Our work with water
This month we wanted to highlight our work with water. Sounds obvious right? The Our Dee Estuary project working with water but you might be surprised to see how diverse this work can be from a business scheme to Shoresearch events, it all connects together like the streams and rivers flowing into the estuary. We hope you enjoy reading it and as always if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
The Our Dee Estuary Team.
March for Clean Water
You may have seen in the news recently a march took place in London on the 3rd of November where people voiced their concerns about water pollution across the UK. The March for Clean Water was organised by River Action and supported by over 130 other organisations including The Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB. Over 15,000 people turned out for the march in London and many more showed their support online. The Environment Agency recently published the figures for sewage spills into our rivers and seas for 2023 and it was over 3.6 million hours of spills, that is 105% more than 2022. We all know this is a huge problem and that it is primarily up to the government to enforce the rules that water companies should be abiding by. So what can we do as citizens? Our biggest strength is that we can hold the government to account and that means telling your MP about the things that matter to you. With a new government in place this is our opportunity to remind them that we care about our environment and that water pollution is one of the biggest threats facing the natural world. Aquatic habitats both fresh water and marine are one of our best defences against climate change but they won’t be as effective at absorbing CO2 if they are polluted.
Here are a few things you can do from the comfort of your own home to help in the fight against water pollution:
- Our host partner, Cheshire Wildlife Trust have put together a handy guide to contacting your government representatives here: Contact your MP | Cheshire Wildlife Trust
- Write to your MP about your concerns regarding water pollution here: WriteToThem – Email your Councillor, MP, MSP, MS, MLA or London Assembly Member for free
- Support your local conservation charity who is working to tackle water pollution in your area.
- You can find out who your local MP is and what they do here: TheyWorkForYou: Hansard and Official Reports for the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament, and Northern Ireland Assembly – done right
- Check your house for misconnections or contact a certified plumber through WaterSafe to come and check your home for you.
Waders on the Move
On the 12th of November the Our Dee Estuary team welcomed Graham Appleton to give a webinar on the migration patterns and population trends of the wading birds that come to the Dee Estuary and surrounding areas every year at this time.
The talk was well attended and Graham thoroughly enjoyed answering even the most challenging of questions from the audience.
If you missed Graham’s webinar we will be holding another webinar all about waders on the 27th of November featuring three expert speakers and bookings are now open.
Water-Friendly Business Scheme
Here at the Our Dee Estuary project we have been reaching out to local businesses based around the Dee Estuary to talk to them about what they can do to reduce their negative impact on the local water environment. We have created a checklist that businesses can follow to see where in their operations they can make changes to benefit the local water environment. Once a business has gone through the check list and made the changes appropriate to their site and type of business, they are awarded a certificate and window sticker to display which are valid for 12 months. Businesses who sign on to the scheme also receive free advertising from us on our websites and social media channels.
If you know of a business that might like to join the scheme, or maybe you are a small business owner yourself, then please get in touch as we would love to get as many businesses as possible working together to help care for the Dee Estuary into the future.
Highlights from a busy October
October half term brought brilliant autumnal weather and an action packed week for us here at Our Dee Estuary. Across the week, we had 94 people from our local communities around the Dee Estuary attend our events. The events varied from an information rich geology walk at Thurstaston with Professor Jim Marshall, a guided wildlife walk at Wirral Country Park as well as family friendly Shoresearch events at Talacre and Thurstaston.
From these activities, we have learnt so much about the historical and local geology of the Dee Estuary, Thor’s rock on Thurstaston hill and the impact the last ice age had on this landscape. With thanks to Wirral Country Park Ranger, Matt, we also saw some spectacular birds that make the Dee Estuary their home such as the oystercatcher, knot, dunlin, marsh harrier and more. For our much loved Shoresearch events we had the privilege of being joined by staff from RECORD, North Wales Wildlife Trust and Wirral Country Park these sessions, where so much knowledge was shared and gained, all whilst having fun.
Photo Credits: Paul Steele, River Action, Jim Higham, Our Dee Estuary, Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Andy Rouse/2020VISION.
