As a matter of interest Rob - when does a run of water become a River? When it's named as such?
We have several 'Brooks' around here that are bigger (width/depth/volume) than the 'River' it joins into - are you tempted to count these as different Rivers?
A really good article - well done Rob!
I count all running waters as rivers as a generic term but have to admit to liking the variations such as brook, dyke or stream, there are many regional derivatives like Rhyne, Rife, Lode, Sewer and many more as i'm sure I've left out a few, if the water flows and has it's own source I see it as a river Some rivers have more than one source like the Bourne near Chertsey , the locals call the other Bourne the 'Addle' as it is a separate river I'm happy to count each as different rivers, although they are both called the River Bourne on the map, they start miles away from each other. They are also much smaller than many a brook or stream elsewhere in the country.Think it's just down to how they are named whether they are called stream, brook or river etc.
Round here there's loads of rivers that carry far more water yet are classed as tribs and they lose their name when their smaller cousin joins. I've spent many an hour pondering this and can only come up with the fact they are named in an age when the two rivers would probably have been very different, perhaps the smaller was much bigger before abstraction or it run through the major settlement so took precidence and/or was named first, they are two separate rivers though.
Rivers changing names halfway down are still the same river to me so only count as one but if a trib runs in and I'm fishing near the confluence then that's two different rivers if I have access to both courses, they both have different sources so are different rivers.
The naming of rivers within a river is a strange one too, the Thames for example has many cuts named as a different brook,stream or river but are just the Thames cutting through between locks, I've counted one as it's so different to the main river despite being only a few hundred yards long(first pic on the main post) but would be unsure whether to count the Jubilee river (a man made flood relief) despite it also being named. Would the Trent/Newark Dyke be different rivers?. Think the grey areas regarding names are why it's hard to find exactly how many rivers there are or whats the shortest, what's deemed as a river and so on. Best left to the individual.
Hope that's confused you even more