Summer River Celebration with Thames21
To celebrate the start of the summer holidays in Beckenham Place Park (BPP) East, Thames21 hosted a day in the river and on the riverbanks of the River Ravensbourne.
Kicking off with a children’s wade, local families from Bellingham and Downham became Citizen Scientists finding out what’s alive in the river by taking part in Riverfly monitoring. Riverflies are invertebrates that spend most of their life cycle in a river, stream, pond or lake. Along with other freshwater invertebrates, they are at the heart of the freshwater ecosystem and are a vital link in the aquatic food chain. The presence or absence of invertebrates can be used as an indicator for the water health of the river.
Children were shown the method kick sampling used to monitor shallow water invertebrates using nets. The children were really involved collecting the Riverfly and enjoyed the having a look at what they collected back on the riverbank, while taking part in art activities inspired by what we saw in the river.
In the afternoon we hosted a relaxed river clean-up for young people and adults, wading upstream through the park, collecting five bags of litter from the water and riverbanks. Everyone was delighted to be joined by three dancing Damselflies for part of the wade.
A huge thank you to the 37 local residents, including 16 children and young people, who joined in with the river activities and river clean up!
To read about the latest updates in BPP East please click here
If you would like to get involved with river activities or have any questions please email or call Beckenham Place Park Engagement Officer Catriona at BPPriver@thames21.org.uk/ 077439 27796.
