News and events

Wild trout seen spawning in Wandle headwaters

For perhaps the first time in 100 years, wild trout have been sighted spawning in the Wandle's headwaters, well above the point where the pollution entered the river on 17 September 2007.

It's an amazing vindication of the success of our annual Trout in the Classroom programme, and a great pointer to the Wandle's potential as a sustainable mixed-species urban chalkstream.

Read the full story by Charles Rangeley-Wilson here in the Daily Telegraph.

Help clear floating pennywort out of the lake at Ravensbury Park
- dates for January, February and March

We're working with the Friends of Ravensbury Park to clear floating pennywort out of the lake at Ravensbury Park.  This work involves a team in the water in waders dragging the pennywort to the bank where a second team hauls it out and transports it in wheelbarrows to a site in the park where it can rot down.  We've met twice already, in November and December, and have made a really good start to the work, clearing a channel through the weed which has enabled the water to flow through the lake once again. We work from 10 am to 1 pm and we'll be meeting again on the following Saturdays: 19 January, 16 February and 15 March.  Please bring your own waders and wheelbarrow if you have them. The meeting point is on the jetty by the lake, click here for location.

Please email WandleTrustGill@aol.com if you have any questions or ask Gill about this at a cleanup.

Wandle devastated by second pollution disaster

Following August’s serious pollution incident, the Wandle was hit by an even greater catastrophe on Monday 17 September, when a large quantity of sodium hydrochloride cleaning solution was released from Beddington sewage treatment works into the Mill Green area of the river.

Local Environment Agency officers were on the scene within minutes, but at least 2000 further fish were instantly killed over a 5km reach, and longer-term impact on water weeds and invertebrate life in the river has been much more severe. 

Thames Water has pledged to work with all local groups to repair the damage.  In the next few weeks the Wandle Trust, the Wandle Piscators, the Environment Agency, and the Anglers’ Conservation Association will be consulting closely with Thames Water, putting all the necessary safeguards in place to ensure that our unceasing work on the Wandle can never be compromised in this way again. 

Our monthly community cleanups and annual Trout in the Classroom programme will continue, and we remain more committed than ever to restoring the Wandle to full health and biodiversity as the very best sustainable urban showcase chalkstream in the world.

Watch the Wandle Trust on BBC1’s Countryfile on Sunday 16 September at 11 am

Juliet Morris and a production team from the BBC spent over two hours with cleanup volunteers from the Wandle Trust on the evening of Monday 10 September at Trewint Street.  The programme on Sunday is focussing on London and will feature our mini cleanup as well as footage from other stretches of the Wandle.  We are grateful to Wandsworth Council who at very short notice came out and picked up the rubbish we had collected.

This photo shows Gill being interviewed by Juliet Morris – both suitably attired in waders!

The whole production team with Erica and Gill

If after seeing the programme you’d like to support us, why not join us at future cleanup? We’d love to see you.  We’d also really appreciate help with funding, our Trout in the Classroom project, fund-raising and our river regeneration project.  Please do contact us by email or phone, we’d love to hear from you.

Come and see us at the Mayor's Thames Festival on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 September

The Wandle Trust is once again part of this huge event and we will have our Trout in the Classroom display unit, amongst other things, on our stand.  If you can come along and help out we would love to see you.  For further details of the festival please click here.

Wandle fish killed by pollution

At around 3.30pm on Wednesday 8 August, the Wandle was seriously affected by a brief but deadly surge of pollution that appeared to originate at the top of the Mill Green branch of the river in Sutton. 

Many specimen fish of all species were killed as the river rose suddenly and took on the grey-green colour and appearance of “chopped seaweed”, according to one witness.

 

We would like to thank everyone involved in trying to save the dying fish, particularly the landlord of the Queen’s Head pub on Mill Green, who made sure to get a water sample at the height of the incident. 

Our investigation of this catastrophe is ongoing, in partnership with the Environment Agency and concerned members of the local community.  Look here for our forum blog of the latest information.

Take Part, Take Pride 2007

On the evening of 6 June, 14 of us joined Richard Harris, Sutton Council’s Biodiversity Officer, to clean up the Wandle Valley Wetland Local Nature Reserve as part of their Take Part, Take Pride week of activities.

Richard was very grateful for our efforts “many, many thanks … it is always a pleasure to work with the Wandle Trust” and has promised to keep us informed of the goings on at the reserve.  He has also invited Wandle Trust members to the official launch of the Anton Crescent Wetland Local Nature Reserve on Saturday 16 June.  Please click here for details of the launch.

Wandle Wedding

Congratulations to Alan and Gwen who were married on Sunday 22 April.  Mr and Mrs McGill have been regular Wandle Trust volunteers and met at a cleanup 18 months ago.  To remind them of how they met, they were presented with a poem written by Erica (which can be viewed by clicking here) surrounded by cleanup photos. 

Independent Article

Victoria Summerley, a journalist and Wandsworth resident, and her son were amongst the volunteers at our January cleanup.  Their efforts on the day were much appreciated as was Victoria’s account of the cleanup in her Town Life column in the Independent on Wednesday 24 January.  Please click here to read a copy of her account.

Wandle Video

Local singer/songwriter Dick Philpot and his wife Viv have shot a lovely video of the River Wandle that can be viewed at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHD2_hg6XOI.

The video was filmed on two brilliant sunny days, one in November and another just before Xmas.   Viv is currently doing an Art Project on dying using traditional methods such as those used by William Morris and the video is likely to be used as part of her show later this year. 

For more about Dick and Viv visit

http://www.dickphilpot.com and http://www.vivphilpot.com

Fishing for the cameras

Some of you might remember the BBC’s visit to the Wandle more than a year ago, bringing one of Britain’s most famous fishing and conservation writers to help us pull scooters and shopping trolleys out of the river at Trewint Street in Earlsfield.

After that, Charles Rangeley-Wilson travelled on to India, Bhutan and South America with the same cameras, filming a 4-part travel series called “The Accidental Angler”.  The London episode, including his adventures on our own little river, was shown on BBC2 on Sunday 3 December. 

He even found time to write a fascinating book about his experiences, on the Wandle and elsewhere, and you can catch one of his interviews here.

Our next Wandle cleanup

For details of where to find our next cleanup, please click here.