Clean Up of the Back Stream in Loudwater by Revive the Wye and other Volunteers

Clean Up of the Back Stream in Loudwater by Revive the Wye and other Volunteers

by | Nov 22, 2018 | Volunteering

Revive the Wye volunteers have just been joined by volunteers from  Loudwater Forum and St Peter’s Church in tasks on 8th, 10th and 17th November to improve the back stream alongside Kingsmead Road, and the Wye within boundary park. around 50 volunteers were involved over the three half day tasks.
The work was very labour intensive.  Some  involved removing vegetation – mainly brambles to reveal the fence beside the road and give views of the river. Other people worked in the river which was fast flowing in places and deep with a very silty unstable bed.  Two of the experienced river workers managed to each get a wader full of water during their efforts. The banks were steep and river vegetation had to be handed up through cut channels to volunteers who then had to remove it quite a distance to the rubbish pile.

Thanks go to all those involved, including Chepping Wycombe Parish Council which made this work possible by agreeing to fund the removal of the green and other waste generated by the task following its completion.

Balsam bashing 2018

by | Aug 26, 2018 | Volunteering

We’d like to thank all the  RtW volunteers who helped with this year’s balsam bashing tasks.

Ten sites were identified this year where Indian Balsam plants were growing and could be accessed, and we had a very good response from our volunteers when we suggested 10 possible work party dates in August.  In the end, it took six tasks to get through all the work.
We are definitely making good progress in our aim of eradicating the plants from the river banks where we have access. There were only a few plants on the Rye, in Wye Dene and at Boundary Park this year, and the number of plants at Kingsmead and in Wooburn Town was much lower than in previous years. The number of plants removed between Cores End and Wooburn Town, and between Holtspur Lane and Glory Mill Lane was similar to last year, and the number of plants in Wooburn Park had increased. Two new sites, one at Glory Park and one at Knaves Beech were included in this year’s programme.

Purchase of new tools funded by Friends of the Wye

by | Mar 30, 2018 | RTW

We are pleased to announce that Friends of the Wye have donated £200 to buy new gloves and secateurs for Revive the Wye volunteer work parties. New secateurs will be welcome by all the volunteers who have recently struggled with ones that stick or don’t work, and people who venture into the river wearing waders will now have proper elbow length pond gloves, so will keep their hands dry. As well as that, we can throw out the 9 PVC left hand gloves which have no matching right hands.

With a small top-up from RTW funds we are able to buy the following :

12 pairs of Wolf-Garten secateurs
24 red PVC gloves
6 pairs elbow length pond gloves

All of this will be very welcome to our regular volunteers who I’m sure will want me to pass on their thanks to Friends of the Wye

Days and days of balsam bashing

Days and days of balsam bashing

by | Aug 18, 2017 | Volunteering

Over the last few years we have succeeded in removing vast swathes of Indian balsam from the river banks mostly on WDC land, all the way from the Fire Station to Wooburn. Every year there are smaller and smaller patches of new growth, all in difficult to reach places. Because of the danger of working in deep water and awkward places, we have not been able to run ‘balsam bashing’ volunteer days. Instead, two of our Volunteer work party leaders and an enthusiastic volunteer who is used to working (fishing) in deep water, and in one case a Wycombe Wildlife Group member, have spent many days clearing all the reported patches.

The following areas have been cleared:

July 16th  The Rye
July 24th  Wye Dean, Pizza Hut, Bucks Free Press, Boundary Park, Glory Mill
to Holtspur
July 25th  Wooburn Park, Wooburn Town
July 29th  Kingsmead, Wooburn Park
July 31st  Kingsmead

New species of damselfly larva found at Desborough Rec

New species of damselfly larva found at Desborough Rec

by | Jan 26, 2017 | Wildlife

In a recent riverfly monitoring task at Desborough Rec, a new damselfly larva species was found and identified as a banded demoiselle. This species has probably been attracted to the site as a result of the stream improvements as it likes lots of streamside vegetation for egg laying.

Banded demoiselle larva. Photo Jane Beaton Click to enlarge image