Bristol Avon Rivers Trust

Riverfly Monitor Training - Corsham
2022-06-24 09:45 - 12:45 UTC | Corsham, Corsham, Wiltshire
Are you interested in your local river or stream and would you like to become a Monthly Volunteer Riverfly Monitor to help to survey and protect it?
BART are running free riverfly monitoring training courses this Summer to expand our network within the catchment and help to protect our rivers into the future!
We run riverfly training as part of the Angler’s Riverfly Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) which is spearheaded by the Riverfly Partnership. More info can be found on their website here. Riverfly are a fantastic indicator of the health of our rivers and streams and our riverfly monitors keep eyes and ears on our rivers and can be the first to spot pollution events as well as collecting long term, regular data on the state of our rivers. Our training courses consist of an online theory element followed by a practical session at the river.
Please contact jess@bristolavonriverstrust.org to find out more or to sign up to the training session.

Riverfly Monitor Training - River Chew
2022-06-22 09:45 - 12:45 | Pensford, Pensford, Somerset

Riverfly Monitor Training - Little Avon
2022-06-16 09:45 - 12:45 | Charfield, South Gloucestershire

Yellow Fish Events: Yate
2022-06-11 09:30 - 15:30 | Yate, Moorland Rd, Yate, BS37 4BT, United Kingdom
Did you know that surface drains at the sides of roads lead directly to your local watercourse? This means that anything poured down the surface drain such as litter, car oils or shampoo, weedkillers or mop bucket wastewater can harm river wildlife. Fish, invertebrates and other river life need our help.
BART are running an exciting Yellow Fish Campaign to raise awareness and encourage local communities to help improve water quality in the Bristol Frome. We are holding a series of Yellowfish events with local schools and local community groups.
We will be spraying yellow fish stencils onto the side of storm drains using non-toxic washable paint and putting up posters and handing out leaflets to local businesses in order to educate people on the fact that storm drains at the side of the road link directly to the nearest river or stream.
Event details are as follows:

9:30am – 10:30 Meet at Car Park on Moorland Rd, Yate, Bristol BS37 4BT
11:15-12:15 Meet outside Tesco – Wellington Rd, Yate, Bristol BS37 5UY
1:30-2:30 247 Sundridge Park, Yate, Bristol BS37 4HB

Please book a free ticket to one of our events here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/yellow-fish-yate-tickets-329485178037
For any questions on the event, please email Rozy@bristolavonriverstrust.org
Thank you to Coop Local Causes for funding these events and thank you for support from Yate Town Council and South Gloucestershire Council.

Land Yeo RiverBlitz
2022-05-21 10:00 - 14:00 | Moorend Spout Nature Reserve, Nailsea, Somerset, BS48 2NN, United Kingdom
Citizen Scientists Assemble!
Join Bristol Avon Rivers Trust and Avon Wildlife Trust at Moorend Spout Nature Reserve on Saturday 21st May to help monitor the health of our rivers and streams.
We will be handing out free, easy to use water testing kits and providing volunteers with the skills and tools to take samples from across the North Somerset Levels and Moors. We would love you to pick up a kit (or request delivery) and head out to your favourite spot to take your sample and make some observations on the health of the environment.
So gather your family and friends and help protect and enhance the precious waterways that we all depend on.
Register for the event here

River Clean: Pigeonhouse Stream
2021-08-20 10:00 - 13:30, 2021-08-06 10:00 - 13:30 | Pigeonhouse Stream, Hartcliffe
Join other volunteers to #treasureyourriver this summer and help BART and Sustainable Hive collect 90 tonnes of litter from our rivers.

Treasure Your River is preventing river litter across the UK. The rivers at the heart of our cities flow to the sea, and take with them all the littARRR that is swept, dropped and drained into it. Did you know 80% of the litter in the sea flows out from river systems?
We’re looking for shipmates, volunteers, and people in Bristol and around the Avon who treasure their river to get involved. We’re aiming to remove 95 tonnes of litter from our rivers and prevent a further 90 tonnes from entering them in the first place. ARRR you ready to climb aboard and treasure a river near you?
Head here to register
Please dress appropriately (waterproofs, sun screen etc), bring water and hand sanitiser and adhere to COVID rules. Wellies would be helpful too although we can provide waders for those who really want to get stuck in! Gloves, litter pickers, bin bags and bag rings will also be provided.
Meeting information
Meet the BART team at 10am on the corner of Whitchurch Lane and Maynard Road, BS13 7TB.

River Clean: Brislington Brook
2021-07-16 10:00 - 13:30 | Brislington Brook
Join other volunteers to #treasureyourriver this summer and help BART and Sustainable Hive collect 90 tonnes of litter from our rivers.

