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AUGUST NEWSLETTER

5th August 2020

Hello everyone,
Another month another newsletter, this time with news of an online talk on freshwater fish, activities in Buntingford and a new local social history page on our website.

The Interesting Lives of Some Chalk stream Fishes
Chalk Aquifer Alliance - Wednesday 12th August
The next online event in the Chalk Aquifer Alliance's summer events programme is entitled The Interesting Lives of Some Chalk stream Fishes and will be delivered by Shaun Leonard from the Rivers Trust. This is the first of the talks to move to a Wednesday night.

An illustrated talk on the way some of our iconic fish species spend their lives, including where they live, how they find love, what they eat and, maybe sadly, end their days. Many of the images are of beautiful fish and the beautiful places they live; just a few come with a little, guts-and-all warning…

Shaun Leonard is an unashamed fish bloke, inspired by Jacques Cousteau after a wander around his research vessel Calypso in Mombasa harbour in 1966 and a childhood in and on the Indian Ocean and in the trout streams of southern Ireland. After degrees in marine biology and then pollution, Shaun has had a professional life in fishery management, both game and coarse.

He was Head of Fishery Studies at Sparsholt College near Winchester until 2009, when he was gifted a fish bloke’s dream – the post of Director of the Wild Trout Trust. Shaun brings to the Trust a lengthy and ongoing scientific background and continuing involvement with the fisheries and fish farming sectors. He is an avid fisher though continuously disappointed that 45 years of practice appears only to make him worse at the sport with each outing.

Register in advance here.

Joining instructions will be sent to you.

All welcome.

Buntingford River Clean
Sunday 16th August
We are organising a river clean of the River Rib through Buntingford on Sunday 16th August and can now share details and instructions for the day.

Volunteers should meet in the Manor House car-park at 10am to register and obtain a briefing and final instructions.
Volunteers will be divided into buddy groups. COVID-19 distancing rules should be followed at all times.
Participants should bring wellingtons if they wish to enter parts of the river. They should also bring gardening or working gloves - plastic/surgical gloves are probably not appropriate for this.
Refuse bags and litter pickers will be distributed on the day.
All volunteers must be at least 16 years of age.

Buntingford Walking Market

Friends of the Rib & Quin joined the Buntingford Plants and Gardens Facebook Group on the banks of the Rib at Chapel End in Buntingford last Sunday as part of the town's first Walking Market.
The day was a great success and we were very pleased to take part - Gilly and Joanna worked tirelessly selling plants and raffle tickets and members of the FORQ exec were able to talk to passing locals about the lack of water in the rivers and the many other challenges that they face, whilst also being one of the world's rarest river environments. I hope we can do this again at similar events in the future. If you have any ideas, do let us know.

Voices from the Rib & Quin
There is a new page on the website asking for people's memories of living and working in the Rib & Quin valleys. Memories and stories can be about the river and wildlife, angling, local history or events from the recent or not so recent past. There is a short form to fill in which records the memories and contact details if you wish to leave them, which allow us to follow up with participants as the project develops.

There will be another newsletter or update in the not too distant future, but in the meantime, enjoy your August.

Best wishes

Mark
Friends of the Rib & Quin