Dont Rubbish Your River

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Ashe Hurst

Guest
Its 2004 and things are moving fast down here in north kent on the cray.

Im seeking anglers to volunteer with the cleaning up of litter and debris along the River Cray, get involved in the Rivers management and Environbmental protection.

Also a new Adopt a River group is soon to be set up along the River Darrent.
Its hoped that both the groups can work together and push Anglers concerns and interests in conservation.

Im seeking anglers who may wish to help out on work parties or take part in regular activities.

We have the support of the EA,Bexley council, the Millenium awards scheme and Coca Cola Enterprises, Also GroundWork Kent, who themselfs are in very close woprking relationships with Bexley & Dartford cuncils, the EA and many more organisations.

Since June of 2003 we have cleared over 10 Tons of Litter and Debris from the lower Cray.(Crayford Marsh to Hall Place at Old Bexley).

we have insurance and Health & saftey risk assesments and provide all equipment needed for clean up events.

So if you interested let me know.

Oh Yeh, the cray has some Great Roach, Chub and Perch fishing, 14 species in all, whilst the Darent has recentley had Grayling stocked.
 
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Ashe Hurst

Guest
If any of you know the Cray and wouldnt touch it with a barge pole, well all i can say is things have changed and are improving.

this year we have had spawning into september, Roach to 2lb 12 oz + perch nudging 3lb, chub to 5lb, bream to 9lb.

Brown trout are small and rare but they too have been tempted. As too have some ghost and Koi carp.

I can almost 9o% garrantee a kingfisher or 3, Voles too. Rabbits, kestrel, Owls.

the wildlife list is endless.

The litter message is getting through to those that left the banks in a mess and fly tipping has been eliminated in most areas.

Suggest a early morning or evening into dark at Barnes Cray for the Big Roach and Perch. Or Roving from Old bexley to Barnes Cray for Chub and dace.
 
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Ashe Hurst

Guest
Hey Ho, S**t happens.

todays river clean did not happen.

we were contacted and asked to cator for 120 6 form girls, i knocked them down to 30 plus 3 to 5 teachers.

spent 3 months planning their activities and river clean, Risk assesments and equipment.
They called me last night to say they can only provide 5 students and no teacher cover.

I have a CRB check and work within several organisations that have close contact with children, vunerable adults and the public.

Still, there is no way i would ever allow my child to attend a school trip with out teacher cover, even at 16 or 17 yrs old.

Thats why the River clean did not happen.

It makes me angry that with all this public attention on child welfare, a school was still ok to send students on an activity.

I read them the riot act. The mind boggles
 
A

Ashe Hurst

Guest
Our next clean up on the Cray is on 1st Feb at Crayford Mill, Thames Rd at 11am.
So anyone wishing to join in, let me know asap.

Just got the EA stock survey, roach are the main species, then Perch, Dace and Chub.
The survey was taken from two stretches and for such a small river its looking good.
EEls and Pike are OK too.

Im not going to quote the whole report.
The Darent was included too, this is even better news as stocks are higher and cover more species.

At the moment we are looking out for signs of Mink and otter in the catchment area as a few reported sitings have filtered through.

a new Adopt a River should be formed in dartford some time in March/April with scope for a few more groups along the Cray and darrent and the Thames Foreshore.

The EA are behind us and would like to see more Anglers taking control and getting involved. They are very keen to help out & assist.
 
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Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

Guest
Ashe,

The best of luck with your campaign.You are setting an example for us all to follow.We all moan about he state of our rivers but how many,& I include myself, do anything about it?

I hope local anglers see this & get behind you on the 1st!!!

If you could post some general details about the "Adopt a River" scheme on here it might inspire the rest of us to get involved in our local areas.
 
A

Ashe Hurst

Guest
Nigel. All.

The Adopt-a-River scheme was set up by THAMEAS 21 about 2 yrs ago.

