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...
12th October 2008 (Sunday) - Task Force - Gravel substrate improvement, Bevern Stream, Hurst Barns, East Chiltington.
9th November 2008
(Sunday) - Task Force Coppicing bank side trees, Tickerage Stream, Tinkers Park, Hadlow Down. |
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SOCS reveals the 'Secret life of the River Ouse' at Barcombe Mills - 8th September 2007
 On the afternoon of the 8 th September with the permission of the Environment Agency and with the help of Richard Osmond with his Hi Tech Wild Tech trailer we were able to mount an exhibition at Barcombe Mills. We were very fortunate with the weather and met far more people and members than we had expected.
We were able to let people see the work carried out by the task force and how their efforts benefited the environmental well being of the river, we also recruited some extra volunteers. Although it is quite challenging it is very rewarding work and with the kind permission of the landowners we get to see parts of the catchment not generally open to the public.
The water testing programme together with the invertebrate monitoring (BMWP) was the source of a number of questions and we were able to explain why we are very insistent on ensuring is definitely undertaken each month. It is an extremely important programme and we know a number of organisations regularly visit our web site each month, including universities, conservation societies etc to view the results.
The education programme run by Sam was also the focus of a lot of attention and two schools will be added to our list of visits in 2008. The children are always incredibly enthusiastic which makes our visits very rewarding.
It was a real bonus to have Richard Osmond on site with his High Tech Wild Tech trailer it is always a great attraction for all age groups; it is fascinating to be able to see the invertebrate that live in the river in such detail. I have had a number of enquiries since about the trailer and Richard can be contacted on 01489 896234 or richard@wildlifeeducation.co.uk
Some people who visited asked our views on returning navigation to the river and this gave us the opportunity to explain the environmental damage that the project would cause if it were allowed to proceed. It was also interesting to note that people assumed any navigation would involve canal boats on the river, this is not so as they would be too large. I am pleased to say that all the people I spoke to realised how damaging this venture would be and agreed with our strong opposition together with that of other conservation societies. Please see our website for the Environment Agencies initial response.
We would like to thank all those who helped us on the day especially Richard for his very interesting contribution. We would also like to thank the Environment Agency for not only letting us use their land but also for preparing it which made our access so much easier.
SOCS Joins the Association of Rivers Trusts (ART) - 30th March 2007
 On 30th March 2007 S.O.C.S. became a Registered Member of the Association of Rivers Trusts (ART). We are proud to have been accepted as a member of this influential body and to become part of the national movement for the protection of UK rivers. Our membership will strengthen our capability to restore the River Ouse to a watercourse of good ecological status and protect it from the threats of pollution, over abstraction and inappropriate designs to canalise it for navigation. http://www.associationofriverstrusts.org.uk/
Navigation on the Sussex Ouse - 27th March 2007
On 27 th March members of the S.O.C.S. Committee attended, by invitation, a presentation entitled “The Sussex Ouse, A Vision for the 21 st Century” by the Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust (S.O.R.T.)
Bob Draper, the Chairman of S.O.R.T. gave a short talk with slides elaborating on their aims and ambitions. Brochures were also available summarizing the “vision”
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| Photo- P.Green/Natural England |
The content of the presentation confirmed the main objective, which is to “restore” navigation for powered craft on the Ouse. In what we found a bizarre twist this does not include narrow boats as the lock dimensions will be inadequate to accommodate them. They wish to see the river deepened and widened with a target depth of 1.5 metres and a minimum depth of 1.2 metres, rebuilding all locks above Lewes where there are sufficient remains still in existence. One of the other stated aims is “Ecological enhancement”
It was obvious that S.O.R.T. do not understand the basic principles of river ecology. What they are proposing means wholesale destruction of the riffle/pool character in the middle and upper reaches of the river with a consequent drastic loss of biodiversity. The fast water reaches, with gravel beds, are rich in water crowfoot and starwort and support a vast array of invertebrates, the bedrock of a balanced ecological system. These areas are also the spawning grounds for wild brown trout and sea trout and support species of fish such as bullheads, stone loach, grayling and barbel. These fish cannot thrive in slow flowing rivers with increased turbidity and a silt substrate. Such habitat destruction can by no means be regarded as ecological enhancement. S.O.R.T. even claim that their interventions will “improve” angling on the river.
There are many other flawed aspects of the S.O.R.T. proposals too numerous to elaborate upon here, but our scientific adviser, Dave Brown, has compiled a document addressing the issues which will be sent to S.O.R.T.