Treasure Your River is preventing river litter across the UK. The rivers at the heart of our cities flow to the sea, and take with them all the littARRR that is swept, dropped and drained into it. Did you know 80% of the litter in the sea flows out from river systems?
We’re looking for shipmates, volunteers, and people in Bristol and around the Avon who treasure their river to get involved. We’re aiming to remove 95 tonnes of litter from our rivers and prevent a further 90 tonnes from entering them in the first place. ARRR you ready to climb aboard and treasure a river near you?
Head here to register
Please dress appropriately (waterproofs, sun screen etc), bring water and hand sanitiser and adhere to COVID rules. Wellies would be helpful too although we can provide waders for those who really want to get stuck in! Gloves, litter pickers, bin bags and bag rings will also be provided.
Meeting information
Meet the BART team at 10am on the corner of Sturminster Close and Sturminster Road, BS14 8EH.

Frome river dip – all welcome
2021-07-11 11:00 - 14:00 | Rodden Meadow, Frome

Bristol Avon WaterBlitz 2021
2021-07-09 - 2021-07-12 | Near Tyntsfield
The Bristol Avon WaterBlitz returns this July, and it’s bigger than ever! BART is encouraging as many citizen scientists as possible to get out to their local watercourse and sample it for water quality to help monitor the health of our rivers and streams.
Please sign up here and request the number of kits you require to sample the site or sites you have in mind. We are pleased to be hosting two local events on the River Biss and Bristol Frome! These events give you the opportunity to collect your requested kit in person, with members of the BART team demonstrating how to take the samples and giving information on what your results mean. Please find details of each event below.
Thank you for taking part and helping us work together for rivers!
#BAWaterBlitz
Local Waterblitz events on Saturday 10th July from 10am to 2pm.
Bristol Frome: Oldbury Court Estate, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 2JH. This event has been made possible by an award from Postcode Local Trust, a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
River Biss: Biss Meadows Country Park, Trowbridge, BA14 7EH. This event is being run in partnership with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust who have supported the event through their ABBA (A Better Biss Approach) project – an exciting 5-year project of practical action, innovative community and business engagement and high-level strategic planning across the River Biss and its tributaries.
New for 2021: The Bristol Avon WaterBlitz Explorer. Check out the data explorer to find out how the health of your local river or stream has changed during the past 5 years of WaterBlitz events.

Land Yeo WaterBlitz
2021-05-07 - 2021-05-10 | Moorend Spout Nature Reserve, Nailsea, Somerset, BS48 2NN, United Kingdom
Help BART and Avon Wildlife Trust gain a snapshot of water quality in the Land Yeo catchment. The citizen science event is our first in the catchment and needs river guardians to collect samples from their local watercourse to help monitor the health of our rivers and streams.*
The Land Yeo rises on Dundry Hill near Barrow Gurney Reservoirs and flows through various villages to Clevedon where it exits into the Bristol Channel. The target catchment also takes in the Middle Yeo and the network of ditches and rhynes where we would like to collect data on water quality.
Register here to receive a free water testing kit which will be sent to your registered address. You can collect your testing kit on Sunday 9th May from Moorend Spout Nature Reserve, Nailsea. BART will be here from 10am – 2pm where they will demonstrate how to take your water sample and provide further information on the project. If you would like to collect your kit(s) in person please register through the registration page and enter “Moorend Spout, Nailsea, BS48 2NN” in the address field. BART will follow up with an email on how to find us.
*Please stick to government guidelines when collecting your samples. The current guidelines state that “outdoor gatherings of either 6 people (the Rule of 6) or 2 households are allowed.”
The map below gives an overview of the target area. Your samples can be take from any of the watercourses within the wider catchment (provided landowner permission has been granted if required) as this will help us gain a snapshot of the catchment. To find out where there are gaps in water quality data please see our WaterBlitz explorer platform.

Volunteer Tree Planting
2020-11-21 09:30 - 13:00 | Hen Lane NFM scheme, Regil near Winford, Somerset, United Kingdom
Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART) are seeking volunteers to assist with planting trees near Winford. Over the past several months, BART has developed a tree planting strategy that will benefit rivers, streams and wildlife by planting the right trees in the right place. The trees planted for this particular scheme will complement a natural flood management scheme which will help intercept the flow of surface water during rainfall events as well as creating a wonderful wildlife corridor along the valley bottom. Tree planting forms part of BART’s wider project work within the Chew Valley which aims to improve the River Chew and its tributaries for the benefit of people and nature.
If you fancy rolling up your sleeves and getting involved with tree planting, please join BART at 09:30 on Saturday 21st November near Regil, Winford, for a socially distanced tree planting day where you can hear more about BART’s work throughout the Chew Valley and wider Bristol Avon. For further details please get in touch with BART’s Senior Project Officer George Clark via george@bristolavonriverstrust.org
