Monitoring
The PBA has an active group of volunteers who enable us to carry out monthly monitoring surveys. With the addition of a new site in Anna Valley we now carry out monitoring at seven sites along the Pillhill Brook. See the map below for locations of the sites we monitor [orange binocular icons].
We carry out two types of survey led by a Site Coordinator and supported by a Water Quality Tester:
Invertebrate kick-sampling where we use a net to collect and record the estimated numbers of key species found using sampling methods recommended by the Riverfly Partnership under their Angler's Riverfly Mionitoring Initiative (ARMI) scheme;
Water quality testing using equipment provided by the Angling Trust under their Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQMN) scheme.
All the training and equipment needed to get our surveys up and running has been funded by the Watercress & Winterbournes, local Parish Councils and businesses.
Each site survey usually takes around 2 hours to complete. If you want to know more about what our surveys involve then visit our Volunteering page.
How to use this map
1) Click on any of the map icons to find out more about a particular monitoring sites.
2) Access the complete list of sites by clicking on the icon at the top LHS of the title.
3) Toggle categories on/off by checking/unchecking category headings in the list on the LHS
Invertebrate Surveys
Our ARMI trained volunteers carry out invertebrate counts each month.
View results here.
Water Quality Testing
Thanks to generous grants from Southern Water, local Parish Councils and Amport Trout Fisheries, we have purchased 7 WQMN testing kits. These kits enable our volunteers to test for conductivity, temperature, and the presence of phosphate, nitrate and ammonia in the brook.
View results here.
The Angling Trust hold quarterly zoom webinar updates on the WQMN initiative. Watch the lastest zoom webinar update here. The Trust also published a first Annual Report 2022/23 in January 2023.