Rambling About Rivers

We sat down with Manchán Magan, effervescent broadcaster, writer, and All-Ireland ambassador for The Rivers Trust, in April 2025. We were devastated later in the year to hear that he'd lost a long battle with cancer, and our waterways lost a true friend.

His insights and unique storytelling continue to inspire us. To honour his legacy and his enthusiasm for supporting The Rivers Trust, we're closing out this series of Rambling About Rivers with this conversation. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Find out more and get involved:  

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Find your local Rivers Trust⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.theriverstrust.org⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more  

Follow us on social media @theriverstrust. Hosted and edited by Emma Brisdion and Matthew Woodard, mixed by Mark Skinner. 

Rivers are essential to life, but our understanding of river health and issues is fragmented. Why are there such huge gaps in freshwater monitoring, what opportunities or issues are being missed as a result, and how can citizen science change the game?

This week we join Michelle Walker, Technical Director and citizen science expert at The Rivers Trust, to survey her local tributary for riverflies - vital indicators of river health. To learn more about how volunteer-gathered data played an essential role in cleaning up over 5 million wet wipes from the Thames' foreshore, we chat to Felicity Rhodes, Thames Programme Manager at Thames 21.

Find out more and get involved:  

Explore the Riverfly Monitoring Dataset on the CaSTCo website.

Read about the removal works at 'Wet Wipe Island'

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Find your local Rivers Trust⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  

Visit ⁠⁠⁠www.theriverstrust.org⁠⁠⁠ for more  

Follow us on social media @theriverstrust. Hosted and edited by Emma Brisdion and Matthew Woodard, mixed by Mark Skinner. 

We’re chatting with cut flower farmer, and Co-Director of UK Youth for nature, Roisin Taylor, who works tirelessly to engage young people in the UK in climate and nature action, and provide opportunities for them to build skills and be a key part of campaigns seeking to protect and improve our green and blue spaces – including our rivers. 

She’s also intimately connected to the health of our rivers as a nature-friendly flower farmer, and has been a strong advocate for our Making Space For Water Campaign,

Find out more and get involved:  

Sign the petition: ⁠https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/727016⁠

Find out more about the Making Space for Water campaign: ⁠www.makingspaceforwater.com ⁠

Get to know UK Youth for Nature: ⁠www.uky4n.org⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Find your local Rivers Trust⁠⁠⁠⁠  

⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠  

Visit ⁠⁠www.theriverstrust.org⁠⁠ for more  

Follow us on social media @theriverstrust. Hosted and edited by Emma Brisdion and Matthew Woodard, mixed by Mark Skinner. 

How are toxic chemicals getting into our rivers, and what impacts are these having on river life? Is the UK's poor chemical regulation policy making us 'the dirty man of Europe' again? And what roles do nature-based solutions and changing our habits at home have in protecting our freshwater?

This week we speak to Dr Rob Collins, Director of Science and Policy at The Rivers Trust, and Dr Bella Davies, CEO of South East Rivers Trust, for a deep dive on chemical pollution in rivers.

Find out more and get involved:  

Read more about chemical pollution in our rivers in the State of Our Rivers Report.

See what else South East Rivers Trust is doing to restore and protect rivers in the South East of England.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Find your local Rivers Trust⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  

Visit ⁠⁠⁠www.theriverstrust.org⁠⁠⁠ for more  

Follow us on social media @theriverstrust. Hosted and edited by Emma Brisdion and Matthew Woodard, mixed by Mark Skinner. 

In this episode we're logging off, to, well, log on? It'll make sense when you listen to our conversation with the brilliant Alastair Humphreys. He's an adventurer, writer, champion for connecting with and cleaning up the great outdoors, and an ambassador for The Rivers Trust.

Find out more and get involved:  

⁠⁠⁠Find your local Rivers Trust⁠⁠⁠  

⁠⁠⁠Sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠  

Visit ⁠www.theriverstrust.org⁠ for more  

Hear more from Alastair on his Instagram or in his newsletter 

Explore the River Runner map

Follow us on social media @theriverstrust. Hosted and edited by Emma Brisdion and Matthew Woodard, mixed by Mark Skinner. 

Sewage pollution in our rivers is never far from the headlines. We're digging deep into the topic of the stinky stuff in this episode (not literally) and asking; how is sewage getting into our waters? Why might treated sewage present an even bigger problem for rivers than the raw stuff? How do we map, monitor, and fix the broken system? What does it all mean for swimmers, paddlers, and anglers? And how can citizen scientists help us change the system?

