Thames21

Thames21 Thames21 works to transform London and the Thames Basin into a healthier, more climate-resilient region with rivers that everyone can enjoy.

🍃Join Action for Silk Stream for a Nature Prints Family Workshop as part of Barnet Climate Action Week 2026!🗓️Come along...
06/10/2026

🍃Join Action for Silk Stream for a Nature Prints Family Workshop as part of Barnet Climate Action Week 2026!

🗓️Come along on the 18th October at Watling Park for a fun and creative session surrounded by nature.

🎨Get creative with natural materials collected from the park and explore a variety of printing techniques, such as ink printing, leaf hammering, and clay impressions.

💧It’s also a great opportunity to learn about the nature-based solutions that helped transform Watling Park, restoring the Burnt Oak Brook to a more natural stream and creating new wetlands to filter surface water and provide new habitats for wildlife.

🔗Secure your spot here: https://book.plinth.org.uk/e/q494CMOiumBZVkZvKYUA

🚨🧤 ONLY A FEW SPACES LEFT! 🧤🌊 THE BIG WET WIPE COUNT IS BACK! 🌊Want to get hands-on and help protect the Thames? Join us...
05/10/2026

🚨🧤 ONLY A FEW SPACES LEFT! 🧤

🌊 THE BIG WET WIPE COUNT IS BACK! 🌊

Want to get hands-on and help protect the Thames? Join us on the foreshore by Hammersmith Bridge for our Autumn Big Wet Wipe Count, where we’ll be counting sewage-based wet wipes and gathering important evidence about pollution in our river.

📅 Sunday 11th October
⏰ 10:00am–2:00pm

For years, Thames21 and our amazing volunteers have been campaigning for plastic-free wet wipes - collecting evidence, raising awareness and calling for change.

And now, there’s been a major step forward! 🎉 New UK rules will ban plastic-containing wet wipes in England from 2027.

But there’s still plenty of work to do.

The Thames Tideway Tunnel is now connected, so our wet wipe surveys will play an important role in understanding its impact and tracking whether fewer wet wipes are making their way into, and building up in, the Thames.

We need action across the whole system:

🧤 Manufacturers need to provide genuinely plastic-free alternatives.
💧 Water companies must keep investing in sewage infrastructure, reduce reliance on sewage overflows and install more screens to stop wet wipes entering our rivers.
🚮 Consumers need to dispose of non-plastic wet wipes properly — bin it, don’t flush it!

💚 Come along, get involved and help us keep the Thames cleaner.

A huge thank you to everyone who has taken part in the Big Wet Wipe Count so far. Your time, energy and dedication are helping build the evidence we need to make a difference. 🌿💧

Only a few spaces remain - don’t miss out!

More details here: https://www.thames21.org.uk/event/big-wet-wipe-count-autumn-2026/

Join Thames Landscape Strategy this month for a series of hands-on Willow Spiling Workshops along the Thames in Richmond...
05/10/2026

Join Thames Landscape Strategy this month for a series of hands-on Willow Spiling Workshops along the Thames in Richmond, starting tomorrow!

🌿Willow spiling is a traditional riverbank restoration technique that helps reduce erosion, strengthen riverbanks and create valuable habitat for wildlife.

💙It’s a great opportunity to learn new skills, meet members of the community and make a positive difference to the environment.

📅 6, 13 & 20 October
⏰ 10am - 2pm
📍 Old Palace Lane, Richmond

These are free community events. Everyone is welcome to come along, and no prior experience is needed.

🔗Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/44415425753

These workshops are supported by the Thames21 Empower Rivers Community Grant.

02/10/2026

🍂📸 A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for the first autumn event of our collaborative project, The Roding Rises!

We had a fantastic time exploring the River Roding with local artist Andrew Brown, combining a riverside walk with an exciting photography workshop. From cyanotypes to infrared photography, participants explored creative and historic ways of capturing the river, while thinking about what photographs can reveal about our waterways and the environmental impacts of both analogue and digital photography.

We also highlighted the opportunities to get involved in citizen science and how collecting observations and data can help us better understand the health of the Roding and its tributaries. By getting involved, local communities can play an important role in building a clearer picture of the river and supporting its long-term care.

It was brilliant to see so much curiosity, creativity and enthusiasm along the river – fun was definitely had by all! 🌿📷

The Roding Rises is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Environment Agency’s Water Environment Improvement Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players and support from the Environment Agency, we are working with partners and communities across the catchment to continue to restore the River Roding and its smaller rivers and streams, reconnect people with them and build long-term stewardship for the future.

