Yesterday evening I was invited along to the launch of Freshwater Habitats Trust, the new name for the charity previously known as Pond conservation. The event took place on a boat on the Thames and was well attended by staff from RSPB, Natural England, ARGUK, WWT and other groups.
There were a speakers on the night Including Paul Christensen, Chairman of Natural England and Dr. Jeremy Biggs, Director of Freshwater Habitats Trust. (sorry the photos are rubbish as I was at the back with only my kit lens on the camera!)
Jeremy spoke of the problems facing our freshwater habitats: 95% of canal lengths have degraded water quality, only 3 stretches of river in England are of excellent quality, those with ‘good’quality have 50% species missing and 80% of out ponds are in a poor state. And yet these habitats are often ignored. The Freshwater Habitats Trust hopes to change this. You can read more about them and their great work here.
I also spotted my photo being used on a poster (I say spotted, but I was told it would be there beforehand….and still walked right pasted to start with!.)
While on a boat on the Thames, it would have been rude to not take some photos of the scenery
It was good evening and congratulations to all the staff at FHT and thanks for inviting me and making me feel welcome on the night.
My recent experience filming on some English rivers confirms what a poor state rivers are in. I saw otters feeding mainly on non-native crayfish and only twice saw otters catch eels, their favourite food – I think that speaks volumes.
The water voles I filmed were being constantly threatened by local council mowing, intensive farmland grazing down to the water’s edge, rats and mink.