You'll hear from:

Simon Browning, Technical Lead at The Rivers Trust, on why we use e.coli levels to understand whether there's sewage in the water, and what the limitations of this method are.

Philippa Nicholls, Evidence Officer at Thames 21, on how Outfall Safaris in London are identifying missconnections and cross connections, which are resulting in pollution, and working with Thames Water to reconnect pipes properly. This project has been developed by CaSTCo, which was created through the OFWAT Water Breakthrough Challenge.

Find out more and get involved: 

The Rivers Trust Sewage Map⁠

Thames21 and Outfall Safaris

⁠Find your local Rivers Trust⁠ 

⁠Sign up to our newsletter⁠ 

Follow us on social media @theriverstrust. Hosted and edited by Emma Brisdion and Matthew Woodard, mixed by Mark Skinner.

She’s an Olympic champion boasting a gold medal from Paris 2024, she’s a sustainability guru striving to make her sport and her community greener, she’s a passionate advocate for cleaner waterways, she’s a junior doctor with the NHS, and she’s a Rivers Trust Ambassador. Is there nothing Imogen Grant can’t do? This week, Emma and Matthew chat with Imogen about how her sport has turned her into a river health champion, and how she wants to see the rowing community step up and play a part in river restorations. Plus, find out how she deals with accidentally hitting geese while rowing.  

Find out more and get involved:  

⁠⁠Find your local Rivers Trust⁠⁠  

⁠⁠Sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠  

Visit www.theriverstrust.org for more  

Hear more from Imogen on her Instagram @ImogenDaisyG 

Follow us on social media @theriverstrust. Hosted and edited by Emma Brisdion and Matthew Woodard, mixed by Mark Skinner. 

To start this series of Rambling about Rivers, we’re tackling river habitat decline: what’s driving it, how it’s impacting our rivers, and most importantly, what’s being done to reverse the damage. From degraded peatlands and invasive species to the straightening and deepening of river channels, we explore the historic and ongoing pressures on our waterways.  

You’ll hear from: 

Freya Connolly of the Buffer+ project in Ireland, who’s championing innovative paludiculture farming on revitalised peatland. 

Pete King from Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust, who explains how “re-wiggling” a chalk stream created thriving wetland habitat and reconnected the local community to their river. 

Matt Duffy from Don Catchment Rivers Trust, who shares the incredible story of how salmon returned to Sheffield’s River Don for the first time in over 150 years, thanks to decades of barrier removal and river restoration.  

Find out more and get involved: 

Don Catchment Rivers Trust’s Wilder Salmon Pastures 

Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust’s Cockshut Restoration Project 

Find your local Rivers Trust 

Sign up to our newsletter 

Follow us on social media @theriverstrust. Hosted and edited by Emma Brisdion and Matthew Woodard, mixed by Mark Skinner.

You’ve probably heard a lot about rivers in the past few years. In the new podcast series from The Rivers Trust, we’re laying bare the state of rivers in the UK and Ireland, getting up close and personal with some of the issues that they face, and discussing what needs to be done to bring rivers back to life. The first episode lands on Thursday.

Join Emma and Matthew every fortnight to journey through catchments – from the headwaters to the sea – joined by experts, friends, and colleagues from across The Rivers Trust Movement fighting for wild, healthy and natural rivers. Find out more about The Rivers Trust: www.theriverstrust.org

Get in touch: [email protected]

Follow us on social media @theriverstrust: Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook

Hosted and edited by Emma Brisdion and Matthew Woodard, mixed by Mark Skinner.

The new year provides the perfect opportunity to reflect on how far we have come and look ahead to future aspirations. This episode, Emily is joined by The Rivers Trust CEO Mark Lloyd, to discuss the formation and growth of The Rivers Trust movement with Arlin Rickard (former CEO of The Rivers Trust) and Ian Gregg (our current president and past Chairman of Greggs). Both Arlin and Ian were instrumental in the creation of The Rivers Trust.

A collection of truly key figures in the Rivers Trust movement chat about their respective roles in its creation and remark on the growth it has seen. As well as looking ahead to future goals and discussing the values at the core of The Rivers Trust movement that need to remain even as the growth continues. A fantastic way to get to know those behind The Rivers Trust and learn more about our journey. If you are looking for a positive, reflective, and at times nostalgic, way to start off 2023, then look no further and give this episode a listen.