River-sampling with Abington Pre-school

10th July 2023 - David F and Peter B from the Abington NatureWatch team met with children from Abington Pre-school to talk about our river, and how the RiverCare group go about sampling the wildlife in the river.

About 19 children and several adult supervisors walked across to the river, where David gave a talk about why we should all care about the wildlife in our streams and rivers, as well as a short explanation of the river sampling techniques the RiverCare team use. And of course, there were lots of river creatures on hand for the children to look at in the sampling trays! 

There was quite a lot of excitement, with several children spending a long time asking questions and looking at the wildlife that had been caught beforehand, which included several Signal Crayfish, a Minnow, a Bullhead, some Freshwater Shrimps, and the larvae of Mayfly and Olive.

Excitement mounts!

Taking a first look at the wildlife that had been caught earlier and placed in the sampling trays.

Getting up close and personal with wildlife from the river

Bullhead

Signal Crayfish

Signal Crayfish

Minnow

Olive fly larva

Mayfly larva