Meander 2022

Meander

A drift through 2022 on the river Frome

A yearly update from

Hello, we’re Friends of the River

Frome (FORF), a charity that works to protect, improve and celebrate the Somerset river Frome.

This is Meander, our yearly update on what’s been happening along the river. It’s our first one, and a big thank you goes to all our contributors for making it happen.

This issue features all sorts – from beavers along the Frome, to whether we should swim in the river, to how to spot woodpeckers in Rodden Meadow. We hope you enjoy reading it.

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2022 Highlights

In the face of the climate crisis, the sewage crisis and what the RSPB have called an ‘attack on nature’ by the government, it can be hard to stay positive as a volunteer in an conservation charity. But looking over some of the comings and goings

Beavers!

We’re delighted to see increasing evidence of beavers along the river. Nature’s engineers, they help create habitats by changing the river flow.

Read more about them on the next few pages.

along the river in 2022 gives me hope. Whether it’s clean ups, reports of wildlife, or progress negotiating with developers, every action helps. We will keep working and fighting for our river, tooth and nail.

–– Mike

Thanks to Matthew Thacker for this snap, taken close to Whatcombe fields

Friends of the River Frome Chair Mike Bull looks back on some of the best bits of 2022.

River

clearing heroes

I’m always blown away by the hard work and dedication of the volunteers who get stuck in clearing up our rivers, and 2022 was no different. In the summer we pulled out a motorbike, a lawn-mower, several shopping

trolleys, traffic cones, a TV and lots of children’s scooters. We also helped with a clear up of excess weed at the Blue House, working with I-Phyc, an innovative water recycling business.

Rivers are front page

As grim as sewage pumping into our waters is, it’s been heartening this year to see more and more people become aware of the crisis – and start fighting for rivers and the environment. Speaking up has never been more important.

Welcoming beavers

Rich Ackroyd, FORF committee member, former Mayor of Frome, and unofficial beaver liaison gives an update about beavers in Frome.

Did you know we have a population of beavers along the river Frome? Chances are you’ve never seen one (they tend only to come out at night) but look closely at trees along the river edge and you might spot their work. Bark gnawed from trees and stumps chewed to a point are the giveaways. You might even spot a dam if you’re lucky.

Recently reintroduced to the UK, beavers have caused plenty of (normal-sized) teeth gnashing. They certainly do damage trees, but like with so much in nature,

it’s a balancing act – they take a tree, but they create a new habitat. Their engineering work can create wetlands that benefits all sorts of creatures, from invertebrates to water voles, otters, and birds. River life increases and it’s the beavers we have to thank. We might

River life increases and it's beavers we have to thank

also thank them for lending a paw with flood management. By slowing or changing flows in the river they can spread water more evenly across a landscape.

We’re very happy then, that as of 1st October 2022, beavers became a protected species in England. Under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations, 2017 it is now an offence to harm, trap or interfere with wild beavers without a licence from Natural England.

Of course any reintroduction of a species has to be managed, and Natural England have been running training courses to provide land, water and infrastructure managers with the knowledge and skills required to manage beaver activity and to support people already living with beavers. Volunteers at Rodden Nature Reserve and Friends of the River Frome have already been on the training sessions and now have a licence. With beaver numbers on the rise, we’re expecting to train more volunteers as well.

Landowner, farmer, fisheries manager, waterways manager or just curious? Search

“Natural England beavers” or head online to these pages to learn more:

gov.uk/government/ publications/beaversprotection-and-management

friendsoftheriverfrome.co.uk/ beavers-on-the-somerset-riverfrome

Beavers caught on camera around Frome by Tony House

Remembering the river

People have fished, swum, picnicked, boated, battled floods, and watched the wildlife along the river Frome for years. When we set out to discover their stories, we knew we’d be just scratching (or perhaps rippling!) the surface.

Did you know that once there were 26 mills along the river near Frome, as well as bridges

at Willow Vale, Adderwell and Vallis? Saxonvale was once an island! While the river might seem enduring, it’s changed and transformed many times through the years – often in response to industrialisation and flood prevention.

