Our Rivers Campaign

Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.

(A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh)

When was the last time you played pooh sticks? Or went on a boat trip? Do you have a favourite riverside walk? Or do you find your peace with a split cane rod in your hand, safely out of mobile phone reception?

However you enjoy your local river the Our Rivers campaign wants to hear from you. The Campaign is a partnership between the RSPB, WWF, the Angling Trust and the Salmon and Trout Association and aims to tackle the problems affecting rivers in England and Wales from over-abstraction and diffuse pollution, to sewage leaks and invasive riverside species.

In order to do this we need to engage the public in the fight to save our rivers. Last year we ran a public vote to find the nation’s best loved and least favourite rivers – The Wye won and The Thames, controversially, was branded the worst.

This year we’re doing something similar. We want you to tell us about the wildlife on your local river. You’ve probably seen swans and ducks – but have you ever spotted a kingfisher, an otter or a water vole? We hope our results will reveal the hotspots for river wildlife and show how passionate people are about their rivers and the nature they support.

There’s no need to head off for the day with an I-Spy book and a top-of-the-range ‘scope – just go online and let us know the species you’ve seen recently and answer a few questions about your river. It will take less than five minutes and will help us promote a campaign close to the RSPB’s heart.

Our ultimate aim this year is to influence the upcoming Water White Paper to persuade the Government to introduce a more robust system of abstraction licensing which will end the water free for all which is causing low flows and dry riverbeds across England and Wales.

Thanks for reading, now please click here to go to the Our Rivers homepage where you can find out more or simply head straight for the survey - www.ourrivers.org.uk

And if you want to do more to help then please forward the survey to your friends, post a link on Facebook, send a tweet or just go out and shout in the street!