To expand the scope of our June Landscape workshops we have a talk about very different aspects of our landscape. Start your evening by the river Dever with a glass of wine
Nick Measham, CEO of Salmon and Trout Conservation, will tell us about the jewel we have on our doorstep, the chalk stream, and why these rivers are so extraordinarily special, and precious.
Chalkstreams – our Special Natural Heritage
Nick Measham, CEO, Salmon and Trout Conservation
- Tuesday 14th June, 2022
- 6.00 – 7.00pm
- £15, talk and glass of wine
- Plenty of parking
Chalkstreams are an exceptional type of spring-fed river, distinct to England and parts of France and Denmark.
The English chalk downland gives rise to 283 distinct chalkstreams as well as dozens of small, nameless rills and becks, comprising most of this river type to be found anywhere in the world.
These chalkstreams are our equivalent to the Great Barrier Reef or the Okavango: a truly special natural heritage and a responsibility.
Chalk streams, such as the River Dever in front of the studio, in their natural condition are home to a profusion of life. Botanically they are the most biodiverse of all English rivers. For invertebrates (insects), fish, birds and mammals, they offer a vast range of habitat niches.
But chalkstreams are under immense pressure: they flow through one of the most urbanised, industrialised, and intensively farmed parts of the UK.
So the challenge we have ahead of us is to leave our wonderful chalkstreams in a better state than we found them.
What can we do? Three things: improve water quality; reduce abstraction and remove man-made barriers and interventions.
Nick will cover the diversity and magic of chalk streams, what is putting them under pressure and what Salmon and Trout Conservation are trying to do about it.
Modern British Landscape Painters
(SADLY A COVID CANCELLATION)
Gail Brown, Art Historian with Tangerine Talks
