The Trust has a strong track record in delivering projects which protect and restore our rivers and the species which call them home. Previous examples of this include: leading the otter reintroduction to the Itchen in the early 1990s, overseeing the UK’s longest running non-native plant eradication project on New Forest streams, fish passage work on the Eastern Yar, and floodplain restoration schemes at Winnall Moors and along the Itchen Navigation. 

One current project being delivered by our expert ecologists is protecting and preserving the endangered white-clawed crayfish, the UK’s only native crayfish, through the Southern Chalk Streams project.  

This work has led a pioneering science-led partnership with Bristol Zoo and the Wildheart Sanctuary on the Isle of Wight to establish captive breeding facilities to enable further translocations of crayfish on the River Itchen and to help support their reestablishment across their typical range. 

The amount of UK native white-clawed crayfish has plummeted. We are protecting habitats and improving conditions so that this species can thrive and bounce back in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, and beyond. 

Through this project, we not only deepen our understanding of crayfish ecology and distribution, but we collaborate closely with land and river owners to promote habitat enrichment initiatives. We also deliver talks to educate and provide simple steps we can all take to safeguard this and other aquatic species through good biosecurity practices. 

Together with 15 partner organisations and local communities, our work on the flagship Watercress and Winterbournes Landscape Partnership Scheme protects and celebrates seven precious chalk streams – the upper tributaries of the Rivers Test and Itchen. This project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, includes restoring wildlife habitat, monitoring water quality, removing invasive species, supporting citizen science, and educating young people. The project is also delivering land advice and undertaking projects to prevent sediment from agricultural activities from entering watercourses. 

The partnership is led by the Wildlife Trust and Wessex Rivers Trust, and it also includes regulators, local authorities, charities like WildFish and the Wild Trout Trust, and the Test & Itchen Association. The partners also collaborate with bodies like fly-fishing clubs and parish councils, in order to achieve common goals.  

The scheme itself contains more than 20 projects, each with its own distinct aims and outcomes. When it comes to protecting chalk streams, knowledge is absolutely crucial – accordingly, we run an extensive programme of wildlife species surveys and river fly monitoring. We also recently joined the Angling Trust’s Water Quality Monitoring Network, alongside the Test & Itchen Association.    

Where issues are identified, we then aim to tackle them. Our stream restoration work combats problems like excess sediment, habitat loss, and barriers to fish migration. Our grants and advice package expands on this, by helping riparian landowners to independently address issues on their property. Our invasive non-native species project limits the spread of American mink, as well as plants like monkeyflower and Himalayan balsam.  

Knowledge is invaluable for riparian communities too, so our wider work aims to share ecological insights, raise awareness about key issues, and push for behaviour change. Our Open Chalk Streams events offer opportunities to explore key chalk stream sites, some of which are on private property. Our Tales from the Riverbank project inspires local people to celebrate chalk streams through photography, literature, and oral histories.  

Septic Smart encourages good management of off-mains sewage systems, and our education programme fosters a love for chalk streams within children and young people, with online talks providing deep dives into a range of stream-related topics.  

Despite their diversity, all of our projects involve working closely with local people. By increasing skills, knowledge and confidence, we are equipping these community members to be passionate advocates for their chalk streams. Our Community Grants serve a similar purpose by enabling residents to develop their own projects. With only two years of our five-year scheme remaining, this independence is hugely important.  

Many of these community members number among our 250 volunteers – our Chalk Stream Champions. Without their incredible dedication, our work would not be possible. In return, we provide training, advice, support and help with setting up volunteer networks. Since May 2020, they have contributed £180,000 worth of volunteering time.  

In addition to this project, the Trust jointly chairs the Test and Itchen catchment partnership with the Wessex Rivers Trust which aims to facilitate and champion joint working between riparian owners, fishing interests, local communities, charities, government agencies, local planning authorities, and water companies to deliver catchment-scale improvements. We have recently joined the Pan Parish River Pollution Forum to add our voice to those rightly concerned about recent incidents. The partnership is leading discussions with Hampshire County Council Highways to try to address the acute problems of highways derived run-off and pollution. 

In a sector where time and resources are often limited, we recognise the value of this partnership working approach. 

Launched last year, our Save our Chalk Streams  campaign calls for new, pioneering, bespoke protection for all chalk streams, as recommended by the CaBa Chalk Stream Strategy, to make polluters pay, hold water companies to account and ensure we can rapidly repair our waterways to restore our chalk streams as a matter of urgency. 

Currently, only 11 out of the 220 British chalk streams have any legal protections as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and only four are protected as Special Protection Areas (SPA), a higher level of protection. Locally, only the River Test is legally protected as a SSSI and the River Itchen as a SAC.  

All other chalk streams do not have that level of legal protection – meaning they are more vulnerable to the impacts of pollution, including sewage, or are more likely to suffer from unsustainable abstraction.  

Even rivers that are protected, like the Test and Itchen, are not in good overall health and facing increasing pressure. Current protections do not go far enough. That's why we’re calling for new, bespoke protections for all chalk streams. 

Locally, we are pressing Planning Authorities to strengthen their policies, in order to better protect our rivers from the impacts of development, including through their Local Plans. We are advocating for an ambitious and bold Local Nature Recovery Strategy for both counties, which puts our rivers at the heart of the Nature Recovery Network and which ensures emerging mechanisms, such as Biodiversity Net Gain and the new Environmental Land Management Schemes, effectively deliver for our rivers. 

At a national level, we are also working with The Wildlife Trusts to lobby government to improve regulation of polluting industries and ensure that polluters are properly held to account. The Wildlife Trusts also chairs the Wildlife & Countryside Link’s Blueprint for Water Group which works on freshwater policy issues, with current work focused on environmental resilience, sustainable abstraction, water quality, infrastructure investment and agricultural pollution.