White River Project

12/06/2026

Thank you to Nick Taylor for the footage & descriptions.

These are two different types of stonefly larvae. Again from the Gover Stream.

This stream contains far more stonefly larvae, of more different types, than any of our other sites. As with the flat-bodied mayfly larvae, they will not tolerate pollution, so we don’t find many in the main river and none below the sewage works.

Some of the chunky, patterned ones you can see are around 15mm long, whereas the slimmer, more delicate ones are only 8mm long.

Stonefly larvae start off as vegetarians, scraping algae off stones, but as they grow older they become carnivorous, eating mayfly larvae, fly larvae and even small ones of their own kind!

When they are big enough to turn into adult stoneflies, they will crawl out of the water and up a stem. Like dragonflies, their backs will split and the adult fly will pull itself out. They usually do this at night.

Note that this is different from most flies, for example your average bluebottle, which goes through 4 life stages: egg, larva(maggot) and pupa, then adult. Mayflies and stoneflies are more primitive and only have 3 life stages: egg, larva, adult.

This is because they are more primitive creatures, which evolved over 200 million years ago.

In fact, mayfly fossils have been found that date from the Carboniferous, 300 million years ago.

Obviously, their lifestyle works, cos they’re still here!

11/06/2026

Wondering what More Cornish than May Day is? 🤔

More Cornish than May Day is a celebration of the centenary of the West of England Bandsmen’s Festival, known locally as Bugle Band Contest which is held annually within our parish.

This year we have an exhibition at Wheal Martyn to celebrate the Centenary! 🎉

Our exhibition, staged in collaboration with the Festival organisers, will showcase memorabilia collected from previous contests and share the significance of this much-loved event, as it marks its 100th competition – the stories of how it was formed, its roots in the community, and where it is today.

Open from 10.00am to 5.00pm (last entry to museum 4.00pm). Price included in standard museum admission.

The 2026 Bugle Band Contest itself will be held on Saturday 20 June at Molinnis Park, Bugle.

11/06/2026

11/06/2026

We are aware that lots of you would love to volunteer to help with clearance work etc. we’re not currently able to organise that but we work closely with Three Bays Wildlife Group who have a volunteer sign up form on their website.
One thing that would be helpful though is if you regularly walk through the White River area you could send us sightings of plants and wildlife (insects, mammals, birds) uou don’t need a huge knowledge of plant and wildlife- you can just sent photos - the more unusual / rare birds, animals and plants we can find, the more chance we have of getting more funding .

11/06/2026

if you’re interested in the history of the railway, including the ponds ,(one of which used to supply water for the train boilers) there’s an excellent book (available through Cornwall libraries) The Pentewan Railway by MJT Lewis - third ed. 2018 is newest.

11/06/2026

Tonight!

TOMORROW.....Did somebody say FREE pasties? Oh yes! Join us, with post film discussion with Geoff Barham Building and Project Management, and for locally produced pasties from Wreckers Deli.

11/06/2026

RELEASE SITES NEEDED ACROSS CORNWALL 🦔🐾

As admissions continue to rise and patterns of where hedgehogs are coming from change, we need to strengthen our network of approved release sites across Cornwall.

Wherever possible, rehabilitated hedgehogs are returned close to where they were found. When this isn’t safe or possible, we rely on our network of carefully selected release sites to get them back to the same area and give them the best chance of survival.

We are particularly looking for new release sites in:
📍 Penzance📍 Camborne📍 Redruth
📍 Truro📍 Wadebridge📍 Bodmin
📍 Saltash

To be considered, sites must meet specific criteria. Urban and rural locations are equally valuable.

Think you could help? Visit our website to view the full criteria and submit an application:

https://www.pricklesandpaws.org/release-sites

Please share this post to help us fill the gaps on the map and ensure every hedgehog has the best possible chance of a successful return to the wild 🦔💚

09/06/2026

26/05/2026

Over the next few weeks we're going to post items from the White River Project vision document so you can get a better idea of the kind of things that we are hoping to work on into the future.

Please feel free to ask questions or comment - I can't promise these will be answered straight away but we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

First up - Pentewan Ponds Restoration and Pathway Improvements

Inspired by historic photographs of the Pentewan Ponds, we aim to reclaim space for open freshwater ponds at the bottom of the Pentewan Valley.

By repairing existing sluice gates, reconnecting the ponds to the river and quarry streams, removing invasive and pioneer species and de-silting the ponds, open water will be revealed providing habitat for a range of wetland creatures.

The pond water levels would be set by the sluice gates and floodwater would be excluded and diverted into the main river.

This gives the opportunity to create three distinct ponds, with different levels and different habitats.

The County Wildlife work is crucial, as its outcomes could influence nearby projects and help assess the feasibility of future initiatives such as connecting wildlife corridors through the catchment.

In addition, a series of pathways will circumnavigate the ponds to allow access for visitors.

Along the main trail, existing bridges will be replaced and widened and pathway surfaced will be regraded to ensure the Pentewan Trail is accessible for all.

The Pentewan Ponds project would also provide health, wellbeing, and educational benefits, such as conservation activities and pond dipping.