More Canal News – PRESS RELEASE: 40 tonnes of rubbish cleared from the Birmingham Canal Navigations!

More Canal News

PRESS RELEASE: 40 tonnes of rubbish cleared from the Birmingham Canal Navigations!

Issue Date: 7th April 2014

Over 100 volunteers from Waterway Recovery Group (WRG), The Inland Waterways Association, Birmingham Canal Navigations Society, Dudley Canal Trust and Canal & River Trust (CRT) joined together to carry out a massive canal clean-up on the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) on 5th and 6th April.

Using grappling hooks and other tools volunteers removed over 40 tonnes from the canal around Ashted Flight, Typhoo Wharf and Camp Hill Locks – filling four skips in the process! Work boats, provided by CRT, were also on hand to take away rubbish. It is hoped this annual effort on the BCN will help keep the less well used parts of the BCN & Black Country Network from getting choked up with rubbish and becoming impassable for boats.

The usual assortment of shopping trolleys, bicycles and tyres were pulled out of the canal, along with some more unusual items including three goal posts, a safe and a Lancashire boiler shovel!

WRG Leader Chris Morgan said ‘I am very proud of all the volunteers who got involved and travelled from across the UK to help clean up the canals of Birmingham this weekend. Thanks to their enthusiasm and efforts we cleared a massive amount of rubbish from the canal. It was great to see WRG and other volunteers of all ages working together to clean-up the BCN.’

https://www.waterways.org.uk/wrg/about_us/news/images/bcn_cleanup_2014_photos#prettyPhoto

Canal News – Great Nature Watch

Welcome to the Canal & River Trust’s Great Nature Watch. This year we’re asking you to take a trip to your local towpath and tell us all about the creatures you see there.

Damselfly
This year we’re paying particular attention to damselflies and dragonflies as we think that the wet winter could have a lasting impact on them. Fluctuating river levels and fast currents are known to wash away dragonfly larva (or nymphs) and as larva live underwater for up to three years, our unprecedented floods may have a long-term effect on their populations.
Peter Birch, group environment manager for the Canal & River Trust, explains: “Dragonflies, and their sister damselflies, flourish in clean water which is rich in bankside vegetation, such as reeds. This makes them a fantastic indicator of the health of a canal or river.
Impact on invertabrates
“While this year’s floods have had an obvious impact on larger animals, birds and fish, we are also particularly concerned with the impact on invertabrates, which form the foundation stones of a healthy water environment. We would expect to see an increase in numbers of mosquitoes and midges which prefer stagnant and isolated water, but we may also see a drop in the numbers of dragonflies emerging this spring.
“By taking part in the Great Nature Watch, you can help us monitor numbers of dragonflies, damselflies, and in fact, all species living on our canals and rivers over the coming years.”
• Take the survey today

http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/great-nature-watch/survey