The River Culm Library
Working with Nature Along the Culm
On 11-10-2022 CtC held an online workshop focusing on the nature-based solutions that have been going in the ground in the Culm catchment throughout the Co-Adapt phase of the project (2019-2022). The workshop also included some NBS co-design activities for people to express their priorities for NBS.
Download the presentations:
Sarah Ward, WRT – Introduction & Co-Adapt
Jo Neville, National Trust – Nature-Based Solutions: overview & NT picture
Culm & tributaries Water Quality Scorecards
Thanks to the fantastic volunteers throughout the Culm catchment who collect and analyse water samples, we now have 6 Scorecards , which give the latest water quality overview for 2021.
View the full Scorecards here:
Hydrographs GCSE Resource Pack
Co-created with GeographySouthWest our resource packs showcase the River Culm catchment as a case study mapped to a topic aligned with the National Curriculum.
Teachers’ Notes, Student Slides and a Student Worksheet (see separate download) cover key concepts and provide activities to achieve intended learning outcomes.
Hydrographs GCSE Resource Pack – Student Worksheet
Co-created with GeographySouthWest our resource packs showcase the River Culm catchment as a case study mapped to a topic aligned with the National Curriculum.
Teachers’ Notes, Student Slides (see separate download) and a Student Worksheet cover key concepts and provide activities to achieve intended learning outcomes.
Flood Management GCSE Resource Pack
Co-created with GeographySouthWest our resource packs showcase the River Culm catchment as a case study mapped to a topic aligned with the National Curriculum.
Teachers’ Notes, Student Slides and a Student Worksheet (see separate download) cover key concepts and provide activities to achieve intended learning outcomes.
Flood Management GCSE Resource Pack – Student Worksheet
Co-created with GeographySouthWest our resource packs showcase the River Culm catchment as a case study mapped to a topic aligned with the National Curriculum.
Teachers’ Notes, Student Slides (see separate download) and a Student Worksheet cover key concepts and provide activities to achieve intended learning outcomes.
Water Cycle A-Level Resource Pack
Co-created with GeographySouthWest our resource packs showcase the River Culm catchment as a case study mapped to a topic aligned with the National Curriculum.
Teachers’ Notes, Student Slides and suggested activities cover key concepts and knowledge to achieve intended learning outcomes.
Carbon Cycle A-Level Resource Pack
Co-created with GeographySouthWest our resource packs showcase the River Culm catchment as a case study mapped to a topic aligned with the National Curriculum.
Teachers’ Notes, Student Slides and suggested activities cover key concepts and knowledge to achieve intended learning outcomes.
Slow the Flow Board Game
Learn all about problems facing the Culm catchment and the nature-based solutions that can help in this fun and fast-paced ‘see how slow you can make the water go’ board game by Cat Farnell.
Keeping an eye on the Culm – children’s activities sheet
Have you thought about what there is to explore in the Culm catchment, what living things there might be or how to get arty with nature? Whilst aimed at children (Key Stage 1), this activity sheet provides some links to educational and creative resources (videos, poems, worksheets) with connections to the Culm that will interest all age groups. Take a virtual tour around Hemyock Castle, find out about the mayfly lifecycle or explore colour and patterns in the outdoors. This is the first in a range of educational materials and resources the Connecting the Culm project aims to produce (COVID-allowing!).
View/download the PDF sheet & let the fun begin!
Note: this activity sheet was produced for February 2021 half-term in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant that outdoor group activities during the school holidays weren’t possible.
Catchment Connections – activities sheet
Connect with the Culm catchment in 12 ways……
Derek Boustred – 44 years of rainfall data
In this short film you can hear all about the amazing work of Culm Citizen Scientist Derek Boustred who, with his late father before him, has collected 44 years of rainfall data in the Lower Culm area.
Culm CSI – Ted Bell & the Madford Brook
Ted and Tracey Bell are awesome stewards of the Culm in many different ways! In this digital story, Ted shows us how to sample river water for Culm CSI (a sub-set of Westcountry CSI) and gives us a quick tour of favourite places near the Madford Brook, which is a tributary of the River Culm.
