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Ribble Rivers Trust Blog
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Community Catchments: Empowering People, Fighting Floods
Rivers across Lancashire and North Yorkshire are receiving a very welcome boost thanks to funding from the Defra £25m Natural Flood Management Fund, which is managed by the Environment Agency. Ribble Rivers Trust, who will be managing the project alongside various partners including Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Heidelberg Materials, and Downham Estate, have been…
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The secret world of rivers: what do healthy rivers look like?
River pollution is hitting the headlines once again. Whilst some river problems provide obvious signs, like visible litter and the smell of sewage, it’s not always easy to tell what healthy rivers look like in comparison to those tainted by pollution. As we already know, rivers are very complex systems that are heavily influenced by…
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Delivering Farm Advice in Lancashire and North Yorkshire
Farming is such an important part of our heritage especially here, in the Ribble catchment, where most of our land is utilised for agriculture and food production. It’s also an important part of our local and national heritage. Over many centuries farming has shaped the landscape that we know and love today. From the rolling…
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Growing Lancashire’s Future: Tree Nurseries Promise New Trees For Lancashire
In a move towards greater sustainability, Ribble Rivers Trust are proud to announce the establishment of another groundbreaking community tree nursery at Grange Community Gardens in Preston. This innovative initiative is designed to transform Lancashire’s landscape whilst engaging the community to secure a greener future for Lancashire’s woodlands. Currently, the majority of the tens of thousands of trees…
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What is Natural Flood Management (NFM)?
Natural Flood Management (NFM) simply means using natural processes to regulate water flow and reduce flood risk. There are many diverse types of NFM strategies which are all slightly different. However, they all have something in common; they all have reconnecting and renaturalising river systems at their core. Here are some of the ways our…
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Riverbank Revival in Blackburn with Darwen
At Ribble Rivers Trust, we believe in the transformative power of nature. So, our upcoming project is more than just a crowdfunding campaign; it’s a journey to create a greener, happier, and more connected community! Through our ambitious crowdfunding campaign, we aim to raise between £2,000 and £5,000. These funds will allow us to create…
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Celebrating the Ribble’s Wonderful Wetlands
Wetlands are among the planet’s most at-risk environments, yet their value to both wildlife and people is massive. These areas of land, whether permanently or seasonally submerged, provide spaces for an array of species specially adapted to call these places home. Estuaries: Where wetlands and Sea meet Estuaries are found on the coast, where rivers…
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Restoring Hasgill Beck: A Brash Bundling Project for Healthy Rivers
Ribble Rivers Trust is embarking on an exciting project to restore the banks of Hasgill Beck, near Stocks Reservoir and Gisburn Forest. The Hasgill brash bundling project aims to combat severe erosion and enhance the natural beauty and biodiversity of the area. Located in the picturesque landscape of the Forest of Bowland, this project aims…
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RiverBlitz- A citizen science approach
What are RiverBlitz events? A RiverBlitz is one-day event where citizen scientists join together to collect information about water quality and biodiversity within a small area. The aim is to collect as much valuable data as possible. In particular, we focus on areas where there are gaps in knowledge, to help guide our future work…
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What Is River Restoration?
River restoration is at the heart of everything we do, and every day our dedicated team are on the ground working to improve our rivers for wildlife and people. But what exactly is river restoration, and is it really that important? In short, river restoration aims to restore a river to the most natural state…
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The Battle of the Balsam!
Instantly recognizable thanks to its pretty pink flowers, Himalayan Balsam is present at the sides of most of the Ribble catchments watercourses. Despite providing a gorgeous display of sweetly scented flowers, this plant is one of our top environmental offenders! join the battle! It’s not all doom and gloom though, as it can be tackled.…
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Wave Hello To Cleaner Beaches This Summer
Ribble Rivers Trust, in collaboration with Fylde council, has launched a people focussed campaign to combat litter and inspire Lancashire residents to “wave hello to cleaner beaches” this summer. The campaign aims to raise awareness about the detrimental impact of litter, encompassing issues such as food waste, packaging, dog waste, and plastic pollution on our…
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Breaking down barriers in the River Douglas Catchment
An epic three-year river engineering project has drawn to a successful close this summer. The Opening Up The River Douglas (OUR Douglas) project, delivered by Lancashire based charity Ribble Rivers Trust, has seen the modification or removal of eight river blocking barriers and weirs in the River Douglas catchment. OUR Douglas commenced work in 2020…
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Ernest Cook Grant; Helping Young People Connect With Nature
Ribble Rivers Trust has benefited from a £15,000 grant from UK educational charity The Ernest Cook Trust, which is aimed at helping get young people outdoors. Spread across three years, the grant is helping to fund the salary of an Outdoor Learning Officer to run the Coastal Explorers Project. The project will engage with hundreds…
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A Week In The Life Of; The River Education Team
Have you every wondered what it’s like to work in river education? Our latest series of guest blog posts explains more about our team, their work, and what this means for their day to day life. This time we’re hearing from Christi Lloyd, our Education Officer. Christi explains what her role involves, and what her…
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Inland Bathing Waters; what does it mean?
In the UK, we have over 600 bathing water sites, but just two of those are inland bathing waters. Earlier last year Ribble Rivers Trust launched Safe to Splash. Our campaign for bathing water status. Ribble Rivers Trust submitted our application back in October and our aim is to secure bathing water status for a…
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Ged Beck; channel re-wiggling for a natural river
An exciting new river restoration project is now underway on the Lancashire and North Yorkshire border. The project, which is based near Halton West, aims to restore and re-wiggle a 144 meter section of Ged Beck to make way for a more natural river system.
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Trout in the Classroom
Today’s children are tomorrow’s river guardians- that’s why primary education programmes like Trout in the Classroom are so important to us! Our Rivers in the Classroom education programme brings freshwater science into schools in Lancashire and across the Ribble Catchment.
