Luke Massey
“Imagine you came home to find that somebody had put a road block in front of your house, and you were no longer able to go there. Well, that’s exactly what’s happened to fish in our rivers.” Darren Tansley, Wilder Rivers and Protected Species Manager, says that it’s more important than ever to care about Essex’s rivers. As part of this, we've been working to remove barriers to fish migration across the country.
Ben and Darren, the Rivers Team
For World Rivers Day, Ben Mott, Wilder Rivers Officer, has written a blog that highlights why rivers are important for wildlife, the challenges facing them, and why we rely on them.
This year we have continued to address the issue of plastic tree guards by launching a plastic tree guard recycling hub at Abbotts Hall nature reserve. So far, around 5,000 plastic tree guards have been dropped off at the hub – that’s around 4.5 hectares of planting, all removed from the environment.
This has been a huge team effort and we than all the individuals and organisations supporting and partnering in this initiative including Essex and Suffolk Water, Tubex Tree Shelters, Forestry Commission, Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, Forest Plastics Working Group and our Investors in Wildlife.
In preparation for the winter ahead, the team and volunteers at Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park started the winter cut at the top of Grays Gorge. Valuable wildflower habitat remains uncut within these areas to support wildlife such as voles and toads. This month, they were also joined by a corporate group of volunteers that carried out the labour-intensive work of clearing scrub. The team reported thousands of bees flying low and buzzing within the bank, but these pollinators are not disturbed by this work.
Remember, if you want to prepare for the spring ahead, you can still get your seeds from our Nature Discovery Centres. Help us create a wildflower network across Essex, and plot your patch on our virtual map.
