the Friends of Brislington Brook undertake regular work parties to keep our Valley looking beautiful
dates for 2024 are all on the Greater Brislington Together Calendar (search for FOBB)
If you’d like to get involved or help out with volunteering in St Anne’s Woods Nightingale valley our along Brislington Brook then please get in touch via our socials Friends of Brislington Brook
we also undertake wildlife surveys, guided walks and water Quality surveys in Nightingale Valley and St Anne’s Woods:
BART River Fly Surveying and River Detectives
A number of us have recently signed up as River Detectives for Bristol Avon Rivers trust
https://bristolavonriverstrust.org/bart-detectives/
In an effort to increase and improve water quality monitoring, at a time when Environment Agency monitoring is being reduced, BART are leading a citizen science ‘BART River Detectives’ project kindly funded by Wessex Water, Bath & North East Somerset Council, Bristol Water and the Bristol Avon Catchment Partnership. The project involves volunteers from local communities conducting monthly water quality monitoring
we also undertake regular River fly Monitoring https://bristolavonriverstrust.org/what-we-do/riverfly_monitoring/
Cased Caddis Fly Larvae
you can find out more about what we do https://www.nhbs.com/blog/the-nhbs-guide-to-kick-sampling and why this matters by watching the video on this page which explains how our sampling is used in national research https://biologicalrecording.co.uk/2023/12/04/smartrivers/
Fish in our Stream
Brislington Brook has healthy fish stocks due to the relative lack of pollution allowing healthy insect / invertebrate populations and good plant life. This in turn supports populations of small fish that are the main food source for our kingfishers, egrets the occasional heron and visiting otters
the main species in our stream are the smaller fishes
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/freshwater-fish
we recently spotted an eel in the brook in Nightingale Valley its hard to spot due to its colour and looks like a waterlogged stick until it moves
Despite its pollution and sewage issues the River Avon and Bristol harbour also enjoy a surprisingly healthy fish population
ENVIRONMENTAL DNA SAMPLING IN BRISTOL FLOATING HARBOUR & LOWER AVON
https://bristolavonriverstrust.org/fish-edna-in-bristol-floating-harbour/
Otter Surveys
We look for signs of Otters visiting the Valley and report them to the Greater Bristol Otter Group
https://bristolottersurvey.wixsite.com/greaterbristolotters
We take part in the Bristol Avon River Trust river blitz each year you can see the results here https://bristolavonriverstrust.org/riverblitz/
while we don’t see actual otters very often w regularly see otter spraint
DNA Analysis
This Year we surveyed our pond using eDNA kit as part of the Genepools project
GenePools is a partnership between Natural England, Cefas, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Natural History Museum.
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/take-part/monitor-and-encourage-nature/genepools.html
Bird Watching
a number of our members are keen bird watchers we have a “patch” birding list and have done bird walks owl prowls and collaborate with the Bristol RSPB group https://linktr.ee/rspb_bristol
Owl Boxes
we have a healthy population of Tawny owls in the Valley a few years ago with the help of the Hawk and Owl Trust we installed an continue to monitor 3 owl boxes we also undertake yearly guided owl prowls watch our socials to find out more https://linktr.ee/brislingtonbrook
Bat Boxes, surveys and Bat Walks
we are fortunate to have 14 of the 17 British Bat Species in the Bristol area and most of these visit our woods to help them we have a fair number of bat boxes to supplement natural habitat there are kindly maintained with/for us by Avon Bat Group who also help us run public bat walks and surveys throughout the year
Nature Recording
INaturalist – Citizen science recording – many of use the INaturalist app to record the plants animals and insects e find in the valley – you can find out more about using the app and how to get started yourself with our guides at https://greaterbrislington.org/nature-recording-with-inaturalist/
here are all the iNaturalist reports in Nightingale Valley and St Annes Woods
Collaborations With other Organisations
Groups and Organisations
Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART)
is a charity which delivers education, land and river management advice and practical river restoration work throughout the Bristol Avon catchment.
We aim to re-connect communities to their local rivers and help them to better appreciate and improve them for the benefit of people and wildlife.
BART aims to conserve and enhance the status of our waterbodies for current and future generations.
Bristol Avon Rivers Trust – https://bristolavonriverstrust.org/our-rivers/river-quality-information/
Bristol Rivers and Streams Network
The Bristol Rivers & Streams Network consists of members of community groups and individuals from across the city who are working to improve the quality of Bristol’s 100 miles of rivers & streams – for people, nature & the wider environment
Universities
We are working with the University of Bristol’s Geology department to study the impact of the two historic tips in the valley on wildlife and water Quality https://www.bristol.ac.uk/earthsciences/
Authorities
We continue to work With Bristol City Council’s parks department on general maintenance and long term management of our site https://www.bristol.gov.uk/residents/museums-parks-sports-and-culture/parks-and-open-spaces/parks-maintenance
FreshWater Watch
we have also signed up with Freshwater Watch
A global citizen science project developed by environmental charity Earthwatch Europe(link is external).
It has never been so important to protect our precious freshwater resources.
Nearly all freshwater environments are impacted by man-made pollutants and by 2050 half of the world’s population will be living in areas of water scarcity.
We created the FreshWater Watch project so that groups all across the globe can easily monitor and protect the health of the rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, wetlands and reservoirs upon which we all depend
https://www.freshwaterwatch.org/
Wildlife Recording how can I get involved
If you’d like to get involved or help out with wildlife recording in St Anne’s Woods Nightingale valley our along Brislington Brook then please get in touch via our socials
if you’d like to find out about other wildlife recording opportunities then take a look at our list of projects
https://greaterbrislington.org/2022/03/bristol-wildlife-recording-list/
or find out about Bristol’s Postcode Based Wildlife groups and iNaturalist projects
https://greaterbrislington.org/bristols-postcode-based-wildlife-and-hedgehog-groups/
INaturalist – Citizen science recording – many of use the INaturalist app to record the plants animals and insects e find in the valley – you can find out more about using the app and how to get started yourself with our guides at https://greaterbrislington.org/nature-recording-with-inaturalist/
