Riverfly Monitoring on the Ouzel
Published: 17/09/24
The Parks Trust recently hosted a riverfly monitoring training course for volunteers and staff from the Upper Beford and Ouse Catchment Partnership. This course, led by John Findlay, the Environment Agency's Citizen Science lead, was funded through Anglian Water's 'Get River Positive' scheme.
Riverfly Monitoring Initiative (RMI) is a national citizen science project that uses a standardised technique to monitor river water quality and detect pollution incidents based on the presence and abundance of certain invertebrate groups. By holding a net downstream and kicking the bed of the river to disturb the sediment and vegetation, invertebrates like mayfly and caddisfly larvae and freshwater shrimp can be captured in a mesh kick sampling net.
Trained volunteers then identify and count the different groups of invertebrates in their sample. Each group receives a score based on quantity: the higher the score, the better the water quality. Not every creature collected contributes to the score; the target groups have been chosen as they are highly sensitive to environmental changes and can provide an early indication of water quality issues before they become visible. A significant dip in the score from one sampling session to the next may suggest a pollution event.
The surveys are repeated several times throughout the year, with results submitted to a national database. In the event of a trigger level breach, surveyors would contact their local Environment Agency representative or RMI coordinator to enable incidents to be flagged and addressed promptly. This is conducted along routine monitoring by other environmental bodies like the Environment Agency and helps provide us with a clearer picture of our water quality in Milton Keynes.
These surveys must be conducted by trained individuals with permission from The Parks Trust. Please do not enter the water yourself. If you are interested in our volunteer river monitoring work, you can contact info@theparkstrust.com for more information.