We, (the S.O.C.S. trustees), have no objection to the restoration of some of the old locks to preserve architectural heritage, but we are adamantly opposed to S.O.R.T.s other “restoration” proposals, which in our opinion would lead to ruination not restoration.
SOCS helps campaign defeat planning application for 750 homes threatening ancient gyhll woodland - 8th February 2007
 The Society joined a large number of local residents of Uckfield, The Woodlands Trust, The Sussex Wildlife Trust, The Environment Agency and others in strongly opposing the above application. We are pleased to say that it was rejected by Wealden Planning Committee on Thursday 8 th February 2007 but the applicants do have six months in which to appeal against the decision.
The application proposed building 750 houses, a primary school, a light industrial estate and shops at Downlands Farm, an area that falls outside the Wealden Local Plan, adopted in 1998 also in contravention of the non-statutory Wealden Local Plan. It would concrete over three large fields, an area of ancient woodland and common land that has all the characteristics of the high weald.
An Environmental Impact Assessment was produced by consultants omitted many important environmental and conservation concerns. Our objection was based on the complete omission from the document of the potential damage that could occur to the Shortbridge Stream which is designated a Salmonid water by DEFRA under the EU Freshwater Fisheries Directive 78/659/EEC.
The proposed development would straddle three deep ghylls that drain into the stream which has a population of wild brown trout, sea trout and brook lampreys. Surface water drainage from the development would enter these ghylls which together with the potential for fly tipping of garden refuse could seriously compromise the water quality in the stream and upset the delicate ecological balance.
The other environmentally driven objectors were also critical of The Environmental Statement and made the very strong point of how this application if approved would cause enormous damage to the rich biodiversity of this area. Local residents further concentrated on the total lack of adequate infrastructure to support this development which would be in addition to other applications already approved.
We are very pleased with the decision made by the Wealden Planning Committee to reject this application and we would hope that this cynical attempt to develop an area of such natural beauty and rich biodiversity will not be appealed. However there is a lot of money/profit driving this proposal involved so we will need to be very vigilant.
 Bid to pump treated sewage into rivers - 2nd February 2007
 Treated sewage would be pumped into the River Cuckmere at Horsebridge and the Ouse at Isfield if a scheme before the Environment Agency goes ahead.
Worried conservationists say the discharge will equal at least a quarter of the flow of both rivers and be 'absolutely disastrous.'
At present sewage effluent is discharged from the Newhaven sewage works via a long sea outfall into the English Channel.
But now Newater PLC has lodged a formal application for consent to discharge 15,000 cubic metres per hour per river from the works to the Ouse and the Cuckmere.
The aim is to increase flow so water can be taken downstream to go into the public drinking water supply.
Sam St Pierre, director of the Sussex Ouse Conservation Society, said:'
'All effluent has contaminants which impact on invertebrate life, fish etc. How can the carbon footprint of energy used to pump the water be justified?'
Water bailiff Jim Smith said: 'This is absolutely disastrous - it stinks. The outcome does not bear thinking about. I believe it's an admission there is just not enough water to supply local needs. What about phosphates and nitrates - this will destroy the ecosystem and be an environmental disaster. How can the people responsible be sure there will never be any mistakes over treatment? The river will smell like an over-disinfected toilet.'
An Environment Agency spokeswoman confessed: 'This is a bit of an odd one. Newater has applied to us but they do not have a pipeline in place and would need to apply for several permissions. Any consent is a long way in the future. We have been in discussion with the company and we have a duty to let the public know. To gain consent the firm would have to meet stringent conditions in place to protect the river.'
No comment was available from Newater.
A spokeswoman for South East Water, which provides drinking water in the area, said the extraction of water from rivers for drinking water supplies was common.
She added: 'While this Discharge Consent Application is entirely a matter for the Environment Agency we would like to reassure our customers that the drinking water we supply from whatever source is among the highest quality in Europe and consistently meets the stringent standards set by the Drinking Water Inspectorate, which monitors our activities.'
S.O.C.S. Goes International - 25th November 2006
 Mohammad Nemati, a postgraduate student at the Isfahan University of Technology, came across our web site and contacted us for some information on our macro invertebrate surveying methodology. Mohammad is researching and preparing a thesis on the effects of surrounding land use on the Zayandeh River , a 250 mile long watercourse in Iran, which runs through Isfahan. We have since corresponded with Mohammad and learned a great deal about his river and the work he is doing and we hope that some of the information about our endeavours has also been useful to him.
