FOLLOWING on from the success of their 2025 Wye expedition, conservation group Wild Rivers will be launching hand made skin-on-frame canoes at Glasbury and paddling to Tintern on September 14, as part of a two-week paddling expedition to connect primary school children with natural heritage and conservation.

Last year, the conservation education community interest company, put together a small team to paddle 135 km from Glasbury to Monmouth to promote awareness and collect data for the community-led conservation Friends of the River Wye, including on erosion, pollution, and locations and status of water crowfoot, an ecologically important species which oxygenates water.

Expecting a polluted river devoid of wildlife, they were pleasantly surprised by the sheer beauty of the watershed and the wildlife sightings.

Despite high pollution, the River Wye remains a biodiversity hotspot. They saw a number of species including kingfishers, bank swallows, brown trout and a possible sighting of a leaping salmon.

Regular sightings of buzzards screeching through the air as well as a couple of breeding pairs of ospreys show that there are apex avian predators still using the rivers' food source.

They also spotted high numbers of willow ermine moth caterpillars, cocooned in silken webs on willow trees.

They regularly saw the UK’s rarest mayfly, the yellow mayfly, a species which is thought to now only occur in the Rivers Wye and Teme.

But the level of pollution now apparent due to high levels of agriculture runoff (mainly chicken farms) has caused a rapid decline in many key species, with evidence of large algal blooms.

Two outflows smelling of soupy bleach were also seen bubbling into the river near Hereford from near the industrial estate.

The team will be paddling downriver stopping at primary schools to deliver interactive sessions on river ecology, land use and conservation.

If a school would like a workshop, Wild Rivers would love to hear from you via [email protected] or their website at www.wildrivers.co.uk