The River Culm Library
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.
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!
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.
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…
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 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.
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.
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
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.
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…
Latest river science articles…
All the latest articles, news and updates relating to river and environmental science
Lower Culm water quality – new Scorecard thanks to Culm CSI volunteers!
On Wednesday 17th March an interactive audience joined us for the Culm Citizen Science Investigations (CSI) event, to celebrate the work of the fantastic volunteers throughout the Culm
Citizen Scientists get active on the Culm
A team of volunteers is now routinely monitoring water quality on the Culm, thanks to the Connecting the Culm project and the Westcountry Rivers Trust Citizen Science
Climate change and its likely impacts in Devon
This article starts with an overview of climate change globally and then moves (see section 5 onwards) into a description of its likely impacts in Devon. It includes
Discover the Culm event video
The "Discover the River Culm" online event held on 22 October 2020 brought together a galaxy of specialists to detail their knowledge and insights into the science
A day in the life of an amateur crayfish surveyor
Bruce Payne shares the delights of crayfish-surveying... During 2018 I had the great pleasure of working with the project team and numerous volunteers on the Culm Community
Why anglers help protect the Culm
On 15th June 1900 a brown trout was caught on the River Culm that weighed 4 lb. The proud angler had the trout stuffed and mounted for posterity.