Natural Course

Natural Course launched the outputs from its Natural Capital Account and Ecosystem Services and Opportunity Mapping Study for the Irwell Management Catchment at a dissemination and training workshop held on 23rd April in Manchester.[1] The report provides compelling evidence that the natural environment of the Irwell Management Catchment provides significant…

Mersey Rivers Trust have now trained more than 50 River Guardian volunteers to take regular water samples, to help identify changes in the water quality in the Mersey Basin. The training is part of the Love Your River and Call of Nature campaigns and will contribute to the water quality…

Since December 2017, volunteers have been out surveying the River Irk in the northern parts of Greater Manchester to map drains, pipes and outfalls that potentially feed into the River Irk, generating a comprehensive map of possible sources of diffuse pollution which may be impacting the water quality of the…

Recent sightings of otters are suggesting that the heavily industrialised rivers in Greater Manchester are showing signs of significant improvement, encouraging them to come back to the region.  Greater Manchester has struggled to re-establish the otter due to higher than average habitat loss, pollution, and human population density leading to…

Over 70 delegates attended Greater Manchester’s Natural Capital Annual Conference to discuss the opportunities and benefits around connecting people with nature. Representatives from across Greater Manchester’s environment, health, planning, utilities and transport sectors attended the conference, hosted by Manchester Museum, to share evidence for the many benefits found in connecting people…

The Rivers Trust has joined Keep Britain Tidy in assembling an army of #litterheroes for a UK wide mass clean-up. 80% of plastic in the oceans comes from land, and rivers are a significant pathway for it to get there. Natural Course is playing its part in the campaign by…

Natural Course is working closely with the Turning Tides partnership and their LOVEmyBEACH campaign to help improve rivers and bathing waters across the North West. It is often said that rivers are the arteries of our planet. This is particularly the case when considering the impact that rivers have on…

As part of the Government’s 25-year environment plan launched today, Greater Manchester has been announced as the UK’s ‘Urban Pioneer City Region’, bolstering the region’s green credentials and providing a significant boost to its ambition to become the greenest city region in the UK. The Government’s department for the environment,…

The £3.2M Heritage Lottery supported Carbon Landscape project was launched on Thursday 28th September at the Astley Mining Museum in Wigan. The Carbon Landscape aims to develop a new community-focused approach to the restoration of a landscape transformed by heavy industries such as coal mining, peat extraction and steel production.…

Over two years ago the Natural Course project began its 10-year journey on the EU LIFE funded project. Since starting the project in October 2015, a few highlights include hosting a Water Platform event and supporting the GM Natural Capital Group Annual Conference, planting 12,000 trees, surveying 40km of urban…