Home Page: ARK - Action for the River Kennet

The River Kennet

The River Kennet is one of England's most important chalk streams. Some 45 miles long, it is the largest tributary of the Thames and in summer months contributes up to half its flow.

It runs through the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and passes by some of Britain's most important prehistoric sites, including the World Heritage Site of stone circles and avenue at Avebury and Silbury Hill

Care for the Kennet:

Love your River this Spring

Book a free water saving make over for your home. There is no catch, it costs nothing, it works and you will be helping the river. You'll even save money on your water and energy bills. For details email Helen at C4K@riverkennet.org or call 0800 358 6665.

ARK Calendar - The Beautiful Kennet. Kindly produced for ARK by Philip Perkins. A total of £780 was raised for ARK funds. Thank you to Philip, and all our supporters who made this possible.

ARK Spring River Walk Sunday 28 April 2013 full details here

River Levels at Marlborough

You can check the latest data on the Environment Agency's website.

E-news sign-up

If you'd like to receive regular email news about what's going on at the Stonebridge Wild River Reserve, Marlborough please click here .

Practical action - Volunteering Opportunities

If you can help please click for the latest May and June Volunteering Programme.

Recent volunteering activities.

Calling all farmers: Catchment Sensitive Farming Capital Grant Scheme 2013

Water friendly farming in the Kennet - You can apply for a grant any time in April.

Following the successful launch meeting in Great Bedwyn on 27 March local farmers are applying for grants pay for work which will help them protect the river. Free advice and farm visits are available from the catchment sensitive farming team, and if you want to apply for a capital grant the final application date is the end of April.

Call the catchment sensitive farming advisor, Tim Clarke on 07713 333196 or email timothyclarke55@gmail.com

Latest research shows that a high proportion of the sediment and nutrient entering the Kennet Catchment is coming from agricultural land. Farmers want to keep soil and fertilizers on their fields, and we'd like to keep it out of the river. Sediment clogs up spawning gravels and nutrients cause heavy algal growth which smothers plants. This project helps to identify problems on farms and fix them. Good news for farmers, and good news for the river.

Good News on future of water abstraction: For twenty years Action for the River Kennet (ARK) has been battling to stop the export of water from the River Kennet aquifers to supply Swindon. This week, there was both good news and bad news for the River Kennet. The good news is that Thames Water announced that construction of a pipeline between north and south Swindon to link all homes in Swindon to Farmoor reservoir will begin in 2013. This means that water from the Kennet Valley will no longer be essential to keep Swindon’s taps flowing, so in times of low flow the Kennet can be protected. This follows the announcement ...

Work on Marlborough Town Mill fish pass is now complete: It was left dry while the Environment Agency were completing the flood defence wall, to create a safe working environment for their contractors. Our initial idea to officially open the pass and let the water through again, in a controlled way, was scuppered by really heavy rainfall which swamped the temporary dam, so those of you who have walked past recently will see it is now flowing! Recently a team of ARK volunteers have been restoring an eroded section of river bank just upstream of the fish pass, and transformed the banks ready for turf.

Moth Nights: Our first 2013 Moth Night will be on Friday 5 April at 8 pm. Get close up to some of the amazing moths which live in Stonebridge Meadow. During 2013 the ARK Moth Group will continue to build on data already gathered and hold another series of moth trapping nights.