Riverfly Monitoring
As part of the Riverfly Partnership, ARK are part of a national initiative regularly monitoring water quality. Trained ARK volunteers monitor 46 sites on the River Kennet and its tributaries to check the health of the river.
If you'd like to see the latest data please email anna@riverkennet.org
ARK and Citizen Science
Riverfly monitoring assesses the water quality of Britain's rivers by identifying and counting eight key indicator species of invertebrates which live in our rivers. The data is shared with the Environment Agency, The Riverfly Partnership, The Wildlife Trusts and any other interested parties, as well as being analysed by ARK.
Riverfly monitoring is a proven method of picking up pollution incidents that would otherwise go undetected. In July 2013 a major chlorpyrifos pollution event was picked up by our monitors at Elcot Mill, Marlborough and subsequently led to the prevention of any further discharge of this insecticide into the watercourse.
The Key Indicator Groups:
Caddisfly (Sedge) Larvae
Cased Caddis
Caseless Caddis
Upwing Fly Larvae
Mayfly Ephemeridae
Blue-winged Olive Emphemerelidae
Olives Baetidae
Flat-bodied Heptagenidae
Stonefly Larvae
Stoneflies
Freshwater Shrimp
Gammarus
