Author: JW

A lot has happened on the River Sid over the last year. Here’s a look back in the press on the local news and themes of 2025 and before – from balsam bashing to dredging, from fishing to fish ladders (or the continuing lack of […]

Over the last months, the School has put together an extraordinary and ambitious project – its Confluence – the River Sid and Its Tributaries, which brings people, ideas, knowledge and action together to protect, conserve and enhance the river and its tributaries. [And there are some great photos […]

A couple of weeks ago, when no fish were caught during the River Sid fish lift event, it was suggested quite reasonably by RSCG chair Charles Sinclair that “the large number of fish jumping last week have vacated the weir pool, probably because of predation by cormorants.” Indeed, […]

As reported in the Herald, no fish were caught during the River Sid fish lift event a week ago, but volunteers are confident about the future: Charles Sinclair, chair of the River Sid Catchment Group, said: “A fascinating though disappointing result from the fish lift today. The large number […]

We were giving fish a helping hand up the Sid, yesterday, Tuesday 18th November at School Weir The River Sid Catchment Group were there to catch the ‘fish lift’ – with a short video and report: Thank you to everyone who came to support the annual […]

The Environment Agency have been working at School Weir and helping salmon along the Sid. And in parallel, the Westcountry Rivers Trust are also working along the Sid.  And so, working with these key players and others, the River Sid Catchment Group are looking to restoring the River […]

Art is a wonderful way to engage people in almost anything – and the Sidmouth School of Art has been doing that successfully with several projects – including back in June when some eye-catching River Sid artwork featured on Sidmouth’s Wallspace and this time last year with […]

This time last year, there was a drive at producing a Nature Recovery Strategy for Devon. We now have a Devon Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) which “gives an overview of Devon’s wildlife and sets out priorities and actions to help nature recover. It’s a tool to help […]

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 […]

Recently, the Environment Agency have been working at School Weir along the Sid removing a large bank of river stone – and at the same time they have ‘rescued’ the fish in the pool at the bottom of the weir. As reported by Ed Dolphin: Busy […]