Natural Course

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…

Ribble Rivers Trust have celebrated the completion of their river improvement project on the River Hyndburn which will allow migrating salmon, trout and eels to bypass a historic weir allowing them to reach habitat inaccessible since the middle of the 1800s. Located on the River Hyndburn, between Clayton-Le-Moors and Great…

Introduction Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is pioneering an integrated approach to water management in a heavily-urbanised environment.  The approach is being delivered through the EU LIFE IP funded “Natural Course” programme, which has an early focus on the Irwell Management Catchment (IMC) including the Rivers Roch, Croal, Medlock and…

On the 26th – 29th September we sent a Natural Course representative, Amina Aboobakar from United Utilities, to the EIP Water Innovation Conference to participate in the LIFE side-event. The EIP Water Innovation Conference “Water Innovation: Bridging Gaps, Creating Opportunities” was organised by the European Innovation Partnership and included a mixture of presentations,…