Its initialy for the River Thames from Teddington to Greenwich, however i upset the apple cart and its now down to Crayford marsh.

The ethos is to rid the Thames and its tributaries of litter and debris through volunteering on RIVER CLEANS.

Any group or organisation that has an interest in the Rivers conservation can contact THAMES 21 & sign up as an Adopt-a-River group in the London areas.

T21 are on hand to provide assistance and initialy run events for you, untill the group leader/co ordinator has attended and completed the Health & safety day.

They may be able to provide some equipment , but with funds/costs and 50 other like minded groups, its advised that groups obtain grant funds.

you do not need to use your own groups volunteers. Its common practice and the authorities like it when you include local community /residents.

I know theres similar activities in manchester and liverpool.

The EA, Groundwork, ODPM, ACA, SAA and local councils support and may fund some projects.

Your group can obtain insurance( very important) through BTCV, T21 can advise on this.

the EA would like to see more anglers taking responsibility and control too with the Adopt a River.


Check out; www.thames21.org.uk

If there is no such programme in your region, T21 may be able to advise.

the 1st Feb clean is still on, weather permitting. a bit of snow, ice and rain is Ok, but if its Obscene, i can let peeps know. but any person attendig must inform me asap.

check it out.
 
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Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

Guest
Thanks Ashe,

Thats very helpful.

I'll look into matters further in my local area(Watford/Hemel) & try & get something going if nothing exists already.

Any objections if I mail you for advice if needed?
 
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Ashe Hurst

Guest
Rained off, Flooded out, no turn out.

What next? could be frozen out this Sunday.

lets hope we get a break in the weather, the area of this clean up has been put off several times in the last 2 months.

Will let you know if the boats get used as Toboggan's on the ice.
 
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Ashe Hurst

Guest
Im in a meeting Friday 30 jan. may get some feed back on the set up of a new adopt-a-river group. If any local to dartford , kent anglers are out there & would want to get Anglers involved with the management of a new group , let me know.

Im able to point you towards funds, training, EA support, kit and management assistance.
 
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Ashe Hurst

Guest
The Cray's fishing well at Barnes cray this week. Just got in from from seeing a few of our volunteers.
2 pike 8lb & 12lb, one was caught on fly gear, along with a chub of 4lb also on fly, a few Bream to 8lb, several perch and Quality Roach to 2lb.

Even today with the thaw, water levels are down by 6 inches.
 
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Ashe Hurst

Guest
I know i leave a lot of messages, but Sunday 1st feb looks like agood day to clean the Cray.

The snow & ice have gone,todays weather is set to die off over nite and leave Sunday with Sunny spells a 10Mp wind and 13 degrees.

Lets hope the rivers low enough to get the boats under the bridges.

As i mentioned in other post, this event has been called off several times now due to bad weather.

No Doubt i will be back to fill you in on how the clean up went.
 
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Ashe Hurst

Guest
The river clean whent very well with a skip piled high at the end.

HOWEVER, we did come across a rusty 40 Gallon oil/chemicle drum. sealed at both ends.

Not knowing what was in it or if it wouild split when lifted, i called the EA Hot Line.
within a short time i got a call back saying that i will be charged ?70.00 for the EA to come out and remove it.

Im not going to pay for reporting a potential pollution incident.
 
A

Ashe Hurst

Guest
Good news. The EA will not be charging me for the reporting of a potential hazard.

Cheers Lads.

The next river clean should be on the 15th Feb, 10.45am at Maiden Lane bridge, Off Crayfdord Way.
 
A

Ashe Hurst

Guest
They all CRAZY down here.

what went on along the Cray over the 7th & 8th Feb is mad.

a style sawn up, several trees cut down , nice and neat then chucked in the Cray.

new wooden fence around river side pic nick area, sawn up, again neatley and chucked in the river cray.

Two Honda Civic's. One smashed up and gutted left on path and the other nose down arse up in the river.

whats it all about???
 
