I’ve joined South Cumbria Rivers Trust as a Project Officer for the EU LIFE 4ever Kent project. I have experience in hydro-ecology and geomorphology as I previously worked as a hydro-ecologist. As part of this I’ve previously worked on fish pass designs, fish habitat surveys and fluvial geomorphological walkovers. As a new project officer, I will primarily be working on the EU LIFE4ever Kent project which sets out to restore and revitalise the River Kent Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)…

Two Months Blog I am now two months into my role as a Project Officer and have loved learning new aspects of my job, as well as developing my own projects! Since last month I have started learning more about Crayfish, something I am really interested in. Cumbria is home the UK’s only native species of crayfish, the White-Clawed Crayfish. This species is at risk due to factors such as pollution, sedimentation, and the spread of the crayfish plague by…

One Month I have officially been a project officer for a month! Over the last couple of weeks, I have been busy completing walkover surveys to identify possible new projects. These took place in both the Poaka and Winster catchments, which gave me a chance to explore both places a bit more. It also gave me a great opportunity to put some of what I had learnt in the first two weeks to use, not only spotting issues but also…

Week 1: I started my new role as a Project Officer for SCRT just over two weeks ago and I have learnt a lot since. On my first day, I had a few introductory meetings to learn the basic protocols of the trust alongside my first look at my probation plan, which outlines my targets for the next three months. This day also gave me a nice opportunity to meet the rest of the team as everyone came in and…

January 2020- Blog by Roxanne Diaz, World Fish Migration Foundation Communications Manager © Jeremy Monroe Migratory fishes are a strong, remarkable group of species. There are more than 1,100 freshwater species which migrate a distance of more than 100 km; some swim over 11,000 km over the course of their lifetimes. They navigate using the currents, magnetic fields, and with their sense of taste and smell. Migratory fish are a crucial link in the food chain and play an important role…

Hi again, I am now over three months into the role! Since my last blog, I have been busy, like everyone else in the Trust! I attended the Barrow Community Rivers Day, hosted by SCRT, Barrow Community Kitchen and Tesco Metro. We carried out a litter pick in the morning, with local people and businesses coming to support the day and tidy up next to the river. Even the local paper came to support the clean, which was great publicity…

Hi again everyone. I wanted to give you all an update on how I am getting on and what I have been working on in my second month with SCRT. Since my last blog, I have been relatively office based. Yet, this has provided me with some new and exciting opportunities by expanding my knowledge of ongoing projects to collating important information for policy changes. I have been busy marketing the annual STONE skimming competition, as well as preparing equipment…

Hello, My time undertaking work experience with the South Cumbria Rivers Trust has sadly come to an end. Since my last blog I have been busy out of the office, with the rivers and becks finally returning to their ‘normal’ levels following the recent drought we have managed to undertake our first and probably only electrofishing of the year. The river Bela was the chosen location and although the results were not what we were after, a bad result can…

Hi everyone, I have been here just over a month now and I thought it would be a great opportunity to update you a bit on what has been going on. Firstly, I think I am getting to understand how everyone takes their tea, a very important thing to get right in this office as I am sure you all understand how important a good cup of tea is! My time has been split between being in the office preparing…

A big hello to you all, I’m Rachael and I have just started with South Cumbria Rivers Trust. I have been engaged by SCRT as a Project Support Officer who also deals with the administration and publicity of the trust. I do not have a background in Ecology, Geo-morphology or even Geo-hydrology but I do have an olgy..oh yes.. Psychology. It may prove a useful tool as I navigate myself around this new role! I am well under way with…