The river has also seen its share of tragedy. One particularly devastating incident occurred

Volunteering leader Simon Keyes reflects on our River Memories project.

in 1932 at Willow Vale, the site of the original Town Mill (seen in the picture below). By the 1930s it was a ruin and only the brick arch, which originally supported the waterwheel, remained. On May 2nd heavy rain raised the river level by eight feet creating a ‘roaring cataract’. Five boys were playing on the arch, pretending to be shipwrecked sailors, when it gave way. Four were swept away and drowned. The body of one, Charlie Sharland, was carried downstream and only found 17 days later.

While remembering moments like this can be difficult, it has been rewarding to bring unknown stories to light. Thanks to the energetic work of Polly Lamb, project consultant, together with Dinah Bardgett and Sheila Gore, we’ve collected a wide range of historical documents, ranging from old photographs and maps to recordings of people’s experiences down the river. You’ll find these at workingmemoriesfrome.co.uk. A big thank you to everyone who’s taken part.

In 2023 we hope to create an exhibition of our findings at the Frome Museum, as well as adding them to our website – so keep a look out. Thank you to our River Memories participants for the images.

A closer look at Rodden Meadow

We have some excellent green spaces in Frome, and in this edition we’ll be taking a closer look at one bordered by the river: Rodden Meadow, a beautiful grassy spot just outside the town centre.

Things to do

Enjoy the wide open space

A calm spot away from the bustle of town, the meadow is great for escaping into nature. Here’s one of our volunteers doing just that in the moonlight!

Get involved

Every year sees all sorts of events at Rodden Meadow, including a town picnic. Come along and you could get chance to do some river exploring with us.

Admire the river

One side of the meadow is bordered by the river, making it very accessible if you want to watch out for wildlife or just take in the sounds and sights of the water. Keep your eyes peeled for water voles, tench, and wrens flitting down to take a drink.

Look for wildlife

There are all sorts of creatures around the meadow. Look out for long-tailed tits, woodpeckers and bullfinches in the trees, butterflies and bees among the grass, and if you’re there on a summer’s evening, you’ll spot plenty of bats swooping about.

Top tips for taking care of the meadow & river

Leave no trace

There are bins dotted around the edge of the meadow for rubbish and dog poo. Remember, anything you leave behind could harm wildlife or end up in the river.

Keep out of the water

The river around Rodden isn’t right for swimming. Avoid your dog dipping too. Dogs can disturb wildlife and their flea treatments leach into the water and kill important insects.

Where is Rodden Meadow?

Rodden Meadow is a 5-10 minute walk from the town centre. Walk down Willow Vale, a row of beautiful historic houses opposite Frome Museum. Follow the footpath and you’ll end up in the meadow.

The annual Rodden Meadow picnic sees the meadow filled with people enjoying food, music, games – and river dipping! Dipping involves gently kicking the riverbed and collecting critters in a net, so you can count them to get an idea of how healthy the river is.

Discussing the river on our river walk as part of the Great Big Green Week.

In the summer most of the grass is left long, with paths and spaces mown for walking and picnics. This makes sure there’s plenty of food for bees, butterflies and other important pollinators.

Look out for riverside wildlife by the meadow, like these tench. Kingfishers are also known to nest nearby.

A calm spot alongside the meadow.

Nature notes from Rodden Meadow

Heard a rhythmic drumming in Rodden Meadow? Clive Stephens, friend of the river and keen birdwatcher, tells us more about the percussionist.

Though principally associated with woodland habitats, where conifer seeds are an important part of their diet, great spotted woodpeckers, the commonest of our native woodpeckers, are also found in large parks and gardens. They have been recorded as breeding regularly in Rodden Meadow.

About the same size as an adult blackbird, they are easily identified by their striking red underbelly and by their prominent white oval-shaped shoulder patches. The adult

male also has a red patch at the rear of its crown, whereas the adult female has a wholly black crown. The young by contrast have a red crown.

In spring, both males and females may often be heard “drumming” usually by very rapid pecking at tree trunks or telegraph poles but occasionally by using “instruments” such as empty nest boxes to increase the volume of sound. This behaviour is used both to attract mates and to repel rivals from their territory. Dissection has shown their skulls to be specially adapted to withstand the repeated impact. The same technique is used to remove bark to uncover insects and larvae and to excavate nesting holes, where they lay four to six white eggs between April and June. Being omnivorous, one of their less endearing habits is the theft of eggs and chicks from the nests of other species. They can be easily found in Rodden Meadow – just listen out for their strident and repeated monosyllabic “klik” call.

