Learning about river health…

This week North Wales Rivers Trust chairman, Dr Robin Parry has been out in Llanberis educating local children (from four primary schools and one secondary school) about the importance of river health.

Chairman Dr Robin Parry showing pupils how to identify invertebrates to check river health.

Pupils learnt about the issues facing their local rivers health. From climate change and our Cool Rivers project, pollutants that are destroying our rivers ecosystem, right through to hands on sessions in the river.

North Wales Rivers Trust chairman Robin Parry said, "It’s opportunities for pupils to get hands-on in the river that really have a life-long impact on students' love and understanding of rivers. Pupils see the river up close, including where fish spawn and the invertebrates on the riverbed that support the entire food chain'.

The project gives pupils the opportunity to learn about the fish in their river, the invertebrates that the fish feed on and why riparian trees are important for aquatic ecosystem functioning.

Pupils also learnt about how they can make a difference at home by learning about the impact of what goes in their sinks and drains at home. Pupils reflected on how the way we live today directly affects the life of our rivers.

As part of our ‘Saving the Torgoch’ programme. The North Wales Rivers Trust is launching its very hands on winter fish hatchery programme with pupils from Waunfawr school this December.

Keep an eye out for updates on our news page next month.

These sessions were organised by GwyrddNi, a community-based, community-led climate action movement that brings people together in five areas of Gwynedd to discuss, share and act locally to tackle climate change.

If you would like to book one of our education sessions then please use the contact page. If you would like to support our sessions with kit and monitoring equipment for pupils, then please donate here.