News about SOCS & The Sussex Ouse
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Here are some forthcoming events in which SOCS will be exhibiting or taking part:
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For more details of our Task Force dates please click here...
Further events will be posted soon..... |
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 Time to stand up for Our Rivers - 28th April 2009
Current Government proposals under new EU legislation need to be more ambitious if they are to deliver the positive change needed to protect Britain’s rivers, according to the campaign Our Rivers being launched today by WWF, RSPB, Angling Trust and the Association of Rivers Trusts.
The Environment Agency (EA) will decide the fate of every river in the country through one of eleven regional management plans which are currently in public consultation, ending on 22 June. Final plans will be signed off by the Secretary of State at the end of the year.
The consultation taking place across the country has been criticised for failing to engage many of those who hold vital information about our rivers: anglers who have fished the same stretch for years, community groups who look after their local river and those who rely on the river for their business.
The launch of Our Rivers aims to address this concern by providing a far more straightforward way for people to pass on their unique local knowledge to the EA. The content of the management plans must be informed by those who know and care about their rivers; those who live and work on them.
Tom le Quesne, Freshwater Policy Officer at WWF said: “This consultation is an important step in a process that must deliver a positive improvement to the state of the country’s rivers but the EA have so far failed to effectively involve river users and campaigners in their proposals.
“Our Rivers provides the opportunity for people across the country to take an active role in the consultation and tell Government what needs to be done to protect our rivers for years to come.”
We need freshwater to satisfy a basic human need. It is vital for people’s health and happiness, for the environment and wildlife, and vital to our economy. But we do not treat it with the respect it deserves. We remove billions of litres of water from our environment every day to use in homes, industry and agriculture. Our rivers are also being polluted by contaminants from industry, agriculture and homes and are suffering from the impacts of climate change.
Our Rivers is calling on river groups and users across the country to take this opportunity to stand up for their rivers by sharing their knowledge with the EA. The website which has been launched today (www.ourrivers.org.uk) is a key component of the campaign, enabling people to submit their views, to campaign at local level, win support from their MP and take action to increase the profile of Our Rivers. Information gathered through the website will be presented to the EA and Ministers as a formal request for action - to which they now have a legal obligation to respond.
“Anglers are the curtain twitchers of the river bank and are the first to notice when the insect life changes, the water colour changes or the flow is altered. The Angling Trust will be urging all its members to get involved in the Our Rivers campaign, to ensure that rivers get better protection and action now to restore them to their former glory, for the benefit of all wildlife”, said Mark Lloyd of the Angling Trust.
RSPB’s Director of Conservation, Mark Avery said: “The results of a healthy river are clear to see – the darting blue of a kingfisher, the ripple of a fish jumping for flies and carpets of wild flowers covering a floodplain all provide a real sense of wildness that people enjoy. But for many rivers once common wildlife is missing or under threat.
“What is so exciting about this campaign is that it will be using local knowledge from people who care passionately about the rivers on their doorstep. This campaign will help people give Our Rivers a voice as the Environment Agency and Government set about planning for improvements to 2015 and beyond."
The launch of Our Rivers will provide a means to identify the issues facing our rivers and enable comparison with the EA’s assessment of the current situation. Urgent action is needed as proposals will be made by the EA to government Ministers in September and final decisions taken in December.
For more information visit the Our Rivers website - www.ourrivers.org.uk
SOCS assists Natural History Museum with Blackfly survey – 1st December 2008
 Blackflies, (Family – Simuliidae), have a worldwide distribution with nearly 2000 identified species. A few of these can be found in most of the watercourses comprising the Ouse catchment. Having said that, they are very particular in their choice of habitat for the egg, larval and pupal phases of their life cycle. They require relatively unpolluted water in fast flowing riffles and the larvae attach themselves to water plants, tree roots and debris within these areas.
 The S.O.C.S. invertebrate monitoring teams are currently assisting Dr. Rory Post of the Natural History Museum by saving blackfly larvae and pupae samples found in the catchment for identification by him to species level. Rory has already completed a survey of the Cuckmere and has surprisingly found two rather unexpected species there. One is normally found in upland streams of the UK and the other in Mediterranean countries. It will be most interesting to see what the River Ouse produces.
Rory commented …..