A CLOSER LOOK AT RODDEN MEADOW

Illustration by Christian Moore

A brighter future for the river

Theo Pike shares an update about trimming trees in Rodden Meadow.

Many of our readers will know Rodden Meadow as a wellloved wildlife area in the heart of our town, where the River

Frome escaped being dredged in the 1970s, and still has many of its natural curves. The alder and willow trees along the banks were once managed by rotational coppicing – but this has lapsed in recent years, so that the river has now become too shaded (and even hidden from view).

Last year, the Wild Trout Trust’s TWIST (Transforming Waterways

In Somerset Towns) project was funded by the Environment Agency to develop a tree management plan for Rodden Meadow, in close consultation with FORF, Frome Town Council and Frome Tree Group.

This Tree Plan was adopted by all the project partners, and FORF volunteers started putting the first stages into practice on 26th October 2022. This included

successfully re-pollarding a pair of very top-heavy veteran willows near the western end of Rodden Meadow, to save them from splitting and collapsing, and using the trimmings to repair a deteriorating habitat structure in the river.

Fallen trees in the water are naturally beneficial because they produce different flow patterns around their trunks and branches, making a wide range of habitat

niches for insects, birds and fish. Later in 2023, we’re aiming to add more wood into the channel by selectively felling a small number of alder trees, and securely tethering them as ‘tree kickers’ so they won’t wash away in higher flows. This will also let more light into the river, allowing bankside plants and the whole aquatic food web to thrive.

To find out more download the Rodden Meadow Tree Plan from our website, or get in touch to get involved.

Can we swim in the river?

Friends of the River Frome chair Mike Bull weighs up the evidence.

We’re often asked as volunteers with Friends of the River Frome whether the river is safe to swim in. Unfortunately there’s no simple answer. Because to answer that question we have to answer all sorts of others: where on the river specifically? Is the water clean? Is the water deep? Is it fast-flowing? Are there any obstacles? Can the person asking me swim well? You can see how things start to get complicated!

Instead we advise people to do their own risk assessment, and ask themselves some tough questions before they grab their swim gear.

Consider the basic risks of swimming

Pollution and sewage are definitely risks along the river Frome, but the first risk we have to weigh up is true even of the cleanest body of wild water – the risk of drowning. Swimming without lifeguards or experienced watchers means drowning becomes a

much bigger threat. Even the most experienced swimmers can get cramp, or misjudge a current, or not spot an obstacle. Always carry out your own risk assessment. Ask yourself:

• Do you know the area you are swimming in?

• Are there any physical hazards or obstacles in the water such as weirs, deep pools or unseen rocks?

• What is the water temperature? Cold shock is very common and potentially extremely dangerous if you are not properly prepared.

Consider the condition of the river

Once you’re happy you know your swim spot, and that there aren’t any tricky obstacles and so on, now you need to really scrutinise the water. Look at it hard, with a sceptical stare: is it clear? Can you see the bottom? Is there any foam that might mean pollution?

What about smell? Pollution incidents can give a river a strong petroleum smell, and as

for sewage, well you can imagine what that will smell like. If you think something smells (literally) iffy, or there’s a mysterious foam, maybe give it a miss – and while you’re at it, report your concerns to the Environment Agency on their 24/7 pollution hotline 0800 80 70 60.

Sewage in the river

The water quality of our river varies considerably throughout the year. Sewage is typically only released into the river during periods of intense rainfall and is generally flushed through quickly. If the river is running high and fast there’s a good chance of sewage overflow in the mix but we would never recommend swimming then anyway – the water is just too fast to be safe.

Agricultural and animal pollution in the river

Like most rivers in the UK our river is polluted by farming. Pesticides and fertilisers washed off the land introduce solid particles into the river, which settle in the riverbed as

sediment – easily disturbed by movement or the kick of a swimmer’s foot. This increases levels of phosphates and nitrates in the water, which causes all sorts of problems. They can make you sick if you ingest them and they can dramatically lower oxygen levels in the water, causing wildlife and plantlife to die off.

