Today, key updates on water bills for households in Wales and England have been released as part of the 2024 Price Review conducted by Ofwat, the regulator for water services. These changes, will have significant implications for water customers across Wales.

On January 18th 2025 we will be bringing together industry experts, dedicated volunteers and local organisations to celebrate the work being done to improve North Wales rivers.

Last week, we hosted our first ‘Spot the Spawning’ event at known spawning sites near Llyn Padarn, as part of our ongoing Torgoch project, funded by the Heritage Lottery. Volunteers joined us for 15-minute surveys just before dusk, hoping to catch a glimpse of spawning fish.

Last week's Otter ecology training in Trawsfynydd with ecologists Grace Crabb and Geoff Liles was a great success. It was an honour to be given a presentation about otter surveying by otter specialist Geoff Liles who has been conducting surveys for forty years of his career and has recently completed a survey of the whole of Wales.

The North Wales Rivers Trust recently conducted a walkover survey of a tributary of the Afon Braint in Ynys Mon. During this survey, several potential sources of pollution were identified. These included agricultural runoff from livestock farms, riverbank erosion (poaching) caused by animals, and man-made structures like culverts that can disrupt natural water flow and habitat conditions.

Join Us at the North Wales River Awards Event – Celebrating Our Rivers and Inspiring Change!

The North Wales Rivers Trust's River Restoration Team is carrying out environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling within the Prosiect Torgoch catchment to monitor Arctic charr during their spawning season. This innovative method helps identify rivers used by these endangered fish for spawning, providing crucial data to support their conservation.

As part of our ongoing Swimways project, we recently held an exciting snorkel training day at Plas Menai. This workshop was designed to upskill our dedicated volunteers, equipping them with the knowledge and confidence to explore and monitor underwater habitats across North Wales.

Recently we collaborated with Undeb Bangor to deliver a talk about the work we do at the North Wales Rivers Trust and how people can get involved in the environmental sector.

On Thursday the 7th of November, the Menai Strait Partnership Forum held its end-of-year workshop to pull together all the feedback over this last year collected from the community, advisory panel and organisations to workshop them into viable projects.

Last Friday evening, on the atmospheric shores of Llyn Padarn, we hosted the premiere of Sean Harris’s captivating animation, Heiplolymnion. The piece highlights the plight of the Eryri Torgoch, the iconic Arctic charr that still survives in three of North Wales’s lakes. With the gentle breeze shifting the screens and occasional soft drizzle of rain illuminated by the projector, the event was alive with the natural ambiance of its surroundings. It offered a powerful reminder of how art can resonate so deeply when rooted in the landscape.

At North Wales Rivers Trust (NWRT), we've been looking for ways to make our events and initiatives more inclusive. That’s why we were thrilled to attend Sighted Guide and Awareness Training with the North Wales Society of the Blind (NWSB)

At the start of October we had the honor of speaking at the Ireland Stillwaters Conference in Einskillen -on behalf of Afonydd Cymru. Our CEO Laura gave a presentation about our Floating Wetlands project and how we work to bring people and nature closer together through a unique approach to community engagement in Wales.

This month, we wrapped up our in-river works just in time for the salmonid migration season. These efforts have been all about giving nature a helping hand—taking out barriers, improving fish passage, and enhancing habitats so our rivers can better support biodiversity.

Our River Champions Business scheme empowers businesses to take meaningful steps towards becoming more 'river-friendly.' By implementing straightforward changes, such as choosing safer cleaning products, reducing water consumption, and raising community awareness, businesses across North Wales are making impressive strides in supporting healthier rivers!

This week, we've installed a second floating wetland on Llyn Penrhyn near Holyhead. This is a great step forward in our mission to understand more about using natural solutions to improve water quality and biodiversity in North Wales.

As we are in our final stages of mapping out snorkel routes in North Wales, Oisin and Jack went to survey several of the sites in Anglesey.

On the 15th November we will be showing the first screening of Sean Harris' artistic portrayal of the Eryri Torgoch at Llyn Padarn.

'Heipolymnion' meaning the lower cooler layer of water, is an immersive animation experience that takes viewers deep down into the world of the Eryri Torgoch. This emotive piece, will be projected between the trees, highlighting the beauty of the Torgoch and their struggle for survival in a declining ecosystem.

In a world where conservation often competes for attention, it is through finding a new way to communicate that we manage to touch hearts and minds and inspire people to care deeply about the environment around them. Through art and storytelling, we can connect people to the beauty and vulnerability of nature and hopefully spark a passion to protect it.

In the picturesque rivers of North Wales, fish like salmon, trout, and eels embark on epic journeys, migrating upstream to spawn. But sometimes, man-made obstacles can throw them off course. One such barrier was a small weir on a tributary of the Afon Clwyd. Though upstream offered perfect habitat for these fish, the weir posed a big challenge, blocking some species completely and making life tough for others.