“Blackflies are mostly noticed by humans only when they get bitten, however some ecologists (such as Professor Roger Wotton at University College London) claim that they should be considered 'keystone' species in freshwater ecology because they are the only macroinvertebrates which are capable of bringing very small particles (so-called 'dissolved organic matter') into the food chain (by 'filtering' them out of the water and clumping them together as they pass through the blackfly gut). The 'filtering' process is not well understood, but it is certainly not a simple sieve.”
Task Force carries out pond habitat improvement project for heritage vehicle trust
30th November 2008
 This month the Task Force spent as couple of weekends at Tinkers Park, Hadlow Down carrying out a pond habitat improvement project. The man made pond was created back in the 1960’s by damming a woodland ghyll which runs into the Tickerage stream, part of the River Uck catchment. Over the years the pond had become overgrown and mostly over shaded by trees with little aquatic or marginal vegetation growing. Surveys of the pond indicated that there was only and small open area where plants grew, this was the only place that aquatic insect life seemed to be present. The task Force was engaged and removed most of the immediate bank side trees from two sides of the pond, thus allowing light in. SOCS plan to return to carry our some planting in the margins which will hopefully kick-start life in the areas now opened up.
The pond is on land owned by the Claude Jessett Trust, a heritage vehicle preservation charity, and where the popular Tinkers Park steam rally is held every year. The land is on high ground in the High Weald Area of  Outstanding Natural beauty, enjoying far reaching views across the Sussex countryside. The trust own about 20 acres but only use a small area for their operations which includes a narrow gauge steam railway, however they are actively improving the rest of the land, once a farm, for the benefit of wildlife. The site includes several fields, which after management, it is hoped will become wild flower meadows. The Wealden Meadows Initiative has been consulted and has carried out a survey with this aim. Many of the surrounding hedges are going to be improved by laying and a small area of woodland is to be thinned to benefit flora.
The Claude Jessett trust intend that the wildlife area of the site will enhance their visitors experience during the many open days they have, giving people the opportunity to see much of the wildlife the area supports. SOCS will monitor the area around the pond and hopefully observe insect and other life flourish.
Southern Water fined for East Sussex stream pollution - 16th September 2008
 The Environment Agency has prosecuted Southern Water for causing sewage to enter the Bevern Stream at Barcombe in East Sussex during September last year.
Southern Water pleaded guilty to the offence at Lewes Magistrates Court on Monday 23 June 2008 and was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £845.
The Court heard that on 14 September 2007 the Environment Agency received a report of potential pollution at the Bevern Stream at Knowlands Farm in Barcombe. A thick blanket of sewage fungus was covering at least 500 metres of the stream bed and this discharge was traced to a ditch up to the old sewage treatment works at Barcombe Cross. When Environment Agency officers arrived at the scene, two Southern Water employees were on site working to remove a blockage that was causing raw sewage to enter to the ditch.
A sample of the sewage taken by the Environment Agency showed that the discharge level was almost that of neat effluent. The Bevern Stream is an important conservation area which provides habitat for sea trout to migrate upstream to breed.
When interviewed in November 2007, a Southern Water representative confirmed that the incident was caused by a large blockage of fat and debris in the sewerage system pipes which resulted in the sewage discharging into the ditch.
Carina Strutt of the Environment Agency said: “Southern Water failed to decommission the old sewage treatment works properly and also to check their sewers for blockages, causing preventable contamination over a long stretch of the stream. Sewage entering a watercourse can have a devastating effect particularly in such a sensitive area and one which is also popular with local anglers.”
In summing up the case Magistrates took into account Southern Water’s early guilty plea and prompt response to the incident, accepting that the pollution would not cause long term damage to the site.
This article was reproduced from a news release received from the Environment Agency - Dated 25th June 2008
The Scarce Chaser - A new Dragonfly species for the Sussex Ouse - 4th July 2008
 The Scarce Chaser – Libellula fulva is a Sussex rarity and is listed on the Sussex Rare Species Inventory. Thriving populations had been found on the Arun as far back as 1937, and recently another on the neighbouring Cuckmere. It wasn’t until 2006 that the species was first located on the Sussex Ouse.
This summer, led by John Luck (Dragonfly recorder for Sussex) we set out to establish the extent of the Sussex Ouse population. A couple of weekends walking the river banks in late May - early June around the Barcombe Mills area revealed there were healthy numbers present. The Scarce Chaser wasn’t so scarce after all with 30+ counted in a single day, exuvia were also found proving the speicies was actually breeding here.
So why is it now colonising the Sussex Ouse? – It’s is likely that climate change is behind its appearance, because as temperatures warm up dragonflies are using habitat they previously considered to be unsuitable. It can be found from southern France to northern Germany and east throughout central Europe to Russia.