Thank you again to all our wonderful participants and to Andrew for helping us kick off the autumn programme in such an inspiring way!

Stay up to date with The Roding Rises, including future events and project updates. Sign up for our newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/thames21/the-roding-rises-newsletter

📸 - Paul Samuels

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Environment Agency

💧Are you joining our Big Wet Wipe Count?🗓️Come along on Sunday, 11th October to Hammersmith and help us monitor wet wipe...
02/10/2026

💧Are you joining our Big Wet Wipe Count?

🗓️Come along on Sunday, 11th October to Hammersmith and help us monitor wet wipes accumulating on the Thames foreshore.

📊Thames21 has been monitoring the site since 2017. The data gathered has helped make a case for banning plastic in wet wipes and has led to a coordinated removal of the ‘wet wipe island’ led by the PLA in 2025.

We’re now looking for volunteers to continue these surveys to help assess the tunnel’s impact, and we hope you can join us! 😉

Register here: https://book.plinth.org.uk/e/6acz6OvOOIgovimdcIH2

Thames21 | Wet Wipes | River Thames | Hammersmith | Citizen Science

01/10/2026

🌿🦎Stonebridge Lock Coalition are taking matters into their own hands to get a detailed look at what plants and animals live in the River Lea.

🔬💧Supported by Thames21's EMPOWER Rivers Community Grant, they have used fragments of environmental DNA floating in the water to identify what species live in and around it.

📹Watch this video to see what they found!

UK Black History Month starts today, and we would like to take this opportunity to recognise and celebrate historical Bl...
01/10/2026

UK Black History Month starts today, and we would like to take this opportunity to recognise and celebrate historical Black Britons who have helped shape Black British history.

In order to understand our present, it is important to look to the past. This Black History Month, we want to highlight the often-unexplored relationship between Black people and the River Thames, while updating our 2025 article.

Read ‘Black History Month: A Journey Through History Along the River Thames’ here: https://www.thames21.org.uk/2026/10/black-history-month-a-journey-through-history-along-the-river-thames/

30/09/2026

Look and you will find. 👀 It’s amazing what wildlife can be spotted in urban river environments. Can you spot the moorhen here?

Wednesday afternoon reflections by the river. 💙

As an environmental charity, Thames21 works to transform London and the Thames Basin into a healthier, more climate-resilient region, with rivers that everyone can enjoy.

None of the city’s rivers are in good health, and the region faces increasing challenges from climate change, nature loss and rising social inequality.

But solutions exist, and together we can make a difference.

Come and join us in helping to protect your local river. Part of the local community? Please check out our community volunteering events via our events page on our website here: https://www.thames21.org.uk/events/

Get active and connect with nature at Thames Road Wetland!🌾🌿💧Thames Road Wetland is a vibrant wildlife sanctuary in Bexl...
29/09/2026

Get active and connect with nature at Thames Road Wetland!🌾

🌿💧Thames Road Wetland is a vibrant wildlife sanctuary in Bexley and a designated Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. Wetlands are crucial for biodiversity and play an important role in purifying water, reducing flood risk, and storing carbon.

➡️Join our next volunteering day on the 16th October. We’ll be carrying out vegetation management tasks to improve habitat for the unique species that call the wetland home.

🔗Register here: https://book.plinth.org.uk/e/0WCJmk9xkzaAmCNTk2TC

🌿 Exploring natural flood management across south-east LondonLast week, local residents and members of Friends’ groups j...
28/09/2026

🌿 Exploring natural flood management across south-east London

Last week, local residents and members of Friends’ groups joined us on guided walks through Oxleas Woods, Bostall Woods and Wickham Playing Field to explore how natural flood management can help make these much-loved landscapes more resilient to flooding and climate change.

📍 21 September – Oxleas Woods
We discussed upcoming woodland restoration work designed to reduce the local impacts of heavy rainfall and flooding, while also supporting biodiversity. The walk was a great opportunity to hear local knowledge, ideas and observations that will help shape the practical interventions starting at the end of September.

📍 23 September – Bostall Woods & Wickham Playing Field
At Bostall Woods, we visited areas where leaky dams and holly removal are proposed. We then headed to Wickham Playing Field to see the newly completed flood retention basins, where residents asked questions and shared their thoughts and observations.

It will be fascinating to see how the basins perform as heavier rainfall returns, and how the vegetation develops over time. 🌱

It was a wonderful opportunity to hear directly from the people who know and use these places. Their local knowledge and perspectives will help guide the work as it progresses. 💚

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and shared their time, questions and ideas.

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