What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

Westcountry Rivers Trust

Home
United Kingdom
Launceston
Westcountry Rivers Trust

We are an environmental charity restoring and protecting the Westcountry's freshwater environments

29/08/2026

Right now, in fields across the Mole catchment, something interesting is happening between the rows.

While the maize keeps growing skyward, we've drilling Italian rye grass seed underneath. The grass stays dormant in the shade of the maize canopy through summer, then springs into life once the maize is harvested in the autumn.

The result? A green carpet ready and waiting to protect the soil through winter, rather than the bare fields that have traditionally followed maize harvest. A small change with a big difference for soil, water and the rivers downstream.

Part of our Teign and Taw Fisheries Management work, alongside Engie UK and growers across North Devon.

ENGIE

27/08/2026

The Environment Agency has just published its latest data on river health. In the South West, only 19.6% of surface waterbodies are rated 'good' ecological condition, slightly higher than the national figure of 14.3%.

Rivers here face a range of pressures, including sewage spills, farm run-off and road pollution. This data offers a useful snapshot of freshwater quality and how it's changing, though it does have limitations (something we'll dig into in a future post), so it's best read alongside other evidence.

Over the coming posts we'll unpack what this means, what's changed, and why. First though: what does "good ecological status" actually mean? Swipe through to find out 👉

25/08/2026

🦺Confined space training

Earlier this summer some of our staff have passed their confined space training with flying colours.

This experience is needed for anyone working in confined spaces such as wells, tanks or pipes with reasonably foreseeable specified risks. As part of this our staff got to practice safe entry to confined spaces, good communication skills, PPE including using emergency breathing equipment, and rescue techniques. Thanks ISAR3 for all you help and guidance!

24/08/2026

Tender opportunity: Organisational Development Consultant, Sound Rivers Project

Westcountry Rivers Trust is looking for an experienced organisational development consultant to support our National Lottery Heritage Fund Sound Rivers Discovery Project.

The consultant will review the trust's structure and systems and help us build capacity for future funding bids. The contract covers a 12-week diagnostic review, workshops, SWOT/organisational health check, strategic roadmap and discovery phase evaluation report.

Deadline: Friday 4th September 2026, 5pm BST

Full brief available here https://wrt.org.uk/about-us/contractor-opportunities/

22/08/2026

🌱 Erosion control in action at our newly established pond!

With this soil bank freshly dug and the dry weather not yet letting grass and other vegetation get established, we've been out with mallets and pegs pinning down coir matting on the slope.

Why bother? Plant roots are usually the unsung heroes of erosion control – holding soil in place and slowing the flow of water across a slope. Without that root network, bare soil is vulnerable, and heavy rain can wash it straight into nearby water bodies, causing sedimentation that smothers habitats and degrades water quality.

Until the vegetation catches up, our coir matting is doing that job instead: slowing water flow, holding soil where it belongs, and protecting the pond from sediment. As a natural fibre, it also creates a sheltered microclimate that helps seeds germinate and establish, and it will simply break down over time once its job is done.

A small intervention, but one that protects both the water body we've worked hard to create and reminds us just how much heavy lifting plant roots normally do for our rivers and ponds. 💧

20/08/2026

☀️ It's hot work in East Devon's Harpford catchment!

Our WRT ops team has been out in these dry conditions, but already thinking ahead to what winter might bring in this ephemeral catchment.

Pictured taking a well-earned break on a newly installed flow spreader - proud of the in-channel features going in, including leaky dams and check dams, all part of the CROC project. 💪🌿

The logs the team are sitting on are flow spreaders which should 'wiggle/spread/zig-zag' the water during high flows. This mean it takes longer to get down to the village which floods below and eases the pressure on them. The leaky woody dam features also in the woods will allow normal trickly flow under but when we have a deluge, the water will back up behind each one, again, slowing the release and reducing the wall of water that flows off the hill to the village below.

19/08/2026

Graduate Opportunity: IT & Digital Intern

Westcountry Rivers Trust is looking for a IT & Digital Graduate Intern who will play a key operational role within the Resources team, working closely with the Head of Resources to deliver WRT's digital agenda. This is a broad, practical role that sits at the intersection of IT coordination, web management, cyber security housekeeping, and digital operations - the operational layer that connects our managed IT provider (AME Solutions) with the day-to-day digital needs of the organisation.

Deadline: Sunday 13th September 2026

Full description available here https://wrt.org.uk/about-us/current-openings

18/08/2026

New funding to progress weir removals on the Fal

Westcountry Rivers Trust have secured funding from The European Open Rivers Programme – a grant- giving organisation dedicated to restoring rivers to help complete all the preparatory studies and designs needed to bring Trenowth, Melbur and Treviscoe weirs to delivery-ready status by 2027.

These structures are all redundant weirs which continue to fragment a reach of the River Fal, blocking fish passage, disrupting sediment transport and degrading habitat quality, despite serving no ongoing function. Enabling their eventual removal will reconnect around 35 km of the River Fal.

The European Open Rivers Programme is a Dutch grant-giving organisation dedicated to restoring rivers https://openrivers.eu/. The programme offers grants to support projects that lead to the removal of small dams and the restoration of river flow and biodiversity.
The programme is funded by Arcadia.

16/08/2026

Bucket full of fish! How many salmon and trout can you count?

A healthy site whilst out on our yearly fry index surveys of the Barle catchment this week, with a mix of salmon and trout of different ages. The fish are very active now that the temperatures dropping slightly, which is a great sign.

A fry index survey is a quick 5 minute survey targeted at riffles and small pools where we are likely to find juvenile salmonids (Atlantic salmon and brown trout). This helps us to gain an understanding of spawning success last winter and helps to indicate areas that we should be targeting actions, in conjunction with other surveys.

It doesn't pick up other species so well, but we've seen plenty of bullheads, stone loach, minnows, lampreys and some eels across our other surveys on the wider Exe so far.

Also, fun fact: salmon and trout can change colour slightly to adapt to the colour of rocks they are around, turning darker or lighter depending on their surroundings.

14/08/2026

What does the current drought look like for our westcountry rivers?

Earlier this week WRT CEO Dr. Laurence Couldrick spoke to BBC Radio Cornwall & BBC Radio Devon about the drought conditions and the state of our rivers, listen back via the links below.
Scroll through to see some pictures of current conditions taken by out teams out across the region.

Tue 11/08/2026
BBC radio Devon - John Acres Show @ 1:42:00 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002zp9q
BBC radio Cornwall - James Churchfield Show @ 2:12:00 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002zp7c

Address

Launceston
PL178PH

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+441579372140

Website

https://linktr.ee/westcountryrivers

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Westcountry Rivers Trust posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your organisation to be the top-listed Non Profit Organisation in Launceston?