This Dragonfly relies on slowing-moving rivers and water meadows for its habitat and is vulnerable to river pollution and changes of land use that involve drainage. Dense vegetation also appears to be an important habitat requirement, providing cover for the developing larvae as well as a route to emerge. With low banks, slow flowing water and plenty of marginal plants, Barcombe Mills provides this type of habitat. As does the river above Sutton Hall weir, where it has also been spotted.
If you’re walking along the river, maybe from Barcombe Mills to the Anchor Inn on a warm sunny day between mid May and mid July then you’re very likely to see the Scarce Chaser.
SOCS raise money for river projects by serving teas at Mount Harry - 7th June 2008
 We were again kindly invited by Lady Alice Renton to provide teas at the Mount Harry Garden Open day on 7th June. We were lucky with the weather which was nice and sunny but with a pleasant breeze.
Although the day coincided with The South of England Show at Ardingly there was an extremely good attendance enabling the Society to raise valuable funds for our ongoing projects. It also gave us the opportunity to meet and explain to many of the visitors the role we play in undertaking conservation work in the catchment.
Our thanks to Lady Alice Renton for inviting us again this year it was not only very much appreciated but we also very much enjoyed ourselves. The gardens were beautiful and made even better with their setting against the backdrop of The South Downs.
We would also again like to thank the directors of Inbake David Drury and Keith Bentley in Uckfield for very kindly donating the excellent cakes; their generosity made a big difference to our fund raising efforts. Thanks also go to Ros, Viv, Diana and Judy for their outstanding ‘front of house service’ under a lot of pressure, plus to Sam and John for their sterling work washing up, making tea and loading cake trays. Well done everybody.
SOCS is short listed in Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service – 17th April 2008
 The Sussex Ouse Conservation Society is very proud to have been one of 400+ organizations from all over the UK put forward and short listed for The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
It is a long process requiring that initially, the nomination is accepted by the committee. This is followed by a comprehensive interview with two of the Queen’s Award South East representatives. We met with them and discussed the history of S.O.C.S., our objectives, what had been achieved since formation, what we aimed to achieve in the future and our plans for making it happen. We are pleased to report that following this process S.O.C.S. is one of the 20 voluntary groups from East Sussex being put forward for further consideration.
Five volunteers attended a reception given by the Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex at Plumpton College, where we met the other 19 nominated organizations. All were congratulated for their work which covered an amazing variety of activities.
We are honoured to have been short listed to the final 20 in the county and now await a decision, to be made in June, when organizations are to be put forward for this very prestigious award.
SOCS engage the community for the River Uck Spring clean 2008 – 9th Marh 2008
 On Sunday, members of the Sussex Ouse Conservation Society (S.O.C.S.) were joined by several people from the Uckfield community to carry out the annual River Uck spring clean. Before we started the banks looked cleaner than in previous years but none the less there was plenty of litter strewn about. Despite the increased flow and depth of the river after recent rain, members of the S.O.C.S. team managed to safely wade in to locate and retrieve dumped items.
This year’s tally of recovered litter and fly tipped material included - 6 assorted supermarket trolleys, Several large pieces of carpet and underlay, an Electric cooker, 2 Office chairs, 2 new reels of fencing wire, a Vacuum cleaner, a pushchair, 2 car batteries, 2 advertising boards announcing a recent carpet sale, a pink child’s bicycle (appears to have been thrown from the town bridge), a bicycle tyre, 2 Christmas trees, Wooden pallets, plastic sheeting, hundreds of bottles and drinks cans, hundreds of sweet wrappers and crisp packets, electrical conduit, a spirit level, a folding deck chair, a plastic garden chair, cable, items of clothing (tracksuit tops, boxer shorts, and children’s leggings), supermarket carrier bags, plastic drinks cups, plastic cutlery and polystyrene fast food boxes, a football, several car hub caps along with wheels with tyres, several inside-out umbrellas, telephones and we also filled about 50 refuge sacks with general litter
Of all the items above, pieces of carpet are the most difficult items to remove from the water as once saturated they are extremely heavy and awkward to handle, taking 4 or 5 people to retrieve an average size piece.
During the day the team managed to tidy the river and its banks from the Hempstead Meadows nature reserve, all the way downstream to the A22 Uckfield by-pass, some ¾ of a mile. The worst section was from Bridge Cottage and down through Bellbrook industrial estate. At the end of the day anybody looking upstream and downstream from the town bridge would have noticed a great improvement, in fact many passers-by commented on a good job done. We were particularly heartened when two young boys made an effort to come and talk to us, genuinely thanking us for what we were doing.
