News

South Cumbria Rivers Trust are setting up a new volunteer led Windermere Community Partnership. Following in the footsteps of the Coniston and Crake Catchment Partnership and the Duddon River Association, this will be a local partnership covering the whole Windermere catchment. SCRT are the DEFRA appointed hosts of the South Cumbria catchment partnership, Becks to Bay. Becks to Bay is part of the national catchment based approach initiative, which ‘looks at activities and issues in the wider catchment as a whole, rather than…

The LIFE R4Ever Kent project is a year old, can you believe it?! So what’s the project, what’s been done and what improvements have been made to the River Kent so far? The Project This 5-year project aims to restore the River Kent SAC and revitalise its designated habitat and species including Freshwater Pearl Mussels, Bullhead, White clawed crayfish, Ranunculion fluitantis and Callitricho Batrachion habitat. It also aims to ensure a more sustainable management of its catchment and increase species…

South Cumbria Rivers Trust led a group of students from St Thomas’ school in Kendal, in planting over 600 trees in the Longsleddale valley this week. The planting scheme is part of a wider project in the catchment, namely the Cumbrian River Restoration Strategy funded by the Environment Agency and the R4Ever LIFE Kent Restoration project funded by a grant from the European Union. We took the decision to plant these trees without the use of tree guards and stakes…

As the festive season is here, the SCRT offices will be closed from Monday 26th December – Tuesday 3rd January. We want to thank everyone for your valued support in 2022 and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Here’s to 2023!

Cumbrian river restoration programme scoops the prestigious European Riverprize. We are honoured and humbled to be a part of the ambitious programme to restore and improve rivers across Cumbria, which has just been awarded the prestigious European Riverprize. The Environment Agency and Natural England set up this forward thinking programme in 2010 and we at SCRT have been there since its inception. Over the past 12 years, the partnership has continued to grow and now includes Eden Rivers Trust, West…

The Cumbrian River Restoration Strategy (CRRS) has reached the finals for the prestigious European River Prize 2022. This Environment Agency/Natural England led strategy aims to restore natural river processes in Cumbria. The CRRS was developed to improve the form and function of three catchment areas, the Rivers Eden, Derwent and Kent, Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) for the benefit of people and wildlife. Historically, modifications were made to our rivers before it was…

Our colleague Bekka Corrie-Close is leaving us, after almost 13 years working for the Trust. Bekka started as a volunteer for SCRT, Electrofishing on the River Bela, before becoming the Cumbria Freshwater Invasive Non-Native Species Officer in 2010. Since then, Bekka has become an expert in her field as well as a much respected, hardworking member of the team. Bekka is leaving to focus on her farm in South Cumbria and we wish her all the best for the future!…

This summer, SCRT and partners removed Bowston weir. This is the first major weir to be removed on the River Kent, Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation (SSSI/SAC). Why you ask? Well by removing weirs, you can restore a rivers form and function, reduce flooding, improve fish migration, improve biodiversity and improve navigation for river users! River restoration really does provide us with so many benefits including to help make our rivers more climate resilient for…

The River Kent system sees another weir removed. This follows on from the first major weir removed this summer in Bowston by SCRT. In September, we removed a small weir on a tributary of the River Mint, part of the Kent system, after months of preparatory work. Emma Wright, project officer for the LIFE R4ever Kent project, has spearheaded the removal in order to help improve the form and function of Lambrigg beck. Removal is the second phase of a…

September is now over, which means so is our annual Electrofishing programme. Electofishing is a monitoring technique used to assess the health and abundance of fish species in our becks and rivers. This year we have had our busiest yet, with a full summer programme of days, between June and September. We asked for the help of volunteers to lend a hand and we had a fantastic response, with many dates being oversubscribed. Thank you to everyone who contributed to…