Learning about river conservation

Biology and Geography students took a trip to the river Wye in early June to meet up with Ant Barraclough who is one of 250 volunteers and citizen scientists who regularly monitor the river.

Pictured: Ant standing and students (sitting L-R) Sonali, Max, Elliot, Olly, Amelie. All holding testing equipment.

Friends of the River Wye is a group of people who are working to build a data bank of information about the state of the river and campaigning to improve it.

The students learned about the data being taken and were able to use equipment such as a Secchi tube to measure clarity, nitrate testing strips, temperature and current probes and spectrometer readings for measuring phosphates.

Ant also showed the students the app where the data is uploaded and explained how it is then analysed by Cardiff University.

In addition to this the students learned a little about the wildlife species living around the river and were able to hear Sand Martins flying past overhead - they are nesting in the sandy banks of the river having made an epic 4000km migration from Africa.