As with our observations last year there are clear indications that the regular litter picking events held as part of the Brighter Uckfield Campaign have had a significant impact in reducing the amount of litter finding its way into the river. The wind is responsible for transporting most of the litter to the river, so picking it up from the wider area certainly removes the source. It’s fair to say that over the last couple of years things have improved, this year the amount of junk removed from the river was considerably less than 2007. Maybe the message is getting through!
It would be nice to think, that keeping the river tidy would not require such an enormous effort from volunteers during this annual task. It’s a long tiring day for those involved, which wouldn’t be necessary if shopping trolleys and waste were kept secure. We hope the residents of Uckfield appreciate our effort; any town lucky enough to have a river should treat it as an asset and value the wildlife it brings.
SOCS Teams up with RACS on Wetlands project – 17th February 2008
 At the weekend members of the SOCS Task Force swapped rivers to help the River Adur Conservation Society (RACS) with an exciting wetland creation project at Pondtail Farm on the Knepp Castle Estate near Horsham. Estate owner, Charlie Burrell involved RACS to organise and complete the work as part of a landscape re-wilding project currently being undertaken.
One aspect of this large scale project is to re-wild part of the River Adur by restoring watercourses back to their state prior to the introduction of intensive farming on the estate. The aim of this re-wilding is to recreate important wetland habitat and is achieved quite simply by blocking drainage ditches and culverts to force watercourses to overflow onto their natural floodplains.
By use of a hired digger and driver, RACS have now blocked a number of culverts at Pondtail Farm using wooden boards and chestnut piles backfilled with clay to create dams. Now the land drainage has effectively been removed the creation of wetland will begin.
 A short distance from the work site there is graphic evidence of where this has already been achieved. A flooded, boggy field with a restored stream now following its original course, replaces a once well drained dairy pasture. RACS have worked with the estate owner and the Environment Agency to ensure this work will achieve the Estate's objective and is good ecological practice.
Until recently most of the land on the Knepp Castle Estate was devoted to traditional arable and dairy farming but in 2001 they shifted their focus entirely and embarked on a series of regeneration and restoration projects aimed primarily at nature conservation and a less intensive meat production. One aspect of the Estates ‘Wildland project' is the ‘re-wilding' of the River Adur – allowing the river to return to its natural meanders after three centuries of being directed into a canal. This will return the old water lags to a natural flood plain system and is anticipated to encourage a much richer diversity of wildlife and plants.
If you would like to know more about the River Adur Conservation Society (RACS) please contact John Whiting whose contact details are on the homepage of this Website.
New water jetter makes light work of gravel raking . -11th November 2007
 In future, the rather arduous task of gravel raking potential sea trout breeding sites will be made a lot easier.
We have acquired a powerful water pump and fixed it up with a hose and jetting lance to loosen and clean the gravel substrate.
We were just in time to give this apparatus a trial run before the breeding season started, and one of the areas that we tackled now has a redd constructed within it.
Now its worth has been proven, we will be using it more widely in the tributaries where sea trout are known to spawn.
ART Autumn Conference - “The myth of the natural river: to protect, restore or enhance?”
9th November 2007
 Mark Davis and Lesley Williams recently represented SOCS at the ART autumn conference held at the Eden Project, Cornwall. Members of the two joint host Trusts were delighted to see us, SOCS having become a member of ART earlier in 2007.
The conference provided an important opportunity for making useful contacts with members of other rivers trusts, and discussing different ways of approaching common problems within the river catchments. Additionally speakers from varying backgrounds provoked interesting discussions under a general theme of making room for water – have you ever considered the vital role beavers can play in flood alleviation? There was a suggestion that they are the past masters at water management, and we have a lot to learn from them.
