From the River Lea and River Colne to the globally rare chalk streams such as the Mimram, Beane, and Rib, Hertfordshire is home to some of the UK’s most threatened and ecologically important freshwater habitats.

These rivers support a rich diversity of wildlife and support some of our most vulnerable species, including critically endangered Water Voles, wild Brown Trout, Kingfishers, and aquatic plants, such as Water Crowfoot - yet they face a continuing threat from pollution, over-abstraction, urban development, and the growing impacts of climate change.

Sarah Perry, River Catchment Coordinator at Herts and Middlesex Trust says,

“There are only 260 chalk streams in the world, and our patch is home to 10% of this global resource. These precious river systems have historically faced significant challenges from human activities and they face the well-documented problems of pollution, over-abstraction and the growing impacts of climate change, with drought and flooding episodes becoming more frequent. But, despite this, there are solutions to restore the health of our rivers and our connection with them. Through building awareness, engagement, expertise, funding, and partnership working, our strong portfolio of projects show that collectively we can make a difference and look forward to healthier rivers flowing through our communities, with wildlife thriving in abundance. We can be the change that we want to see for our rivers.”

Six examples of the Trust’s recent river ‘wins’:

1. River Lea – Connecting wildlife and people, and improving resilience

Thanks to funding from the Government’s Species Survival Fund and National Highways ‘Network for Nature’, the Trust has managed a significant two-year project to restore the River Lea, connecting their Lemsford Springs and Stanborough Reedmarsh Nature Reserves.

The Trust undertook major works on their Lemsford Springs Nature Reserve to improve its resilience to flood events and work with natural processes to manage the reserve for a range of wildlife including the largest overwintering population of Green Sandpipers in the UK. A new backwater was created on site, enabling juvenile fish species such as Barbel, Roach and Dace, to take refuge when the river is in full flood flow. Alongside this, two new ponds were created and one existing pond was enlarged to provide better breeding habitat for frogs and dragonflies.

At Stanborough Park, woody habitat has been introduced to the River Lea to provide cover for fish and the reedbed at Stanborough Reedmarsh Nature Reserve has been restored. A new wetland area has been created close to ‘Splashlands’ playground, providing visitors to the park the opportunity to see wildlife such as dragonflies, damselflies and a variety of pond plants close-up. The Trust has also run training days to educate and inform anglers and park staff, and very soon the public will benefit from interpretation boards, which will introduce them to some of the river’s and wetland’s wild inhabitants. 

2. River Quin – Encouraging community connection 

A project started earlier this month to restore a 300m stretch of the river at Braughing and create one big wetland on Parish Council land, thanks to funding from the Government’s Species Survival Fund. This will form an engagement point, where local people walk, meet and congregate. A pond-dipping platform and interpretation board will enable the more curious to explore what dwells within their local wetland.

3. River Stort – Creating a better future for fish

Thanks to funding from the Government’s Species Survival Fund, on the River Stort, at Stansted Bury Farm near Roydon, 800m of river has been restored, including a new Kingfisher nesting pad, and the creation of a backwater. Large wood has gone into the river to provide a refuge for wild Brown Trout, whilst the regraded banks and fresh gravel provide ideal conditions for Water Vole to forage and the fish to spawn.

4. River Mimram – Bringing people together for nature’s recovery

Thanks to funding from the Environment Agency, the Trust’ Chalk Rivers and Farm Advisory Officer is working on a catchment-wide project in collaboration with and supporting landholders, communities, and stakeholders, to improve the flow, resilience and ecological health of the River Mimram, which begins near Whitwell and joins the River Lea near Hertford. The project is supporting landholders to achieve improvements to the river’s health with the creation and delivery of restoration and management plans, as well as ongoing monitoring to assess collective progress.

5. Upper River Lea - Bringing species back

Earlier this month, 100 Water Voles were reintroduced to the Upper River Lea. In the past 10 years the Trust has worked with landholders to care for rivers to improve them such that these critically endangered mammals can be reintroduced. Water Voles are a vital component of a healthy river ecology - their burrowing and grazing helps maintain riverbanks and improve biodiversity, whilst their varied diet of a a huge range of plants species helps seed distribution and helps to maintain varied plant cover. They are an important part of the food chain too. This reintroduction project has been funded as part of the Projects for Nature Platform. 

6. Herts Rivers Week – Loving what we have 

In May this year, the Trust launched the first ever Herts Rivers Week to celebrate our local rivers, raise awareness of their importance and encourage the public to take action for their future protection. A full programme of events took place, encouraging engagement and was made possible due to funding from the Government's Species Survival Fund with support from the Environment Agency, CaSTCo and Affinity Water. The Trust is planning for this to be an annual programme of events.

To find out more about the Trust’s Living Rivers project and how it is aims to protect and improve Hertfordshire’s precious chalk streams go to hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/living-rivers