Save Our Chalk Streams 

In Hampshire & the Isle of Wight, we are lucky to have many rare chalk streams including the Test, Itchen, Loddon and Caul Bourne. 85% of chalk streams globally are in England, yet only 11 out of 220 British chalk streams have any legal protections – leaving them vulnerable to urbanisation, over-abstraction and pollution.  

This is why we are campaigning for better protections for our chalk streams in planning. Thus far, we have responded to the Government’s changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) calling for chalk streams to be granted 50-100 metre ‘no development’ buffer zones and protected status as irreplaceable habitats. 

Over 700 people supported our call to protect chalk streams through planning and the NPPF. As the Government now processes the responses it has received, and considers is final response, we need to keep the pressure on so that our voice is heard, and our call to save our chalk streams cannot be ignored. 

The Escape Puzzle 

The Winchester College Eco Conference, on the 27th of September, welcomed more than 200 pupils and staff from 15 local schools. 

During our workshop, pupils first were introduced to the importance of our local rivers, particularly our chalk streams. From these initial discussions, it was clear that pupils were aware of the pollution and disturbance that can damage the health of our chalk streams. 

The pupils were then introduced to the puzzle scenario, in which a researcher had crashed his bike alongside the river running through Winchester College and were tasked with continuing the researcher’s mission to locate the cleanest river to release the white clawed crayfish.  

Working in teams, they first had to find and order food chain cards to unlock the safe box. Within the box, pupils found the next puzzle to solve with three water samples in jars: an acid river, a chalk river and a polluted river.  

Using pH and nitrate tests, they identified the chalk river sample, found the location on the map and used the grid reference as a code to unlock a jar, containing biodiversity sheets and a map with the location in the stream where they could find a biotic sample.  

Alongside the chalk stream they found a kick sample in a tray, a survey technique used to catch and identify aquatic invertebrates, which provided a word to unlock the letter scroll. Inside the letter scroll they found a key and clue about where to find the crayfish box.  

Upon successful completion of these puzzles, the pupils released the artificial crayfish into a bucket of water ready for river ‘release’. The puzzle was well received by enthusiastic pupils and staff, with pupils even wanting to do another puzzle! 

Our Impact 

A Hampshire County Council report quoted a pupil from a school involved, who said: “We really enjoyed it. The day was very informative and enjoyable, especially the session about the health and sustainability of our waterways. I particularly loved the escape room session run by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. We worked as a team to find the cleanest point on the Itchen River to release our specimen. Learning about the environment is crucial for our generation. Thank you to the Hampshire Youth Parliament for organising the day.” 

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust will continue working with the University of Southampton to develop escape puzzles that can be implemented in secondary schools, to boost our engagement with this age group. 

We also asked the pupils to write to their MP, to consolidate their learning about these unique rivers and make their voices heard in decisions about their local environment. A big thank you to everyone for getting involved!