Yesterday I attended a Rivers Workshop at Nethergill Farm, run through the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust. I stayed with friends who live close by to avoid a long drive up on the morning, and had amazing views on the drive over the hill. It reminded me how beautiful the Yorkshire Dales are. We were blessed with excellent weather, and our small, friendly and informal group had fun learning new skills down by Oughtershaw Beck, a tributary of the river Wharfe. 
In the morning we learnt about river invertebrates. We started off in the river turning over stones, and found numerous caddis fly cases almost straight away. We then had a go at kick sampling, using a large fine mesh net to collect the invertebrates stirred up from the bottom of the river. These were examined in a white tray, then taken back to the classroom for closer examination. The field centre has a huge electronic white board, and this was hooked up to a magnifier, so we could isolate a few individuals and zoom in on them on screen to have a detailed looked. We managed to find stone fly, may fly, a caddis fly larva in its case, and fresh water shrimp, amongst others.
After a delicious lunch we returned to the river side to carry out some practical conservation tasks. To provide shade along the river bank, we planted some trees, constructing tree guards around them to protect them from grazing animals. We then made some willow bundles, and installed these one of the outer curves of the beck that is suffering from erosion. The idea is that this slows down the flow of the water, provides shelter for fish and other creatures, and helps to stablise the bank. Some of the willow will sprout and grow.
An excellent day, putting some of my recent studies into practice and reacquainting myself with a beautiful part of the world.
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