I did my first 'official' riverfly recording today on 2 tribs of the Arrow.
I think we managed to remember most of what we had learnt on the course.
Have learnt additionally that it needs a good flat surface to work on.
It never ceases to amaze me how much Gammerus there is. Has anyone got any tips/been doing it for a long time?

I'm interested in a course about riverlife, whereabouts did you find out about it?

Hi HPRbrownie

Farmer is talking about the 'Riverfly Partnership'....a scheme for national standard monitoring of invertebrates on a regular basis.

You list as 'Northern England'......where??? as I am planning two courses for local people.

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Hi farmer

Nice one... well done

I've been monitoring since the mid 80's...but not in the 'riverfly' method obviously. .........wait till you get to summer and the baetis hit fresh air and hatch quicker than you can count them.......choose your days carefully (if you can)

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Two things to have in life - A good bed and a good pair of boots -and if you aren't in one you should be in t'other

It gets easier when you've done a few and you get into a routine.
One tip is to mark the tray into 10 equal areas with a marker, this makes it much easier to do the count.

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Congrats on your first sample farmer. One of the things that foxed me at the outset was the wholesale disappearance of BWOs over the winter.
Unlike the other invertebrates these nymphs are not present all year round and are unlikely to be found between November and May.
Other tips are to take some waterproof gloves for winter samples when the one minute manual search can be painful without them and not to forget midge repellant in summer.

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Musha rig um du rum da

HPR The Riverfly monitoring that we do is overseen by The Riverfly Partnership www.riverflies.org
This was originally set up by the Natural History Museum to find a way for the average person to monitor water on a regular basis by being trained to identify a simple range of indicator insects/crustacea. We count the numbers of each type as opposed to every different species (as done by the EA, but every 4 years!). However the EA have the results and by seeing changes in these or by identifying areas where results are poor, it helps them build a picture of the watershed and may indeed lead towards a particular pollution source.
The scheme is now operated by the Trout and Salmon Association.
The courses are shown on the Riverfly website and are well worth attending.
I will admit that going on one has changed the way I look at any river or stream now

Hi' Farmer, I have been invertebrate monitoring since attending a day course conducted by Dr Cyril Bennett and Craig Macadam in May 2005-- monthly for two and a half years. Had time off with a bad back, and started again last Sept. It's very rewarding and revealing work. Started photographing flies back in the 1980s, in close-up; but it's easier playing with the larvae, shrimps, hoglice etc. Like the Forums, it becomes a compulsive interest. Cheers. TC