Invasive Non-Native Species and Fish Surveys

31st January 2022 - General Catchment

A massive thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who helped us out last summer! Come rain or shine, we had so many willing helpers who put in a huge amount of hard work.

The Bassenthwaite Rotary Club hard at work in the Cocker catchment

Over the summer we worked to tackle invasive Himalayan Balsam plants in both the Glenderamackin and Cocker catchments, a job which would be impossible without support and help from the community. Around 100 people volunteered their time for either one session or several days, adding up to over 500 hours of volunteer help. We’d also like to thank the Cockermouth Civic Trust, Bassenthwaite Rotary Club, U3A and Cockermouth Soroptimists for their regular support throughout the summer, and those individuals who show so much commitment each year to pulling and surveying the balsam in their local area.

Volunteers measuring a trout fry

As well as tackling invasive species, we also conducted our annual fish survey programme across the Derwent catchment, collecting valuable data on the populations of juvenile trout and salmon. Interns and volunteers helped us complete surveys at 122 sites, despite the drought hampering our efforts. We couldn’t do these surveys without the help of our dedicated interns and volunteers. Survey days are long, physically demanding days and we really appreciate everyone’s hard work. In total we counted 3,454 trout and 4,026 salmon.

This year we hope to continue our work to reduce invasive non-native species and collect valuable fisheries data…..keep an eye on our newsletters and emails in the spring to keep up to date. In the meantime there are lots of tree planting volunteer days over the winter to get involved with. Take a look at our website or social media pages for more information.