The project in Rother was set up through funding with a Making It Happen grant from Rother Voluntary Action. Strandliners is working with community groups and individuals for waterside walks and simple surveys in their local area. Being close to water has been shown to improve our wellbeing and connectedness to nature. We undertake simple water quality monitoring and observe wildlife, and the data collected builds a picture of river health across the Rother catchment.
Events for the pilot projects have now finished. Thank you to all those who have taken part.
We will be continuing in Rother next year. If you know of any group that would be interested in discovering their local waterways, please let us know.
We produce a Community River Watch newsletter with the latest results and the upcoming dates. If you are interested in receiving this, please email.
What will we be looking for?
We have our own survey forms for the water testing, incorporating elements from other organisations. We also use 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, this is just for information.
This will be 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.
The Rother Catchment
The Rother catchment drains almost 1,000 square km of land in East Sussex and Kent, the largest and longest river being the River Rother. The catchment has a unique collection of river systems and man-made canals and includes the network of ditches, streams and sewers of the Romney Marsh and the 28 mile Royal Military Canal.
The Rother rises near Rotherfield in Wealden district of East Sussex and flows for 35 miles through East Sussex and Kent to its mouth on Rye Bay on the English Channel. Along its course, it is joined by the Rivers Limden and Dudwell at Etchingham, the River Darwell to the north of Robertsbridge, and the Brede and Tillingham Rivers which join it at Rye before it discharges to the sea. For the final 14 miles the river bed is below the high tide level, and the Scots Float sluice is used to control water levels. The sluice prevents salt water entering the river system at high tides, and retains water in the river during the summer months to ensure the health of the surrounding marsh habitat. Below the sluice, the river is tidal for 3.7 miles. It is navigable from Bodiam to Rye
Harbour.
Romney Marsh, including Dungeness, is the largest coastal wetland habitat and is one of the most important wildlife sites in the world – protected at a Global, European and UK levels. The area is home to species found hardly anywhere else in the UK and it is also a crossroads for migrating birds. The Marsh has no boundaries but it incorporates one of the largest wild and stable vegetated shingle landscapes in the world supporting a rich and diverse wildlife and a wide and unique variety of uncommon plants, insects and spiders. It is designated a National Nature Reserve (NNR), Special Protection Area (SPA) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye are also designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
