Lorna Drake (Natural England Nature Recovery Network Lead Advisor for Natural Course) gives us an update on a recent site visit to Rostherne Mere. Lockdown, work from home and online meetings have all become normal parts of life, with many of us forgetting what it is like to go out…

The Hillylaid Wetland in Thornton, is situated just north of Blackpool in Lancashire. It’s a low lying area of land sandwiched between the River Wyre and the Irish Sea. Natural Course has been involved with this project for a number of years as part of the wider action ‘using coastal…

Mersey Rivers Trust is working in Wigan to help restore the river environment, which was once altered or destroyed by industry. The project is known as Hey Brook Revival and will form one of the Carbon Landscape Projects – a series of individual projects, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund,…

Between November 2017 and March 2018 over 16,000 trees were planted across the Ribble Catchment to help improve water quality, as part of the European Life Integrated Project, Natural Course. This has been thanks to the time and effort of volunteers at Ribble Rivers Trust who have in total put in…

An award-winning scheme which restored a stretch of the River Medlock has been further boosted after juvenile brown trout were found in the watercourse. Previously known as the Red River, the Medlock underwent a £250,000 transformation at Clayton Vale which re-naturalised the waterway to encourage habitats for wildlife. Juvenile brown…

On 15th May, the EU LIFE Programme monitor visited the Natural Course project to get an update on progress and visit some project sites. After a general update on project outcomes and plans for the future, the team took the monitor to visit the SuDS project developed by United Utilities…

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…

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…