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Ribble Rivers Trust Blog


  • Terrific trees and wonderful woodlands- why we plant trees
    Terrific trees and wonderful woodlands- why we plant trees

    With help from grants, donations, supporters, and volunteers we’ve planted over 150,000 trees across more than 180 hectares in the last 21 years. Over winter 2019/2020 we will be planting another 10,000 trees, with an even bigger number planned for winter 2020/2021. It’s safe to say that the catchment is looking greener, but why is…

  • Primrose Lodge Blue and Greenway update
    Primrose Lodge Blue and Greenway update

    Ribble Rivers Trust are proud to announce that the first phase of the Primrose Lodge Blue and Greenway Project (PLBGP) is now complete! The first phase of this ambitious plan involved coppicing trees then desilting the redundant mill lodge, as well as clearing the area which, over the decades in which it has remained redundant,…

  • 1000 Rivers Project
    1000 Rivers Project

    Ribble Trust are excited to be taking part in the 1000 Rivers Project. This project, led by the University of Hull aims to take eDNA samples from 1000 rivers in the British Isles, Continental Europe, and Canada. The Trust will be collecting 5 samples from the Ribble catchment and 5 samples from the Douglas catchment.…

  • Upper Ribble Weirs
    Upper Ribble Weirs

    The Upper Ribble weirs, which are being addressed thanks to our Ribble Life for Water project, are a set of four weirs on the River Ribble close to Horton in Ribblesdale. Despite being close to its source the Ribble is still not achieving ‘good’ status in this location. This is due to a number of…

  • Pendle WINNS and the fight against balsam
    Pendle WINNS and the fight against balsam

    The Trust are now in their second year of the Pendle WINNS invasive species control, which is being carried out in partnership with Forest of Bowland AONB as part of their Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership project. Ribble Rivers Trust is helping the project achieve its aims by involving local volunteers in the control of invasive…

  • Holland Wood fish passage
    Holland Wood fish passage

    Holland wood weir lies on the River Darwen, close to its confluence with the River Ribble and the limit of the tidal Ribble area. The weir once helped to supply Walton Mill, a corn and flour mill in Walton le Dale, Preston, with water. Although the mill, which is now operated by Massey Bros, still…

  • Work Experience, by Emma Tabernacle
    Work Experience, by Emma Tabernacle

    Monday When I arrived, I was met by Jonny who showed me around the office and explained what the trust did and what I would be doing for the week. I then went electrofishing with Adam and Kate. The fish were caught using an electric current relative to the conductivity of the water, which caused…

  • Fishing equipment appeal success!

    Over the last few months we’ve been appealing to the angling community to try and gather together more equipment for our angling coaching, and we are delighted to announce it has been a great success. Thanks to generous contributions we now have a range of equipment including rods, nets, reels, feeders, floats, and much more!…

  • Primrose Lodge Blue and Greenway Project Progress
    Primrose Lodge Blue and Greenway Project Progress

    The Ribble Rivers Trust’s (RRT) ‘Primrose Lodge Blue and Greenway Project’ which is receiving funds from the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government, through the European Regional Development Fund, is now near to commencing work on the site.

  • Michelle’s apprentice success story!

    When I first arrived I knew nothing!  Or at least I felt like I didn’t.  It was something completely new to me and I wasn’t sure if I would make the grade.  However, that soon became irrelevant and unimportant. Changing careers can be a daunting prospect as you can never be totally sure whether it’s…

  • Tidal Ribble
    Tidal Ribble

    The Tidal Ribble area is a unique landscape characterised by large spreads of urban areas and agricultural land, both of which have significant impacts on the quality of water in our rivers and streams, as well as at the coast.  The project looks at working with farmers and communities to try to reduce the amount…

  • Brilliance
    Brilliance

    UPDATED Our first project to restore Blackburn’s rivers is now complete. Bypass channels, or fish passes, have been constructed alongside two large weirs near Hoghton Bottoms and Lower Darwen, these channels will allow fish such as trout, salmon, and eels to migrate further upstream into river habitat that has been inaccessible for decades. The weirs…

  • Ribble Life Together
    Ribble Life Together

    Ribble Life Together is the ambitious flagship project of the Ribble Catchment Partnership, which is made up of environmental organisations, businesses, local authorities and interest groups, all with a vested interest in improving the catchment’s water environment for the benefit of people and wildlife. After a two-year development phase, Ribble Life Together was awarded £1.6…

  • Our latest short films!
    Our latest short films!

    We have had two new short films produced by Northern Heart Films as part of our Ribble Life Together project. The first short film looks at the work we are doing with farmers in the Ribble Catchment, and how it not only benefits our environment, but also the farmers who care for it. The second…

  • Monday 4th February to Friday 15th February 2019: Work experience
    Monday 4th February to Friday 15th February 2019: Work experience

    Monday 4th February to Friday 15th February 2019: Work experience By Henry, St. Christopher’s CE High School   When I arrived, I was met by Ellie, who showed me around and introduced me to all the welcoming staff at the Ribble Rivers Trust. Firstly, I found out what everyone’s roles were, before learning in more…

  • Christmas tree collections: UPDATE
    Christmas tree collections: UPDATE

    UPDATE: Our Christmas tree collection scheme has been a huge success this year with hundreds of Christmas trees collected. These trees will be used in our brash bundling work, where they will provide  support and stability to eroding river banks, helping us to limit river erosion and build river banks back up. We’d like to say a…

  • What’s in our rivers?

    Over the summer the Trust have surveyed over 300 sites across the Ribble catchment. Our survey team do this to monitor fish numbers, particularly salmon and trout numbers. This helps us to gauge the health of our rivers and look for the areas which are doing well, and the areas which seem to be in…

  • Primrose Lodge Blue Greenway Project
    Primrose Lodge Blue Greenway Project

    Primrose Lodge Blue and Greenway Project (PLBGP) is an ambitious project to convert the former Primrose Mill Lodge into a pubic open space within the heart of Clitheroe. The project is receiving £500,768 from the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government, through the European Regional Development Fund, as well as section 106 funding from…