Project Updates: Oldest to latest | Latest to oldest

16/09/2015 14:13: Uncommon plant found on the banks of the River Ecclesbourne

Volunteers have been working hard over summer to help Derbyshire Wildlife Trust restore the banks of the river



and whilst carrying out the work, the unusual plant was found in several areas.







Wood stitchwort only grows on fertile, damp soil and is uncommon in Derbyshire. The herb grows between



20-50cm in height and has five white petals, each with two lobes, so much so it looks as though the flower has ten petals. 







Kay Thompson, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s Water for Wildlife Project Officer said “It is fantastic that Wood stitchwort has been



found in serval areas along the banks of the Ecclesbourne. The volunteer team have been working hard all summer reducing the Himalayan balsam. The presence of this plant and many others along the river banks shows that all our hard work is paying off and the ecosystem around the River Ecclesbourne is recovering.” 







The work along the river Ecclesbourne is part of a project funded by a £69,245 grant from SITA Trust’s Enriching Nature Fund.



Work will be continuing in the Ecclesbourne area until December, if you would like to join the volunteer team, please contact Kay Thompson on 01773 881188.

10/07/2015 09:37: Water for wildlife - Protecting our river habitats

It’s a beautiful clear February afternoon and I have just got back from the second project day of the new phase of the Ecclesbourne Project. I can’t believe how much we have already achieved.

It really looked like it was going to be a nightmare. After two years of hard work restoring the Ecclesbourne Valley, the project ran out of money last Spring. Our project leader Chris Wood had to find another job (now working for National Trust up on the moors) and the long summer days went by while the frustrated volunteer team watched the Himalayan Balsam grow unchecked on the river banks and wondered if we would ever get a chance to get back out there. Eventually most of us drifted away to other things. I, who had been Chris’s voluntary assistant, got stuck into a lot of water vole work.Then, in October, my supervisor asked me if I could do a few days visiting farmers on the Ecclesbourne, seeing if we could get any projects booked.Hooray!

The Ecclesbourne Project was coming back to life!

So now we’re back, having been given £69,245 from SITA to do more habitat and erosion control work in the Ecclesbourne catchment. We’ve got 12 months of work funded and I’ve been employed part time to run organise the projects and do all the admin work. There will be some work for contractors doing big projects such as fencing off river banks etc. The volunteers from last year have, to my surprise, decided that they want to take part so much they are going to do work on the Ecclesbourne AS WELL as all the things they’ve signed up for in the intervening time. From next week we’ll be joined by new recruits garnered through posters, e-mail appeals and my (terrifying!) radio interview on Radio Derby.

Today, in glorious sunshine, we planted a small woodland,with a mix of species picked to mimic a natural woodland in this area of lowland Derbyshire – oaks and birches, with a sprinkling of rowan, crab apple,hawthorn, hazel, cherries and other species. It’s going to be gorgeous.

Last week we did some coppicing along a stream at Millington Green, finishing the day by building an otter holt overlooking a tiny frozen waterfall. It’s such a privilege to be in these secret places of Derbyshire – often well away from roads or footpaths, knowing that what we are doing will make a positive difference.

09/06/2015 09:49: Weaving willow for water quality – it really works!

One of the problems being addressed on the River Ecclesbourne is erosion of the river banks, which is reducing the quality of local habitat for fish, and the cloudy water cogs the gills of fish and the invertebrates they feed on.

In an attempt to solve the issue, volunteers have been weaving living willow into the banks of the river, a technique known traditionally as willow spilling. When willow is woven in and around the banks of a river it stabilises the river bank, collecting silt and sediment as well as providing a habitat for invertebrates and fish fry. The reduced amount of sediment on the river bed allows fish to spawn in the gravels which are revealed.

This week the dedicated team returned to the site to find that their partially completed willow section had already collected over eight inches of sediment from the flowing river and that it is successfully preventing erosion in the bank behind - a fantastic example of the effectiveness of ‘soft engineering’ where you use plants rather than concrete or rocks to restore river banks.