Action for the River Kennet (ARK) worked with North Wessex Downs AONB, Hungerford Town and Manor and the Southern Streams Farmer Group on the Sparkling Streams project.
Background
The Sparkling Streams Project took a catchment based approach to improving some of the failing rivers in the Kennet catchment. It built on years of catchment sensitive farming work by ARK, FWAG and Natural England, and river restoration by the Environment Agency, ARK and the Kennet Catchment Partnership.
The Project
ARK helped restore the degraded tributaries of the River Kennet SSSI, whilst Hungerford Town and Manor significantly enhanced the river at Eddington Mill, Hungerford. ARK worked with Shalbourne Primary School to build a new rain garden and the Southern Streams Farmer Group supported project by allowing hedge and tree planting, leaky dams and wetlands to be built on their land.
Chalk streams are globally rare and the project helped reverse centuries of mis-management through the following actions:
- Nature Conservation and restoration – the project significantly contributed to chalk river channel habitat restoration and enhancement; we removed impediments to fish migration and created new wetland, hedge and woodland habitats.
- Nature Based Solutions – sediment ponds, leaky dams and new wetland were created to clean water feeding into Wilton Water and the rivers. Strategic planting of hedges and trees will slow overland flows, reducing soil erosion, improving water quality, mitigating climate change.
- Connecting People – we worked extensively with volunteers. The Shalbourne school community constructed a rain garden to reduce pressure on the sewerage system. Volunteers planted 1,000 metres of hedge (5,025 hedge plants) and 3,400 trees planted on six sites.
Explore the exciting work completed as part of the Sparkling Streams project on this StoryMap
If you are having trouble viewing the StoryMap below click here to view fullscreen.
You can find more information on the Action for the River Kennet website here
This project was funded by the government’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund. The fund is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency.
