Our Brooks

Bybrook, Colerne
A Poem for Our Bybrook,
specially Commissioned for the 2025 'Wild Water Festival '

'The Bybrook Hums a Summer Tune', written for Colerne and all that share our brooks.

About Our Brooks

Our brooks are another special feature of this lovely Parish. However, concern about the health of our rivers is never far from the news these days.

 

What can we do to protect our brooks and their habitat for wildlife?

 

Water pouring from our Village on the Hill after heavy storms puts strain on the sewage system which in turn can harm the local environment, including farmland and waterways. What might help slow the flow and reduce the potential for harm?

 

At the other end of the scale, summer droughts are becoming more common with Climate Change.

 

Further strain and harm is caused by the nitrates and phosphates which enter watercourses through fertilisers, manure, sewage, waste, urban surface run-off, and also from the use of household products such as washing detergents and chemical-filled cleaning products. Have a look at 'key issues' by The Rivers Trust for more information on the pollution that reaches our rivers, how it gets there, and much more.  

Can You Help?

Help protect our brooks

  • Avoid disposing of chemicals, fats or oils down the sink, toilet or drain.

 

  • Wherever possible use envioronmentally-friendly detergents, soaps and cleaning products in and outside of your home.

 

  • Remember to only flush the three P’s: pee, poop and toilet paper
    (not even paper hankies or paper towels - these cause problems because they are designed to absorb water, not disintegrate in it).

 

  • Wherever you can, reduce your use of water.

 

  • Take care not to drop litter or fly tip. Rubbish - no matter how small - can harm wildlife and lead to blockages in waterways.

 

  • Spread the word! 

Click on image to enlarge

 

Click to enlarge poster

Help with plans for a 'water aware' project

 

 We'd like to put together a special 'water aware' project for next year:

 

  • Let us know your water concerns, and any ideas.

 

  • Could you help us get this project off the ground?
What we are doing
 

Took part in the 2025 Wild Waters Festival, a new fabulous local festival celebrating the river Avon and its tributaries in Colerne and nearby communities, also raising awareness climate change effects and biodiversity loss that we see in and along the river's waterways.  Between 31st May asnd 15th June 2025 there were lots of events going on, including our own four special Wild Colerne events.

 

Taking part in the Bristol Avon RiverBlitz, an annual citizen science event run by Bristol Avon Riverside Trust which provides a snapshot of water quality and ecological health in the rivers and streams across the catchment.

 

See BART's RiverBlitz map - click on the highlighted waterways to see the nitrogen and phosphate concentration readings from previous years.

 

River-fly Monitoring, in partnership with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. Many thanks to Saltbox Farm for facilitating. Our riverfly monitor goes out once a month to monitor the invertebrate communities in our Bybrook. Samples are taken and the numbers of eight key groups of invertebrates - including mayflies and freshwater shrimps - are counted and used to calculate a score. If the score drops below a threshold, it is very likely the river has been polluted and the Environment Agency is contacted so they can find and solve the problem. The data also feeds into a national database that is used to monitor the health of the rivers across the UK.

 

We are have been finding an encouraging number of species thriving in the Bybrook: