News

New report published reveals changes to water birds using the River Irwell In 2018, Kersal Wetlands (28-hectare flood basin that lies within a meander of the River Irwell and includes 5 hectares of urban wetland habitat) was constructed as part of a flood protection scheme at the site of the…

New Action Plan developed to bring the River Irk to life The Action Plan identifies and prioritises restoration projects and provides a funding strategy A new Action Plan has been launched (22nd October 2021) for the River Irk, that will help transform this neglected river into a thriving waterway that…

Background Located north of the Greater Manchester conurbation, but separated from the main Pennine range by the Irwell valley, the West Pennine Moors (WPM) supports a range of upland habitats and is an important site for wading bird populations (such as lapwing, curlew and redshank). Whilst a significant proportion of…

New online campaign to improve awareness of misconnected pipes in homes launched Natural Course with United Utilities and Connect Right UK have unveiled the latest campaign to help reduce water pollution across the North West. A series of short videos have been created to highlight to householders that used or…

Report on catchment partnerships across the North West River Basin District published Natural Course has published its final report from the Catchment Benchmarking project, commissioned to Eunomia Research & Consulting Ltd. The project examined how catchment partnerships currently work across the North West River Basin District (NWRBD), including the challenges…

Have you been involved in the delivery of a Natural Course project? If so, we would like to hear from you! As part of the suite of work being undertaken to help monitor the impacts of the Natural Course programme, we would like to gain a better understanding of the…

One area that we know can impact on waterbodies meeting good ecological status is water governance. Water governance arrangements across the North West River Basin District vary considerably, and as part of a wider package of work we commissioned a consultant (Eunomia) to take a closer look at the governance arrangements…

Natural Course launches informal online Collaborative Forum for LIFE Integrated Projects and water-related projects The forum creates a new space to for projects to network, collaborate and share Natural Course is proud to announce the launch of the LIFE Integrated Project (IP) Collaborative Forum for water-related projects. The Collaborative Forum…

Environment Agency, Keep Britain Tidy and Natural Course launch new campaign to tackle plastic pollution as part of a project connecting the dots between the use of plastics and the impact on marine life in the North West The Plastic Challenge campaign, supported by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, will…

Greater Manchester Combined Authority commission a River Corridor Study of the Whittle Brook Catchment in Bury and Rochdale. Findings and recommendations will inform the strategic and detailed planning of the Heywood-Pilsworth development. Whittle Brook runs through mostly agricultural land between Bury and Rochdale in Greater Manchester and the catchment includes…