There were many interesting speakers who gave talks based on the theme of the conference with the following titles –
- “The natural river post glaciations”,
- “The ecosystem approach to catchment management”,
- “Re-wilding the Rhine”,
- “Fisheries management, attack and defend”,
- “Where wilderness reigns”,
- “Restoration of water vole popolutions”,
- “History of the European beavers in the UK”,
- “Living with beavers in Bavaria” and “Restoration of top predators”
Click here for a more detailed report on the conference…
SOCS assists with Interreg research project on chemical pollution in rivers. - 28th October 2007
A partnership of the Universities of Le Havre, du Littoral, Sussex, Christchurch University College, together with SOCS, have been successful in obtaining funds for further work on the Interreg project on river water quality. The project is entitled ‘Risk Analysis associated with Endocrine Disruption in the Manche regions (RAED)’ and involves research and monitoring of contaminants in river and coastal waters which impact fish and invertebrate health. Some of these contaminants are hormones excreted in human waste, which cause feminisation of male fish such as roach. Together with other factors, such as low river water flows and loss of habitat, there are concerns about the sustainability of UK fish populations, particularly in waters that contain high concentrations of treated wastewater effluents.
The Interreg project will involve monitoring of hormone concentrations and other water quality parameters in rivers in France and the South East of England, including the River Ouse. In addition researchers will also develop analytical tools in order to detect whether aquatic animals such as snails and mussels have been exposed to feminising chemicals in river and coastal waters. An important part of the project will be to disseminate information on the water quality of our local rivers to the environmental community and the general public.
Another cause for concern on the Bevern Stream - 9th October 2007
During the late afternoon of the 9 th October one of our members reported to us that the inspection chambers running along above the Bevern Stream between Barcombe and the Barcombe Sewage Treatment Work were overflowing; one in fact was spurting water some two or three feet into the air. As will be appreciated this was not “nice” water and if it had flowed into the stream it could have added to the problem already encountered during September when raw sewage got into the stream.
It may be that the amount of rain during the twenty four hour period had overloaded the system but in this day and age one would expect this simple infra-structure to be built to a standard that would cope with such an event, after all we are only talking about one inch of rain.
We immediately contacted the Environment Agency's emergency line to report the problem. In under an hour a call was received from the night duty lady at Worthing advising that Southern Water had been contacted. Fortunately they were already on site presumably rectifying the September pollution incident and were able to immediately investigate. They then made contact in order to pinpoint the problem so they could investigate and rectify as needed. We have not been advised of what action was taken but can report that the inspection chambers are no longer overflowing.
We were impressed with the speed of the Environment Agency's response and are grateful to them for dealing with the matter so fast. We also appreciate the action taken by Southern Water which appears to have resolved the immediate problem.
We do however have very real reservations over the environmental safety of the Sussex River Ouse and its tributaries because there are so many of Sewage Treatment Works that discharge into the main river and its feeder streams. Whilst standards have been set for the quality of these discharges in our opinion and that of other Conservation Societies these standards are far to low. There is also the problem of infrastructure breakdown which happens far too often.
SOCS Task Force clean up the Uck through Uckfield, again! - 7th October 2007
 Yet again the task force has had to spend time taking rubbish out of the Uck in order to ensure it does not wash down causing damage to the river environment. It seems that as fast as we take rubbish out some people seem compelled to throw more back. It is no where near such a problem elsewhere in the catchment, so why Uckfield?
The haul in one morning this time around was I double bed, 4 cycles, 8 wooden pallets, 2 Tesco's shopping trolley's, 1 Tesco's shelf stacking trolley and several rolls of carpet. In addition to this we also filled 7 black sacks with sweet wrappings, numerous McDonalds cups, fast food wrappings etc, drink cans and variouse other quite disgusting bits and pieces.
This stretch of river is a real asset to the town and whilst we know the vast majority of residents really appreciate and care for it why do they have to put up with the few idiots who are seemingly determined to ruin it. Cannot the local Council do more to prevent this abuse?
Serious pollution incident inpacts important Sea Trout nursery stream - 14th September 2007
On Friday 14 th September 2007 we received reports of a foul smell in the vicinity of the Bevern Stream at Knowlands Farm. On investigation that morning, we found a ditch with what appeared to be untreated sewage running directly in to the stream. From this point down stream for a distance of about 0.5km, the stream was clogged with sewage fungus and distinctly malodorous.
The Environment Agency was immediately informed and the site was inspected by an Environment Officer the same day. The source of the pollution has been identified and remedial work undertaken, but it may be some time before the residual pollutant material ceases entering the stream. We are unable to comment further at this time, as it is probable that an offence has been committed and legal proceedings may ensue. Part of the stream affected was where S.O.C.S. had planted water crowfoot (see our aquatic planting project page). Below are two photographs of this area, one taken in July before the incident took place and one taken in exactly the same place on the morning of our visit.
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| Before the pollution incident - 14th July 2007 |
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After - The same location 14th September 2007 |
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