Works conducted to date July 2015

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1 WILD Project The project we are working on is called WILD for short which stands for Water and Integrated Local Delivery partnership project. It's a collaborative project including the Gloucestershire Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI), Cotswold Water Park Trust (CWPT) and Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (GRCC) and is funded by the Environment Agency (EA). The project aims to enable local communities in the Cotswold Water Park to work to improve the water environment. The key driver in this is the government s responsibility to meet its commitments under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Under WFD legislation UK rivers and streams are assessed according to how close they are to a natural state on a number of parameters Hydrology Ecology Chemistry (pollution) Jenny Phelps of FWAG South West is focusing on watercourses that are failing for water quality issues, (i.e chemistry under WFD) particularly diffuse pollution, which is pollution that filters in over a large area from agricultural land use rather than point source i.e. sewage works discharge. The waterbodies failing GES for chemistry in the project area are; The River Thames (Churn to Coln) Cerney Wick Brook River Key Marston Meysey Brook River Ray The Cotswold Water Park Trust has been assigned the following priority water bodies, namely; Swill Brook Ampney & Poulton Brooks River Thames (Kemble to Cricklade) River Churn River Coln

2 These watercourses are all failing to achieve the required ecological standard under the WFD for Ecology. There are often a number of reasons that a waterbody would fail for ecology but in the local area it is largely due to historic modification of the watercourse making the river less natural than they should be, this reduces the diversity of habitats within the river and consequently reduces the species that can live there. Technically all the priority watercourses within the Cotswold Water Park biodiversity boundary have been modified to some extent with most river channels being wider than they would be naturally due to years of dredging. The Ampney and Poulton Brooks in particular have been straightened extensively in the past probably hundreds of years ago when flooding of the meadows was the best way to fertilise the land. The River Churn has been split in to numerous channels and impeded by weirs to power mills and on the Thames trees that were pollarded in the past for animal fodder, are no longer actively managed sometimes resulting in excessive shading. Consequently ecological enhancement works could be done almost everywhere but as we are limited by resources and the need to acquire landowner agreement, we have to identify priority areas first which offer the best value for money. The process of identifying what enhancement works we would like to pursue is conducted by reviewing survey information, existing fluvial audit information and well established river restoration techniques. Areas are being identified for proposed works which could be as small scale as some tree works to reduce shading but if landowners are willing we will look at raising funds to conduct more dramatic habitat enhancement works for a high profile flagship venture like restoring meanders. So in summary with local community input and commitment from local landowners, the project aims to devise and deliver a plan of enhancements and management advice over the project lifespan to achieve Good Ecological Status in water bodies within the Water Park area in the long-term. Works conducted to date July 2015 Works on the ground have been so far limited to works on the Ampney Brook but a very large stretch thanks to Farmcare and funding from the Summerfield Trust. The works were conducted using a combination of ranger time, volunteer time, landowner time, contractor time, purchased and donated materials and machinery.

3 Ranger and volunteer helping install fencing at Ampney St Peter Ranger team installing deflectors Contractor with specialist machinery conducting tree works to reduce shading

4 Before: Ampney Brook prior to scrub reduction works to reduce shading Ampney Brook 10months after works

5 Ampney Brook before shade reduction works view from in channel Ampney Brook 10 months after shade reduction works

6 Before: Damage to bank from livestock drinking in brook After: Completed drinking bay lined with stone There are still further deflector installation and fencing works to be installed so overall by the end of the 2015/16 WILD project financial year, this will amount to 4.8km of channel enhancements on the Ampney Brook. Volunteer days Two days were spent with the WILD volunteers collecting suitable material for LWD deflectors and setting them aside for installation during the dry season along with installing some course woody material as silt traps.

7 WILD Project Volunteers A day of works was spent on the Ampney Brook at Ampney St Peter with seven volunteers from Nationwide Building Society in Swindon. They used hand tools to remove some scrub and small trees to allow light into the river where channel narrowing works had been installed previously. The previously installed faggots were supplemented by backfill and brash to reinforce them and the increased light should encourage marginal vegetation to grow and stabilise the silt trapped within them. Nationwide Volunteers Non Native Plants Himalayan Balsam Impatiens glandulifera is a large annual plant native to the Himalayas which was introduced to gardens back in 1839, the plant escaped and is now naturalised and widespread throughout the UK. It is highly invasive and causes major infestations outcompeting native species particularly on river banks. Because the plant is an annual, it dies back on mass in the autumn; this can leave a bare riverbank vulnerable to erosion thereby facilitating sediment pollution washing into the watercourse.

8 It is spread by seeds being washed downstream and settling on river banks. The mature seed pods are explosive to touch which can spread the seeds up to 6m away and each pod contains hundreds of seeds. However on the positive side the plant has very shallow roots so is very easy to pull out of the soil by hand. A very small but dedicated group of volunteers have been helping us remove Himalayan balsam since May They have been working tirelessly to remove the weed on the River Churn from Baunton through Cirencester to Siddington, over a stretch measuring 4.32km. Himalayan balsam bashing volunteers Work to survey and control Himalayan balsam has also been conducted at Ampney Crucis and Ampney St Peter using volunteers to pull the weed before it spreads downstream. We have aspirations to totally eradicate it from the watercourse as it is only found in a relatively small area so is of a manageable size.