News
The Canaries of our rivers in Greater Manchester
Many of us have wonderful childhood memories of dipping nets into rivers and streams and marvelling at the different forms of life that we caught. Who would guess that we have a group of volunteers doing the same thing in Greater Manchester, thereby creating a scientifically robust water quality data…
Hyndburn Brook improvements set to bring Salmon to Accrington
Ribble Rivers Trust launch an exciting river improvement scheme on the River Hyndburn between Clayton-Le-Moors and Great Harwood, to help migrating salmon, trout and eels bypass the historic Oakenshaw weir, thanks to support from the EU LIFE funded Natural Course project and other Ribble Life Together partners. Bypassing the weir…
Opportunities and challenges offered through the latest water company price review explored during River Irwell catchment workshop
Natural Course partners and other stakeholders met on Wednesday 19th July 2017 to discuss the opportunities for collaborative working, across the Irwell catchment, offered through the latest water company price review (PR19) in a workshop hosted by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The economic regulator for water, OFWAT, requires all…
Detailed evidence base assembled to help understand issues and opportunities within the River Irwell Catchment
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has recently published the outputs of a study which helps Irwell Catchment Partnership members and others to understand the water quality issues within the River Irwell catchment and the opportunities to make water quality improvements. The Evidence & Measures study brings together existing data packages,…
Volunteers take part in 24 hour wildlife survey
The Woodland Trust held a Bioblitz on May 27th 2017 at Smithills Estate to call on volunteers to help them count as many wildlife species as possible, in just 24 hours. The counting of wildlife was led by Greater Manchester Ecology Unit and supported by the Natural Course project. By…
11 Historic facts about the River Irwell
The Irwell is a significant feature to Greater Manchester and it’s history is renown across the world. Natural Course hopes to focus predominantly on the River Irwell in the first stage of the programme, pulling together organisations in the area to plan and implement improvement measures to help the water…
Wyre Catchment Shared Vision Workshop
On April 30th, a workshop took place at Wyre Estuary Country Park, to work with local partners in the area to decide on a vision for the future of the Wyre catchment. The Environment Agency, Wyre Borough Council, Wyre Rivers Trust, Natural England, Forestry Commission and United Utilities attended the…
North West farming community receive Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund to address Natural Flood Management solutions
12 new farming groups have launched to address landscape-scale natural flood management solutions, through the implementation of a new funding round added to the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund. Announced in December 2016, the new round of funds, launched by Natural England through the EU Life funded Natural Course programme, resulted…
What can wet woodlands do for our urban environment?
In June 2016, as part of the Natural Course project, City of Trees created a wet woodland in the heart of Salford to help improve the failing water quality of the Worsley Brook. A year on and the wet woodland is now thriving with greenery and wildlife is returning to…
The natural course of the River Irwell
It is strange to think that it was just over a century ago, the River Irwell was the main source of drinking water for Manchester and Lancashire. Now the Irwell is listed to be at a ‘poor’, or at best, ‘moderate’ ecological status, so where did it all go wrong?…