We are seeking volunteers to join a small team monitoring the health of one or more of our local burns. You will receive free online and practical training from Buglife UK in how to sample for riverfly larvae which provide a good proxy for the health of a watercourse.
Riverflies are invertebrates that spend most of their life cycle in a river, stream, pond or lake. The three key groups are stoneflies, caddisflies and mayflies. Along with other freshwater invertebrates, they are at the heart of the freshwater ecosystem and are a vital link in the aquatic food chain. Their common characteristics of limited mobility, relatively long life cycle, presence throughout the year, and specific tolerances to changes in environmental conditions make them good indicators of water quality.
We are hoping to build a team of volunteer citizen scientists who can carry out regular riverfly monitoring to assess the health of our local burns as part of a wider project that we are developing in partnership with Forth Rivers Trust to kickstart landscape-scale nature restoration projects across the watersheds of East Lammermuir.
If you are interested to find out more, please get in touch: philip@sustainingdunbar.org