Become a Riverfly Monitor
What’s involved
Monitoring is an excellent way to protect river health while fostering local community, science and sustainability. Monitors aim to carry out a survey at their site on a monthly basis, where they collect a sample of the invertebrate life and submit their counts to a national database.
The video below features one of our Group Coordinators from Action for the River Kennet carrying out a kick sample. The Field Studies Council, who produce our fold-out ID guides, also have a kick sampling for beginners video. When you undertake training with one of our accredited tutors, you will spend the morning covering the theory and spend the afternoon doing a practical to learn how to carry out Riverfly Monitoring.
You will be trained in either standard Riverfly or Urban Riverfly, depending on what type of monitoring your local group does. Eventually, you might like to progress to Extended Riverfly monitoring, once you’ve got plenty of experience with identifying the main invertebrate groups. For a summary document of the three Riverfly projects, click here.
“Learning about small invertebrates and seeing things you don’t normally see fires brain synapses I wouldn’t normally use. Seeing the river change over time connects me to the natural world, which is really necessary for me living in a city.”
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“The training was comprehensive so no previous knowledge was required and the support is excellent. There is always help on hand if needed... Is there a better way to spend one afternoon a month?!”
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“It’s great that volunteers with no prior knowledge or experience can get involved. I’ve learned so much and met so many wonderful people through volunteering for this. It’s satisfying to make a difference and meet so many like-minded people."
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“Learning about small invertebrates and seeing things you don’t normally see fires brain synapses I wouldn’t normally use. Seeing the river change over time connects me to the natural world, which is really necessary for me living in a city.” 〰️ “The training was comprehensive so no previous knowledge was required and the support is excellent. There is always help on hand if needed... Is there a better way to spend one afternoon a month?!” 〰️ “It’s great that volunteers with no prior knowledge or experience can get involved. I’ve learned so much and met so many wonderful people through volunteering for this. It’s satisfying to make a difference and meet so many like-minded people." 〰️
How to become a monitor
There are Riverfly ‘Hubs’ around the country, which put volunteers in touch with their local RMI group. Once you’re in contact with your nearest Coordinator, you can get booked onto an upcoming training day. The map below shows the main Riverfly Hubs, with links to further information on Riverfly monitoring in that area. If you are covered by one of the Hubs shown below, you can contact them directly or e-mail info@riverflies.org. There are also many smaller groups around the UK, so if you don’t think any of the Hubs below apply to you, just drop an e-mail to info@riverflies.org stating your location and if there is a particular area you would like to monitor, and we will find a group for you.