The Zayandeh Rud River
Rud means "river" in Persian.The Zayandeh Rud basin, is a closed river basin with no outlet to the sea, located in the central part of Iran. The main river, the Zayandeh Rud, runs for some 350 km roughly west-east from the Zagros mountains to the GawKhuni Swamp. The majority of the basin is a typical arid and semi-arid desert. The most fertile part of the basin are the alluvial deposits flanking the Zayandeh Rud.
 This large river system, like the Sussex Ouse faces similar problems caused by exploitation and climate change, with drought being a serious issue. Numerous factors including continued growth of urban population, development of new agricultural land and rapid increases in industrial demands, have caused water a shortage for the last 50 years. Agriculture is the main water consumer using more than 80% of the available water resources. This has also resulted in reduction of water quality of the Zayandeh Rud, especially downstream the city of Isfahan. This deterioration is causing problems for the ecosystem of the rivers and GawKhuni swamp, an internationally recognized wetland.
Honing our skills - 13th November 2006
 On Monday 13th November, members of the S.O.C.S. biological monitoring team, and a contingent from the Amacom project, University of Brighton, attended a macro invertebrate sampling session at Clappers Weir on the Bevern Stream. Two of the Environment Agency's Ecological Appraisal Officers demonstrated the kick-sampling method used.
We were pleased to note that our procedures to date have been fairly standard, but we have picked up a few tips to improve them in future. We are grateful to the officers of the Sussex Area Environment Agency for providing us with this opportunity.
Rare birds ruffle a few feathers - Twitchers flock to valley to catch a glimpse of egrets - story by Susan King - 13th January 2006
 A flock of rare birds is attracting dozens of twitchers (birdwatchers) to the Ouse estuary near Newhaven. Eight cattle egrets have flown into Piddinghoe and are causing a stir in birdwatching circles. Before they arrived there had only been a dozen records of this small white heron in Sussex and barely a hundred records from the whole of the UK . They are named after their habit of feeding amongst livestock, often hitching a ride on the backs of sheep and cattle.
The cattle egrets were first seen on January 2 feeding in a flooded field and have been seen daily in the area since. A ninth bird turned up at Pagham Harbour in West Sussex between December 16 and January 4 bringing a touch of Spain to the county. RSPB spokesman Adrian Thomas said: ‘Rare birds are always fascinating but in conservation terms are often no more than a curiosity. But this time these cattle egrets could have a much greater significance. We have been predicting that this is one of the species that could react to global warming by colonising the UK, and for a flock of eight to have arrived could be a signal that this is not far away now.'
Cattle egrets have been expanding their range in Europe since the 19th century when they were found only in Spain , arriving in Southern France in 1969. They have continued to move north since then, with small numbers now breeding near the Somme estuary in northern France . Little egrets – often seen in the Cuckmere Valley – started to colonise South Coast wetlands and river valleys some ten years ago. While some of this increase may be just a natural development, milder winters are also thought to be allowing many more to survive much further north. Mr Thomas said: ‘Climate change is now seen as the biggest threat to wildlife around the globe. While a few species may benefit, millions of species are thought to be at risk as their habitats change. Even species that we think are doing well if they increase in the UK or colonise here may well be suffering elsewhere in their range. The extra birds in the UK are not offsetting the losses in other places.'
(Story by kind permission of the Sussex Express....)
Study for new reservoir - 11th November 2005
South East Water is to press ahead with investigations into providing a major new water resource for its customers in Sussex.
The Company is to spend the next two years carrying out comprehensive studies for a new reservoir at Clay Hill, near Barcombe.
The studies will look at environmental, planning and engineering issues to determine if the scheme warrants further consideration.
If built, the new reservoir would be able to supply at least 18 million litres of water every day to homes across Sussex , and would help overcome the predicted deficit in water resources by 2015/16, already identified by South East water.
The need for studies has been fully supported by the company's regulators , Ofwat and the Environment Agency.
The development will be subject to acquiring the necessary land, and gaining both planning permission and environmental consents.
The proposed completion date would be 2015.
A spokesman said: 'Developing new resources is critical to meeting demand for water from both existing and future customers.
‘The impact of climate change in the South-east, in particular, also means we are experiencing more and more long, dry spells.'
The need for new resources, such as that being considered at Clay Hill, has already been identified by the South East England Regional Assembly.
Its draft South East Plan, due to be submitted to the Government for formal consideration in the spring, sets out changes and improvements that are needed to meet the region's needs over the next 20 years.
(Story by kind permission of the Sussex Express....)