Farming also causes biological contamination of the river. Microbiological organisms in manure are washed off the land into the river, or end up in the water straight from livestock if there’s no buffer zone around the water and livestock are roaming freely.

It’s also worth considering bacteria and other lurking nasties. Leptospirosis (Weil’s (pronounced ‘viles’) disease) comes from rat urine and faeces (most commonly rats and mice – though it can also be from infected cows, pigs and dogs) and can cause illness and death if not treated. Many parts of our river have rats present and they are very able swimmers. If you are going to swim, avoid

Not a day for dip

stagnant water and make sure any cuts are covered with waterproof plasters.

Blue green algae

Although we haven’t had recent reports of dangerous blue green algae on the river, it’s always worth checking. It’s more common in lakes than rivers but can still occur in slow flow areas. This is dangerous for humans and can be fatal for dogs.

Never drink the water

Sounds simple, sounds like it shouldn’t need to be said – but we’re saying it anyway! The most important lesson: don’t drink the water. Your risk of getting sick decreases massively if you can

avoid ingesting contaminated water.

So the answer is… don’t swim?

I know all the above sounds very doom and gloom, but at FORF we firmly believe people should know all the risks so they can make an informed choice about swimming locally. There are of course enormous benefits, both mental and physical, from open water or ‘wild’ swimming too. These include reduced blood pressure and lowered heart rate, lower stress hormones and boosted dopamine and serotonin, and of course being closer to nature.

If you’d like to see less of the doom and gloom, and far fewer risks to swimming in the river, then join us as a friend of the river. It costs £15 a year, and all the money we raise goes straight back into projects to improve and celebrate the river, and campaigning to make it less polluted. Who knows, maybe one day we could have bathing water status?

Reviews

Watery wonders we read, watched and listened to in 2022.

Rivercide Dart by Alice Oswald

This book length poem by Alice Oswald is so river like you can almost feel water rushing off the page. It captures everything of the river Dart, its ripples and flows, its history and power, and the people who live on it, love it and disappear into it. How do we commission one for the Frome?

We screened this groundbreaking documentary in 2021 with Frome Town Council, but if you missed it, you can watch it online. Presented by George Monbiot it asks tough questions about how once pristine river systems have been turned into sewers, and considers how we revive our poor waterways.

READ WATCH

LISTEN

“This summer I went swimming / this summer I might have drowned / but I held my breath and I kicked my feet and moved my arms around”

If you feel you’re being pulled under, this is a song to help you keep kicking up to the surface.

Caughtbytheriver.net

It’s hard to define Caught by the River, the founders call it an arts/nature/culture clash which sounds about right. A treasure trove of reviews, articles, art and ideas about nature. Warning: you may lose hours to it.

The Swimming Song by Loudon Wainright III

Looking to 2023

At the time of publishing we’re three months into 2023 and things are already looking busy for Friends of the River Frome. Here are a few things we’ve looking forward to in the next year…

Eels in the classroom

We’re excited to be putting grant money, your donations, and corporate donations towards a program helping kids learn about the importance and lifecycle of eels. We’re hoping that the Bristol Avon Rivers Trust will be bringing some slippery friends to three schools in Frome, helping to inspire a new generation of river champions.

A river conference

Plans are underway for our river conference, happening during Frome’s Great Big Green Week (10th – 18th June 2023). We’re hoping to bring along inspiring speakers, host fun and engaging events and ask the town what they’d like to see happen next along the river. If you have ideas for what you’d like to see and hear, or think you could help, get in touch.

Work with local groups

We were very excited to learn about Heal Rewilding’s plans to create nature reserves in Somerset. We’re looking forward to visiting their site soon, and working with the team to help the river. We’re also glad to be working with Wessex Water, who acknowledge the role water companies must play in cleaning up rivers. We’re hoping to establish regular water testing and be able to share the data online, so everyone can keep an eye on exactly what’s happening in our waters.

Hard work as usual

As always throughout 2023 we’ll be keeping up our river graft. There’ll be clear up days, reviews and comments on planning applications, monitoring of the water, and progress on the projects in our ten year strategy. Sound interesting? We’d love you to get involved. Head to our website friendsoftheriverfrome. co.uk to find out more.

Our window for Frome Window Wanderland 2022, made by committee member Jess Weeks