Meetings Rivers Exploration Treglasta August 5 2004   B. Stringer          Report  Species  Photos    
     
This was an exploration of a river/ river valley, with James Burke from the Environment Agency and Laurence Couldrick from West Country Rivers Trust.  It was based at Treglasta, St Clether on the top end of the River Inny. It was set up to support a request for information on river life from Charles Cox, who wanted to understand more about what lived in the river running past home and how he could best look after it. About 20 people attended the meeting in lovely weather and we spent a large amount of time engrossed in catching and identifying a huge amount of river life.

Dr Laurence Couldrick, project manager for education at West Country RiversTrust (WRT), says "We’re happy to come along and share our knowledge about the river. It raises awareness of the need to protect and improve the environment for future generations".  WRT is getting more involved in providing educational courses.

Report (Charles Cox)  I knew of course that the river has a life of its own and that the lives of others depend upon it. I knew, vaguely, that it was full of life. It flows just a dozen yards from the door and bounds our boggy field, so herons and dippers and ducks and dragonflies are familiar sights. But I wanted to know more. What are those blobs of jelly you find under stones? Why are grayling so localised? How do plants and tiny invertebrates hang on when the flood waters roar and churn above them? When is a larva a nymph? What about erosion, pollution?

There were a lot of questions and the meeting of the combined Wildlife Groups at Treglasta set out to answer at least some of them - and so it did. But as we rambled slowly up the Inny in the sunshine, lifting stones, listening to our two experts, squinting through lenses at caddis fly cases or leeches, it seemed that each answer spawned more questions. The more we saw, the more there was to see. I knew that the river was full of life, but I never knew just how rich and diverse it was.

So much observation and information is impossible to assimilate in one morning. Already I have forgotten details that I promised I would remember. But I know that we needn’t prune the overhanging branches; that we must get a special nest box for the kingfishers; and that I live next door not just to brown trout and damsel flies, but to stone loach and lampreys. And I am the happier for knowing it.

Our thanks to James Burke  and Laurence Couldrick for sharing their expertise and enthusiasm, and to all who came on what was to us a memorable and completely pleasing occasion. Not the least fascinating aspect of the day was looking at our everyday surroundings through the eyes of others, and being reminded of how much there is to see on our own doorstep. Please can we do it again?