The project in Eastbourne and Pevensey Levels was in collaboration with Blue Heart. Strandliners will be working with community groups to undertake simple surveys in their local area. This will include water quality monitoring as well as wildlife surveys (for example dragonflies, butterflies), bird surveys, river health (for example The Big River Watch). All training in water analysis provided. The data we collected has populated Blue Heart’s interactive map and can be compared to data from their automatic water monitoring stations and from other organisations such as the Environment Agency.
We produced a monthly Community River Watch newsletter with the latest results and the upcoming dates.
Upcoming events
The events for this pilot project have now finished. Thank you to everyone who has joined in and helped to direct the future of the project.
What were we looking for?
We had our own survey forms for the water testing, incorporating elements from other organisations. We also used ID leaflets from the Field Studies Council, and some phone apps to help us with wildlife/plant identification. These include Merlin, for bird song; iRecord, for biodiversity identification and recording; Pl@ntNet, for plant identification; and the Big River Watch from The Rivers Trust. Please note, there is no requisite to purchase or download anything. The apps are all free, but this is for information only.
This was a short project from August to November, but our aim is to continue into next year with more extensive training to enable groups to continue monitoring the same areas on a regular basis, promoting an awareness of seasonal changes and knowing what is ‘normal’ so an alert can be raised if there is an unexpected change.
About Pevensey Levels
Pevensey Levels is a 3,600-hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Bexhill-on-Sea and Hailsham. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, a Ramsar site, and a Special Area of Conservation.
Part of the area is a National Nature Reserve and there is a Pevensey Marshes nature reserve managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust.
This is a large area of wetland grazing meadows intersected by a network of ditches. It has many nationally rare invertebrates. It may be the best site in Britain for freshwater mollusc fauna, including the endangered shining ram’s-horn snail. It also has one nationally rare and several nationally scarce aquatic plants, and it is of national importance for lapwing.