"Since childhood I have loved watching the gigantic and almost Jurassic, Emperor Dragonflies zip over the waters of my local rivers, the Arun and Rother, protecting their territories from invaders or watching in awe at the silence and grace of Little Egrets as they gaze across the rippling water looking for any slight movements that could mean lunch! If you are like me and love your local rivers and want to get involved in their preservation, then volunteering with the Arun and Rother Connections (ARC) project might just be what you have been looking for all along.
Pulborough is in a particularly important location for the ARC project as it is the point of which the Arun and Rother rivers meet. So any management work done to these rivers upstream could have a real positive effect on the nature reserve and its wildlife. We need you to help us protect our rivers and the magnitude of wildlife that they support."
I’m Natalie, the ARC projects Assistant Volunteer Coordinator and a large part of my role is to get people excited about the various volunteering roles we have to offer and at the moment we have loads!
We have a new exciting project called the The River Rother Monitoring Scheme and we need your help! We are looking for keen volunteers to carry out kick sampling to identify and record various freshwater invertebrates. Invertebrates are great indicators of the health of a river and their regular surveying will help us to build a long term picture of the river’s environmental quality and assist with its future management and care. This is a great way to get involved in a long term project which is aiming to make a real difference to the quality of our rivers. Not only will you learn exciting new skills, which you can put into practice but it is also an excuse to get out in the fresh air and admire the beautiful landscapes the Rother has to offer.
We are also running two river habitat workshops at Warnham Nature reserve on 21st and 22nd September. These sessions are for those people that are interested in learning more about how to naturally restore rivers for wildlife. These sessions will be a great hands on learning experience, expect to get wet and muddy!
If you want to get involved with the ARC Project contact the ARC volunteer Coordinator, Kate Whitton on Kate.whitton@rspb.org.uk or 01273 763379.