediment = a healthy river!
A focus on the pretty but problematic Himalayan Balsam, which is a fast-growing invasive plant that poses a serious threat to our waterways.
And a celebration on the official ‘Dam Removal Day’ of the WRT’s successful removal of the Chipley Mill Weir as part of the Lemon Partnership Project to Improve Passage, to provide vital upstream access for species such as Atlantic salmon and European eel, and restore natural river function.
Keep an eye on their social media pages for more!
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