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Ashe Hurst

Guest
YIPEEEEE

Got our first schools education activity booked. this is at a local primary school in an area close to the River Cray that suffers from litter, fly tipping and vandalism, yet contains some of the best wildlife & fishing on the river.

hope this will be the first of many.
 
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Ashe Hurst

Guest
Ever fancied access to a unfished private stretch????

Ask first, very politley. you may be suprised. done this a few times now, not making a habit though, but Wednesday saw me land two Chub from under a small bridge on a very secluded bit of the Cray. One was 5lb 2oz the other 5lb 12oz. A Brown trout, nudging 1lb.

This was from a 50 meter stretch, no more than 18"deep and 3 meters wide. An hour in total on that site.
shared with 2 Herons and kingfisher and a small pike of a few pounds, wagtails, wrens and a cheeky robbin.

Also got access to River Clean up sites too.

River clean this Sunday 15th feb at Barnes cray. about 8 volunteers this time.
 
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Ashe Hurst

Guest
3 fridges
2 Washing Machines
1 Oven
1 Radiator
1 cupboard
1 Barbers Chair
35 Bin Bags of local News Papers
40 Car tyres
1/4 of a car, may find the other 3/4s later
6 drain pipes
10 bin Bags of cans.

And we still need another 2 or 3 skips as 1 skip wasnt enough for the morning.
 
A

Ashe Hurst

Guest
Just spent the day building nest Boxes with a local school as a half term activity.

This went down great with the Kids and the Parents who joined in too.
Hope to get some up along the River soon as the Head teacher wants the school to get more involved with River related activities.

This is great as 90% of the school live near to the River and most play along it.

This we hope will open thier eyes up to the environment, get them involved with picking litter and other activities that will encourage them to take pride and care of the area they live in.

If we can get all the local schools involved, including the parents too with looking after the areas near to where they live, we hope the message will filter through.

Still, we know it wont solve all the problems, but may solve most.

Lets hope so.
 
A

Ashe Hurst

Guest
Hi All.

Sunday 7 March saw another River Clean. This time it was on the River Shuttle in Old Bexley, as it flows into the River Cray.

With our volunteers and members of the local community we cleared 100 metres of river.

some debris had bullhead and eggs, so these items were placed back into the water, will go and check them out in a few weeks time.
Plenty of small bream and chub seen.

we cleared 2 shopping trolleys, 2 metal drawers, 8 traffic cones, a TV stand, a Bike, 4 Car Tyres, 2 lengths of metal pipe, 2 work tops, a metal Bucket, For Sale sign, 2 sheets of ply wood a remote control Car and 6 Bin Bags of litter.

The Cray and shuttle are great Roving rivers the quality of fish is missed by all who ignore these Great little Rivers.

Im still seeking more anglers to volunteer every few weeks at River Cleans, diversity projects and fish studies also RIVER KEEPERS.
we have EA and Bexley council support for this sustainable programme and realy must get it up and running ASAP.

We are to be ACA & SAA members in the next week and will continue to promote guidlines and safe practice also to keep the Cray & shuttle open to anglers where angling is still allowed, maybe re open areas that were closed off a few years ago due to a very small Org who are ANTI and back then influenced the Council.

We now have council support & respect and we have a CUNNING PLAN.

we are also looking to get trout restocked along the Cray & Shuttle. There are small pockets but too few to sustain a breading population.

SO, if you live in and around Bexley in SE London/NW Kent and want to get involved , contact me.
 
A

Ashe Hurst

Guest
whos been a naughty boy then!

found evidence of an out of season angler on the cray today.
just my luck, out with the councils conservation officer & education Officer, talking about how anglers do care about the environment, THEN, empty Fag box and fresh buts, a half empty beer can, fresh opened tin of corn and fresh lobs still in plastic tub..

Can any of you thinkof a suitable name for this person? i cant print it!
 
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