“Village Voices”, SOCS Taskforce is invited to appear in TV documentary - 17th October 2005
 Meridian Television are currently producing a series of programmes featuring aspects of village life in communities around the south east. One of the villages selected for the programme was Plumpton Green through which the Bevern Stream flows. Thus having connections with the village SOCS was approached by the producer and asked if we would like to take part. The invitation was gladly accepted and the film crew arrived Monday to start three days of filming in and around the village.
Robin Akers, Task Force leader and village resident identified that there was a fallen willow tree in the village pond, this needed removing and would set the scene for a task force operation. On the first day of filming members of the task force team donned waders, got into the water and set about removing the tree while the camera rolled. During the operation the bank party were filmed doing the important job of hauling the branches away for careful disposal. While all this was happening a crowd of excited village children looked on and sometimes gave the sound engineer some challenging moments!
The film crew gave Robin an opportunity to talk about the work of SOCS and the taskforce and this was supported by contributions from Jim Smith (Field Officer) and Neil Pringle (SOCS chairman). We hope this programme will help promote SOCS and its conservation work in the wider community. Those that took part on this lovely warm sunny autumn day enjoyed the experience and displayed the natural task force spirit. We look forward to seeing the programme screened next year.
 Free Range Fish - 15th September 2005
On Thursday 15 th September, six members of S.O.C.S. attended a tour of the works at Redbridge and Clapper's Weirs on the Bevern Stream by kind invitation of the Sussex Area Environment Agency. We were shown round by one of the Agency's engineers on the projects, Mark Smith, who explained how the weirs had been modified to allow free migration of both sea trout and coarse fish.
First we were shown Clapper's Weir where the works were almost complete. The weir had been drained down using a temporary barrier upstream, with a pump carrying the flow to a point downstream of the weir. Mark explained that this crump weir had been constructed in the 1960's to provide a flow gauging facility, but the system was not very accurate and the series of three weirs seriously hindered the movement of fish. During previous phases of work, the weir has been supplied with electricity and the inlet channel to the weir was modified to allow installation of a modern ultrasonic flow gauge. The final stage this year involved the modification of the old weirs and the construction of a new weir to create a pool and weir fish pass. This means that fish can ascend in easy stages through the complex even at relatively low flows. Each “jump” is no more than 350 mm. A small pre-cast crump weir was installed within the old gauging weir to act as a fish pass whilst providing a better low flow gauge and increasing the flood capacity of the structure.
We then moved on to Redbridge Weir, where a section of the main weir had been lowered, and notched. The lower sill had been raised using formed timber thereby creating a deeper pool between the two sills and a pool had been excavated to give about 1.5 metre depth of water below the lower sill. Downstream from this, a gravel riffle area was constructed to complete the job whilst providing additional spawning habitat.
 We were impressed by the quality of workmanship provided by the construction team and the consideration given to providing habitat friendly detail.
The combination of these modifications will allow the free movement of fish and we will no longer see migratory trout thwarted in their attempts to move up to their spawning grounds.
We are delighted that these modifications have been made and we are very grateful to Mark for giving us such an informative discourse during our visit.
Sea Trout Leap for Joy as Redbridge Weir Fish Pass Completed!
1st September 2005
The modifications to this weir have now been completed. This will allow fish, particularly migratory trout, to ascend to their spawning grounds upstream. The work was carried out by the Environment Agency and involved lowering the height of the upstream sill, raising the height of the lower sill and creating a deep pool with gravel riffle at the tail of the weir.
We are delighted that this project has come to fruition after 10 years of lobbying by S.O.C.S. Previously this structure presented a formidable barrier to fish migration. Work has also commenced on the provision of a fish pass at Clapper's Weir, upstream from Redbridge. This is a crump weir designed to provide for flow measurement. The Environment Agency modified the flow measuring facility in 2004 and is now in the process of completing alterations to the weir to allow fish to move upstream. This work should be completed by the end of September. Once this is done, fish will have easy passage to the headwaters of the Bevern Stream during times of moderate to high flow.
The Bevern Stream has always been an important breeding and nursery water for sea trout, but never reached its full potential due to these man made obstructions. From now on it should excel in this respect, provided we get sufficient rainfall to replenish the existing very low flow.
Lloyds Withdraw Application for Toxic Waste Site - 18th August 2005
 At the eleventh hour, Lloyds Waste Management withdrew their application for a hazardous waste tip in the old claypit at this site. We understand that Planning Officers from East Sussex County Council had advised Lloyds that they would recommend Planning Committee to refuse permission, as they were not satisfied with some aspects of the proposal. Lloyds have intimated that they will modify and resubmit their application in due course.For the latest information on this campaign against the toxic waste dump please visit the local residents objection group website www.nodumpinchailey.com
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