Rivers, streams and brooks are places to go to boost your wellbeing physically and mentally, connect with nature and recharge your batteries whether you walk, swim, paddleboard or picnic. This natural and beautiful countryside offers a nicer, friendlier pace of life away from busy roads and urban areas.

A large proportion of our wildlife lives near the river, including beavers, otters, water voles, beautiful birds such as kingfishers, dippers, little egrets and grey herons. Plus a huge variety of fish, invertebrates and amphibians. Native wildflowers, trees such as willow and aquatic plants work in harmony with each other.

River habitats are essential to support diverse and fragile ecosystems, which relies on clean, running water. Polluted water  has a direct effect on people, businesses, agriculture and the water cycle locally and globally. This is why urgent action is needed and how locally community groups, individual actions and local and national policies need to support the health of our local rivers.

The changes that community groups have noticed at the River Avon

• More pollution and plastic in the river, especially visible when the water level rises after heavy rainfall.
• Increased flooding events occur more often with dryer summer and wetter winter months, a direct effect of climate change.
• Concerns about wildlife habitats near the river and noticing less species on the river.
• Concerns about water safety when more people visit the river for recreation. 

The actions they've taken to ease eco-anxiety and make a difference

• Community events for engagement, education and connection to the river. The Festival of Nature and the Wild Rivers festival is taking place now!
• Recommending actions to take at home to be more sustainable, such as being mindful about what is washed down the drain and toilet, saving water, reporting pollution and joining a local community group for greater impact.
• Wildlife friendly gardening, helping water to be absorbed in natural spaces rather than causing run-off.
• Water quality measurement and reporting.
• Invasive non-native species awareness (INNS) and actively not causing a spread from river to river.
• Citizen science to collect evidence, show which species live and rely on our local rivers.
• Litter picking and river cleaning.
• Campaigning to make some much needed noise to make policy and management changes to protect the future of our beautiful rivers.

Paddle Avon want the river to be healthy enough for them to be on the water safely and in harmony with the surrounding ecology. They test water quality, litter pick and limit the transfer of invasive non-native species.

Kai Chapman gets involved as much as possible with community and local wildlife events. In his spare time he puts up camera traps along the river Trym and is interested in insects. Citizen science provides evidence about local river wildlife.

Co-existence river project is an amazing collection of people in Batheaston, Bath who have come together to focus on the river. River themed events take place locally to raise awareness of the river, its ecology and the beauty and importance of their blue space.

Conham Bathing is a campaign group composed of swimmers and local residents who all address the pollution in their local river through action like water testing, rights of the river and campaigning for change.

We can all contribute to positive change for our local blue spaces. 

Check out our Team Wilder rivers resource to find out more about how to address the pressures on freshwater habitats, celebrate engagement with our rivers and how important community actions are to make a difference. 

Take action for rivers