Beaver reintroduction – consultation
Beavers have been a hot topic at Connecting the Culm, especially since last year's landmark decision by the government to allow the beavers of the River Otter, one of our neighbouring catchments,
Summer Vegetation Survey Success!
Walking along the banks of the River Culm this summer was beautiful. Tall stands of purple loosestrife, carpets of water forget-me-not and reed canary-grass swaying and rustling in the breeze. But these
Week Five – Culmstock, an old newspaper article & a Corn/Hay Goddess
Where is the folklore for the River Culm? It certainly doesn’t jump into my hand. Researching in the libraries this week, so many people stepping forward to help me. The librarian
Week Four – Stoke Cannon & Rewe: a Dream & a Song
This week I’ve been exploring the mouth of the River Culm, the place where the river meets with the Exe before finally making her way down to the sea. For years
Week Three – All Change & Dragons
This week I’m reflecting on what I’ve learnt about the Culm so far. After speaking to Archaeologist, Antony Firth and Geomorphologist, Julian Payne - I realised that there is a theme
Connecting Schools & the Culm
Throughout June and July we have had the wonderful opportunity to work with five schools and over 300 pupils along the length of the River Culm. We started with Churchstanton Primary
Week Two – The Bowl & the Singing River
It’s been a busy week exploring the Culm in search of stories. In my head I’ve been wandering around ancient lost cities. There are
Festival of the Culm
After what seems like the longest year ever, we're now able to get out and about at shows, events and workshops - to meet and work with people in the Culm
Week One – Weaving Tales on the Culm
The Beginning Hello, I’m Clare. I’m setting off this week on a journey to discover and weave stories about the River Culm. The preparation began a few weeks ago with
Taking the Blueprint into the Summer
May and June were busy months, we've been continuing to co-create a Vision & initiate an action plan with amazing people! Three fantastic catchment visualisation workshops took everyone time travelling to the
Illustrating the Culm
Visualising the River Culm, its tributaries and the wider catchment has been something the CtC project has strived to do since day one. Here we've gathered together some of the artwork
Storying the Culm
The Connecting the Culm Team are excited to have been joined by storyteller Clare Viner! Clare is going to be leading us on adventures each week as she co-creates some stories
Creative Culm
Arts and crafts are as important as evidence for expressing our entanglements with nature, wildlife and watery environments. Through the Creative Culm initiative, the Connecting the Culm project brings together people
News from the Future
Last month, in the company of our intrepid time-travelling guide, Rob Hopkins, and our fast-draw illustrator Richard Carman, we ventured into the unknown. In a series of workshops, where we were
Water, wildlife & vegetation monitoring training & volunteering – getting outdoors in groups again!
Back in March we wrote about wildlife spotted in the Culm catchment and that we'd soon be able to share plans with you on how to get involved, COVID-safely, in one
The Culm – a 50-year vision – Ellerhayes to Columbjohn
The National Trust and Westcountry Rivers Trust are working together to start the process of enhancing nature in the floodplain from Ellerhayes Bridge to Columbjohn on the Killerton estate. On the evening
Launch of the Culm Himalayan Balsam Action Group
The Culm Himalayan Balsam Action Group (HBAG) is a new initiative that's come out of discussions in our Working Groups. Himalayan Balsam was introduced to the UK in 1839 from Northern
From What Is to What If?
Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition movement, shares his thoughts, prior to joining us for our Climate Resilience Workshop on 29 April. You can view the event recording here. I am
Culm Perspectives: a response to the Environmental Evidence Review
In the following opinion piece, Richard Horrocks (pictured above at a river activity day) responds to the River Culm Environmental Evidence Review. Richard's career was spent with the Environment Agency and he
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 catchment who collect and