Chalk Streams | The RRC

Thames21 restores its first London chalk stream

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Thames21 has begun restoring part of the river Cray, a chalk stream, at Foots Cray Meadows near Sidcup, south London. We aim to restore 800m of the river between now and March 2021 by adding large wood into the channel.

Chalk streams are a rare habitat globally; only approximately 200 exist worldwide. Eighty-five per cent of these are in southern England. The river Cray is a healthy urban chalk stream along part of its stretches, but it suffers the same pressures as any other urban river: plastic and other pollution, artificial modification and water abstraction for human use.

Our chalk streams are in crisis

Thursday, October 3, 2019

The Cam Valley Forum has released a Manifesto for the River Cam, and coverage has been growing in the press about the problems facing our iconic chalk streams

Imagining the invisible

Monday, July 8, 2019

Water, water everywhere – but is it enough?

Ruth Hawksley - Wildlife Trusts BCN

Urgent water restrictions needed to protect ‘dying’ chalk streams, say rivers groups

Monday, June 10, 2019

England's rare and fragile chalk streams are in such a stressed state that wate restrictions should urgently be put in place to protect them, according to a group of 12 rivers and wildlife organisations.

The group, which includes the Angling Trust, the Wild Trout Trust, Chilterns Chalk Streams Project and the Rivers and Wildlife Trusts, says that river levels and groundwater supplies are now so depleted that the freshwater ecosystems are “quite simply dying from a lack of water”.

Here Comes the Summer - Feargal Sharkey

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Clare Balding and Feargal Sharkey walk along the Hogsmill River, Greater London discussing the importance of nature and these rare chalk streams.

Listen to the short (25mins) chat on BBC sounds.

Why England's rare chalk streams are under threat

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

The river Misbourne should be a pristine, gin-clear chalk stream teeming with invertebrates, fish and birds, but today it is little more than a dirt track. Allen Beechey, who runs the Chilterns Chalk Streams Project, gestures to the muddy path that used to be the river and explains the “chronic problem” affecting the area’s chalk streams. “Abstraction in this area has gone up exponentially since the end of World War Two… abstraction pressure is building massively and very quickly and the situation is getting progressively worse,” he says.

WWF Report - The State of England's Chalk Streams

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

England is home to the majority of the world's chalk streams. They provide unique habitats for iconic species such as water voles, otters and mayflies, however a WWF Report has revealed the shocking state that our chalk streams are in. It was found that 77% of England's chalk streams do not meet good status under the Water Framework Directive and that only 12 out of 224 chalk streams have protected status.

News for: Chalk Streams