St Margaret’s Brook, Hemyock Castle & Hemyock Floods – Margaret & Richard Sheppard
Margaret and Richard Sheppard live near Hemyock Castle and are keen observers of St Margaret’s Brook, which is a tributary of the River Culm. When out observing they record their views of the brook and the castle and luckily for us share them on YouTube for the Connecting the Culm project. Their most recent films focus on the route of the brook and how it was diverted for defensive purposes to form the moat of the castle, as well as how the brook has flooded in recent times. Follow the links below to take a virtual tour around Hemyock…
St Margaret’s Brook around Hemyock Castle – WATCH NOW ON YOUTUBE
St Margaret’s Brook around Hemyock Castle – photo slideshow on YouTube
Bruce Payne – An introduction to the Connecting the Culm project
In this short film Bruce introduces us to the wonderful landscape of the Culm catchment and how the Connecting the Culm project aims to enhance the catchment for all.
Lydia Deacon – CSI (Citizen Science Investigations)
In this short film Lydia Deacon takes us on a Citizen Science Investigations journey along the River Culm.
Derek Boustred – Culm CSI
In this short film Derek takes us on his regular CSI journey around Stoke Canon to monitor the water quality of the River Culm.
Richard Carman & Dominic Acland – co-creating the Culm Blueprint
In this short film Richard and Dominic take us on a co-creation journey from the source of the River Culm right down to where it meets the Exe, thinking about how the various contributions of Culm communities have shaped the Blueprint illustrations, vision and action plan.
Mark Howells – keeping the railway running
In this short film Mark Howells from Network Rail explains the risks to the railway at Hele from flooding of the River Culm and long-term plans to take action.
Water Security Alliance webinar 13-01-2022
In this webinar, Dr Sarah Ward, Co-Creation Specialist, takes a look back at a year in the ‘online’ life of the Connecting the Culm project, for this GW4 Water Security Alliance webinar titled: Climate, Co-creation and COVID: an online year in the life of the Connecting the Culm project.
Lower Culm Water Quality Scorecard
Thanks to the fantastic volunteers throughout the Culm catchment who collect and analyse water samples, we now have a Lower Culm CSI ‘Scorecard’ , which gives the latest water quality overview for 2020.
Science of the Culm – Environmental Evidence Review
We now have a full set of analysis and maps for the Culm catchment, which has enabled a lot of interventions and actions to be identified. These will be discussed (for example in Blueprint Working Groups and the Blueprint Forum) and implemented across the rest of the project into 2022! This is the complete ‘Environmental Evidence Review’. We’re currently working on something a bit more digestible…
Summary of the results of the Connecting the Culm Questionnaire Survey November 2020
This brief 3 slide presentation summarises the main findings from the Connecting the Culm questionnaire undertaken in 2020.
Giving Our Rivers A Voice
This short, snappy film by Professor Darren Reynolds from the University of the West of England, Bristol talks about the importance of freshwaters, their role in the carbon cycle and new ways to monitor their health.
The River Axe Invasives Report 2015
This report details work undertaken on the River Axe to tackle invasive species and contains useful learning for our own project on the Culm commencing in 2021!
Natural Flood Risk Management
This excellent film by Sim Reaney from Uni of Durham introduces the idea of Natural Flood Risk Management (NFM) as a set of Working with Natural Processes and Nature Based Solutions to reduce the flood risk.
Evidence and reports
East Devon Catchment Evidence Review
The East Devon Catchment Partnership adopt an ecosystem services approach to their catchment management planning activities. To support this an evidence review of the landscape was produced.
Natural Futures: Otters and Beavers
In this Blackdown Hills Natural Futures Film, Mark Elliot from Devon Wildlife Trust talks about Otters and Beavers that live in the River Otter – the river to the south of the Culm in the Blackdown Hills…
A new type of river management!
A great short animated film on river management to reduce flood risk, improve water qaulity and support wildlife by the Rhone Mediterranean Corsica water Agency.
Devon Biodiversity Records Centre Vegetation Monitoring Online Training Session 14 06 2021
Learn about the species of vegetation to be found along the River Culm and its tributaries in this introductory session with Devon Biodiversity Records Centre’s Jess Smallcombe, including brief Q&A (35mins).
Devon Biodiversity Records Centre Wetland Axiophytes – FULL LIST
A full list of species of vegetation to be found along the River Culm and its tributaries.
Devon Biodiversity Records Centre Wetland Axiophytes – TOP 20 LIST
A list of the Top 20 species of vegetation to be found along the River Culm and its tributaries.