12 days of Rivers Trusts — Day 11: Introducing the Wyre Rivers Trust

Jayne Mann

23/12/18

Tom Myerscroft at Wyre Rivers Trust explains the Trust ambitions and challenges for the future... When did your Trust form? We formed in 2001 How many people work at your Trust? We have just 2 full time employees What are the main issues with Rivers in your catchment? Where to start? Water quality, habitat quality, lack of connectivity and some issues with water quantity. Are there any particular rivers keeping you up at night and why? The issues in the Wyre catchment are not exclusive, all catchments have the same problems and some have even more than the Wyre. I can say that I do a lot of thinking about environmental issues and specific issues to do with rivers. Mostly about the lack of respect that is shown for our environment by those who damage it and the issues that they cause. We must also remember that our rivers are coming off the back of up to 200 years of mistreatment, we cannot expect improvements overnight (sometimes we get them but not always) river restoration is a long-term thing if we can create lots of small improvements within a catchment then it will be a lot better off for them! Why is the above picture your favourite photo of the year? This image is from our BioBlitz which took place this year and focussed on the Wyre Estuary. We haven’t quite got around to finalising the species list yet but we have well over 700 species which were identified throughout the event. Local schools were invited to take part on the first day of the event and were treated to workshops in, wildlife photography, shark egg case I.D, owl pellet dissection, pond dipping and microscopy, painting from nature and bug hotel creation. What key issue or project will you be hoping to tackle in 2019? We will be working hard on delivering NFM interventions, investigating pesticide pollution and delivering a wetland as part of the Natural Course project. Any Christmas wishes or New Year’s resolutions for the Trust this year? We wish all of our partners, volunteers and anyone else who helps us a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
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