Riverfly Partnership

19/10/2026

Meet our riverfly horror icons...👻🧛‍♀️🧟‍♂️

Which one is your favourite?

📸 Dr Cyril Bennett

14/10/2026

Read the latest report to find out more on the current health of our rivers 👇

If this inspires you to take action, get in touch with us at [email protected] to find your nearest Riverfly hub & sign up to become a citizen scientist for your local river! 🫵

09/10/2026

Being a great citizen scientist this month can potentially mean taking a pause on getting in the river. 🐟

Many groups pause their kick-sampling entirely during this period because of advice against it due to reasons such as weather, heavy river flows, or fish spawning activity.

But for those of us who are still heading out to log our data this month, our routine looks a little different. As we enter spawning season for trout and salmon, they are actively laying their eggs in shallow gravel, creating nests known as 'redds'.

Our October Spawning Protocol:

👁️ Redd Radar: Spend an extra few minutes reading the riverbed before you step in. Look for clean, bright, freshly scooped mounds of gravel.

🚫 Skip the Sample: If a sampling site looks risky or you suspect fish are in the shallow riffle, prioritise fish safety over a sample.

📢 Spotted a Redd? If you identify a redd at your monitoring site, do not step into the water. Take a photo from the bank, leave the site undisturbed, and contact your local Riverfly Coordinator immediately to let them know.

Riverfly monitoring is also about protecting the entire ecosystem by keeping the next generation of fish safe and sound this autumn.

Photo credit: The Wild Trout Trust

For more information on how to identify a redd, visit The Wild Trout Trust website for some great guidance.

22/09/2026

🍂 The autumn equinox is here.

As the days become shorter and temperatures begin to drop, our rivers are changing too – for riverflies, this is also a time of seasonal transition.

Late summer and early autumn can naturally bring lower numbers and diversity at some monitoring sites, and you may spot smaller larvae in your sampling trays - don't forget your magnifying glasses! 🔎

*Please note - things will vary a lot between sites and regions, but, very generally, these are patterns you might see*



Photo Credits: David Warriner, Jeff Pearce, Dave Lewis.

18/09/2026

If you take part in Riverfly or freshwater surveys, you'll occasionally come across a species that isn't supposed to be there. We've put together a quick guide to four of the invasive non-native species (INNS) you're most likely to spot — signal crayfish, killer and demon shrimp, and zebra mussel — and, crucially, what to do if you find one.

The short version: don't attempt to trap, handle or move it yourself (this matters especially for crayfish, where handling without an Environment Agency licence isn't allowed). Instead, photograph it, note exactly where you found it, and report it through iRecord or INNS Mapper. Then make sure to Check, Clean and Dry your kit before your next site visit — this is the single biggest thing surveyors can do to stop these species spreading between rivers.

Full details in the graphics below. If you're ever unsure what you've found, report it anyway with a photo — better a false alarm than a missed invasion. Thanks for helping us keep an eye on our rivers.

16/09/2026

Check out the fantastic work of our colleagues in this video – this is one of the Freshwater Biological Association's other key projects 🐟

10/09/2026

A lovely morning out for the Riverfly Partnership HQ team yesterday - and a great way to welcome Riverfly Co-ordinator Beth back from maternity leave!

07/09/2026

Congratulations and good luck to Buglife's Guardians of our Rivers - the fantastic hub of Riverfly monitoring in Scotland!

On Wednesday (2 September) some of the Buglife Scotland team attended the Nature of Scotland Awards 2026 shortlist reception at Scottish Parliament.

🎉 We're delighted to share that Buglife's Guardian's of our Rivers freshwater project and Returning the Tadpole Shrimp to Mereshead have been shortlisted for the Coasts and Waters Award and partnership programme Species on the Edge has been shortlisted for the Innovation Award!

🤞Both of these excellent (even if we do say so ourselves!) projects are up against a fantastic bunch of community initiatives, as is Species on the Edge; the competition is fierce, but we have everything crossed!

ℹ️ The Nature of Scotland Awards Ceremony will take place at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Thursday 19 November, and is set to be an inspiring night of celebration, hosted by award-winning presenter and wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan MBE and BBC Scotland Landward presenter Arlene Stuart.

🍀Good luck to all the nominees! We're obviously rooting for Guardians of our Rivers, Returning the Tadpole Shrimp to Mereshead and Species on the Edge but, no matter who wins the award, Scottish wildlife and nature is definitely a winner and in good hands when it comes to community action 👏
📷 Tadpole Shrimp (Triops cancriformis) © Ed Fellowes/Species on the Edge

27/08/2026

Craving more freshwater news in between our bi-monthly Riverfly Partnership newsletters? Our host organisation, the FBA, sends theirs out monthly – you can read the latest issue here 💧

Greetings fine freshwater friends... we are thrilled to share with you the August issue of FBA Voice!

Here at the FBA we've been busy developing our ambitions for freshwater species recovery and this issue is packed with updates on the milestone achievements and next steps of our freshwater pearl mussel and Arctic charr recovery programmes. This nature recovery work is only possible thanks to the support from our incredible network of action-focused scientists, conservation managers, volunteers, members, fellows and partner organisations.

Without you none of this would be possible, so we would like to say a massive thank you! And share particular thanks to Natural England, the Environment Agency, Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru / Natural Resources Wales, Yorkshire Water, and the Lake District National Park for their dedicated help and funding over the years.

So we hope you enjoy this collection of latest news from the FBA freshwater world... with marvellous Margaritifera margaritifera, splendid Salvelinus alpinus, and carnivorous caddisfly.

And why, we hear you ask, is there a trumpet? Well we invite you to pucker up and blast into the August issue of FBA Voice to find out!

https://mailchi.mp/fba/welcome-to-the-august-2026-issue-of-fba-voice

24/08/2026