Riverfly monitors go out once a month to monitor invertebrate communities using a method developed by The Riverfly Partnership. Kick samples are taken and the abundance of eight key groups of invertebrates, including mayflies and freshwater shrimps, are used to calculate a score. If this value drops below a threshold, it is very likely the river has been polluted and the Environment Agency is contacted to find and solve the problem. The data feeds into a national database that is used to monitor the health of the rivers across the UK.
We currently have monitors working across the Hampshire and Bristol Avon catchments and we are working to re-invigorating our Riverfly monitoring programme this year by engaging new monitors and get as much of rivers in Wiltshire monitored as we can.
If you would like to become a Riverfly monitor or would like some more information, please contact the Water Team at monitoringprojects@wiltshirewildlife.org.