Charlotte Hitchmough

Director


Charlotte has been working with ARK over a decade, and has built up an extensive knowledge of the issues affecting chalk streams and the Kennet in particular. She came to ARK from a background in the water industry and science communication and has built the charity’s activities to include river habitat restoration, work with schools, farm advice and water efficiency.
Contact Charlotte.

Anna Forbes

Senior Project Officer & Volunteer Co-ordinator


Anna's focus is the Kennet and its tributaries to and including Newbury, where she manages teams of volunteers and leads weekly practical conservation and restoration projects in and by the river. She carries out and oversees a variety of surveying and monitoring work, including our water vole surveying and riverfly monitoring.

Anna is the Officer for Stonebridge Wild River Reserve, she runs ARK River School engagement sessions for local groups of all ages from Brownies to residents in care homes helping them enjoy and get involved with their local river and surrounding habitats.

Anna is leading the classroom educational activities of ARK's schools engagement work 'Water Matters'
Contact Anna.

 

Tim Clarke

Tim is ARK's farming advisor. He works part time for ARK, whilst also representing FWAG and running the 'Southern Streams Farmer Group'.  He has a background in agriculture combined with a detailed knowledge of the Kennet Catchment.

Contact Tim.

Mia Ridler

Mia is our Project Officer for the Thames Catchment Community Eels Project.
Mia is working with communities and schools on the middle and lower Kennet; and the Pang to engage them with the European eel and their local rivers. She will be running Eel Workshops, talks and riverbank Eel Walks, helping local people enjoy their blue spaces and discover more about the critically endangered European eel.
Over the coming months she will be training up volunteers to become part of a citizen science Eel Force, that will undertake walkovers to identify and log barriers to eel migration.
Mia is our GIS whizz and will be putting these skills to good use on this project and beyond.


Rupert Kelton

Rupert is our Project Manager for Sparkling Streams.
This project takes a catchment based approach to restoring some of the failing rivers in the catchment, with a focus on the Shalbourne and the Dun.
Rupert is working with project partners and communities, including a local school and farmers to improve these important chalk streams through a range of green engineering and SuDS measures.

Julie Parker

Julie is our Business Administrator. She works part-time keeping the office in order, supporting the team and taking care of the bookwork and finances.

James L. King
James is our Project Officer for the Sparkling Streams project. He is working with communities, including farmers, villagers and the local school to significantly improve the Shalbourne and the Dun; two important chalk streams.
Over this year he'll be organising a range of events and practical volunteering opportunities, including hedge and tree planting, creating a school rain garden, creating a wetland and a range of in channel river habitat improvements!