As part of our Freshwater Pearl Mussel project in partnership with the Eryri National Park we have been out on a field visit with the amazing pupils from Ysgol Bro Hedd Wyn. Today they joined us on site to learn about river lifecycles and food chains and how to use invertebrates as water quality indicators.

Our Floating Wetland project funded by Local Nature Partnerships and Cyngor Ynys Mon is well underway. Plans have been finalised for the instalment of the first wetland early this summer and we have established a local group of volunteers to help with monitoring the water quality through various methods.

Last week NWRT Project Officers completed a water quality survey of the Afon Cegin as part of our Esmee Fairburn ‘Blue Spaces’ project. The river runs near to Bangor and is known to be impacted by high levels of Phosphorus. The survey aimed to identify general trends in water quality across the catchment and assess the impact of permitted discharges.

Laura and Liam were thrilled to be invited to speak at the Welsh Freshwater Pearl Mussel Strategy meeting, where they presented our river restoration efforts on the Eden and our community work in partnership with Eryri National Park.

Earlier this year we launched our River Champion Business award. This award supports and awards businesses in their journey to becoming more river-friendly. Since the launch we have had a great response from local businesses and have almost met our target of 20 River Champion businesses by the end of May!

Our first cohort of River Ambassadors will be attending training next Saturday at Plas Y Brenin. They will become the voices of their local water, not only collating vital data but also shouting about all the amazing reasons why their river should be protected.

We were back out again last week as part of our community Swimways project. Our fanatastic volunteers were hosted by environmentalist Sian Sykes. Thanks to our volunteers who not only improved the Menai Strait for wildlife, they also improved their own Sup skills.

Last week we hosted the team from the Eryri National Park on the Afon Eden as part of our partnership to protect endangered species. We have a really exciting summer program for the community to get involved in. From habitat surveys to dry stone walling and mindfulness walks. There is something for everyone.

Afon Eden is suffering from high levels of nutrients. We traced the issue to a leaking pipe at the perimeter fence of the nearby sewage works. We have sent the water samples to the lab for further tests.

This week our community volunteers have started their weekly monitoring of blue-green algae levels at Llyn Maelog, Rhosneigr. Samples will be collected by the volunteers weekly from May - August from three different sections of the lake and sent away for testing.

Last week NWRT Fisheries Officer Antony Smith attended the annual conference of the River Restoration Centre (RRC) hosted this year in the historic seaside town of Llandudno.

The pupils at Ysgol Bro Hedd Wyn have been hard at work learning about Fresh Water Pearl Mussels and their life-cycle. In this session they have been creating storyboards ahead of the creation of their real storybook and the plans are looking great!

We are excited to announce that we are collaborating with artist Sean Harris to raise awareness for wildlife beneath the water.

Sean is an artist and animator with an impressive portfolio of inspiring and educational work. He uses unique method’s to tell the story of endangered and extinct species. Taking inspiration from the natural world, Sean creates captivating and interactive displays.

Last week a fantastic group of volunteers headed out on the Menai Strait for a SUP clean up in collaboration with Journey With Sian.

Sewage spill data has been released for 2023. We have analysed the data provided by The Rivers Trust Sewage Map. Our catchment has some of the highest statistics for the whole of Wales. Llanbrynmair CSO on the Afon Dyfi has the highest record of spills in the country with spills totalling a shocking duration of 8 months and 10 days.

This weekend Antony attended the Institute of Fisheries Management (IFM) electric fishing course and is now certified to lead surveys.

Llanbrynmair wins worst in Wales award for spills thanks to Dwr Cymru.

As part of Prosiect Torgoch we are starting a program of intensive water quality monitoring in the upstream catchment of Llyn Cwellyn to further understand nutrient inputs to the lake.

We’re on the lookout for individuals across North Wales to become River Ambassadors. River Ambassadors are volunteers with a love of wildlife and water, keen to learn new things and share them with their local community.

Prosiect Torgoch is planning to establish an annual citizen-led snorkel survey to monitor the trends in the non-native perch population at Llyn Padarn. These surveys will aim to gather data to inform future management strategies and safeguard the lake's biodiversity.