Dorset Wildlife Trust / Chalk stream
Dorset's rivers and catchments
Dorset's streams, rivers and wetlands are home to incredible wildlife, but these important habitats are under enormous pressure
We're lucky to have so many stunning wildlife-rich rivers and streams flowing through the heart of the county . These much-loved places are home to scurrying water voles, elusive otters, darting damselflies and since 2021, even a family of beavers. Dorset's rivers including the globally-rare chalk streams support an extraordinary array of wildlife, including a huge range of aquatic insects. River valleys contain highly important wetlands, including wet woodlands and flower-rich meadows, home to wildfowl and wading birds. Our work to protect and restore river habitats ranges from working with farmers and landowners to protect and restore rivers and their banks to help wildlife to training water guardians to monitor their local stretch of river to spot the first signs of pollution.
Dorset Catchment Partnerships
Dorset Wildlife Trust co-hosts the Dorset Catchment Partnership alongside Wessex Water. The partnership organisations share the vision of Dorset’s river catchments being sustainably healthy, resilient and safe for people and wildlife. Core work covers three management catchments which drain towards the south coast: the Dorset Stour, Poole Harbour catchment and West Dorset Rivers and Coastal Streams.
We are asking for river health to be a top priority for our next UK Government
Dorset Wildlife Trust is calling on all political parties to end river pollution and water scarcity. This is one of our top five priorities that we and our national federation of the 46 other Wildlife Trusts are asking politicians to consider.
With the UK among the worst countries in Europe for water quality, it's estimated that more than half of our freshwater species are now in decline and only 10% of Dorset's rivers are in good ecological condition. The combination of pollution, water being taken for our drinking supplies and changes to the ways that rivers and land around them are managed are all having an impact. We're asking the next Government to sufficiently fund enforcement agencies to do their job. We are asking that by 2030:
- Nutrient pollution from farming, sewage and development is halved,
- Stronger protections for chalk streams are enforced.
- More wetlands are created to tackle flood and drought.
Find out more about our work on rivers
Ian Colley
Dorset Wild Rivers
The Dorset Wild Rivers initiative works across the three Dorset Catchment Partnerships - Poole Harbour, Stour and West Dorset and Coastal Streams to improve freshwater environments in partnership with stakeholders.
DWT Image Library
Water Guardians
Funded by Wessex Water and co-ordinated by Dorset Wildlife Trust, the Water Guardians project is designed to improve the water environment of Dorset by recruiting and training teams of local volunteers as Water Guardians to monitor watercourses, identify possible pollution incidents and report them to Wessex Water for further investigation.
Riverfly monitoring
Dorset Wildlife Trust is helping to lead the way with new scheme to monitor water quality in Dorset rivers. Riverfly Monitoring scheme has currently 40 monitors covering over 50 sites across Dorset. Volunteers have been donning their waders, wellies and wildlife identification skills to help monitor the health of rivers in Dorset this summer as part of the new Extended Riverfly Scheme.
