Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust (HMWT)

We are the leading voice for wildlife conservation in Hertfordshire. HMWT manage 44 nature reserves, from beautiful woodlands and wetlands to rare patches of heath and orchard. However, increasingly we are looking beyond their nature reserves to the wider landscape – our vision is of a Living Landscape, an environment rich in wildlife for everyone to enjoy. It is this vision which prompted us to apply to be ‘Catchmetn Hosts’ for the Upper Lea Catchment Management Plan.

The Environment Agency (EA)
We are a public body responsible to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Our principal aims are to protect and improve the environment. We help deliver the environmental priorities of central government and are playing a crucial role in supporting the development and implementation of the Catchment Management Plan.

Affinity Water
We are committed to delivering a high quality water service to all of our customers and to be the leading community focused water company. We provide 900 million litres of water each day to a population of more than 3.5 million people in parts of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey, the London Boroughs of Harrow and Hillingdon and parts of the London Boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing and Enfield. We also supply water to the Tendring peninsula in Essex and the Folkestone and Dover areas of Kent.

Countryside Management Service
We work with communities in Hertfordshire to help them care for and enjoy the environment, including:

1. Encouraging people to get involved in volunteering to look after their local countryside or park
2. Providing advice to landowners or managers helping them to look after their land with wildlife in mind
3. Helping secure funding for landscape improvement and conservation work
4. Promoting outdoor recreation through guided walks, and walk and cycle routes which link towns and villages to their surrounding countryside

Groundwork Hertfordshire
We are the community charity with a green heart, working across the UK helping communities find practical solutions to the challenges they face. We provide training and create jobs, reduce energy and waste, re-connect people with nature and transform whole neighbourhoods. Our aim is to continue changing places and lives, until everywhere is vibrant and green, every community is strong enough to shape its own destiny and everyone can reach their potential.

Natural England
We are an Executive Non-departmental Public Body responsible to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Our purpose is to protect and improve England’s natural environment and encourage people to enjoy and get involved in their surroundings.

Verulam Angling Club
Verulam Angling Club was formed in 1934 by a handful of local businessmen and has been providing quality fisheries and sport for its members ever since. It has since flourished to what we have today - a club over 1600 members enjoying a vast array of fish and fisheries.

Wheathampstead Parish Council
Brocket Park

Local landowners
Local farmers

Riverfly Monitoring

Every month, local volunteers conduct Riverfly Monitoring on the Upper Lea.  Their sampling technique involves a 3-minute kick sample of the river bed, and identification and counting of the aquatic invertebrates caught.  This gives a good indication of water quality and can alert authorities to any recent pollution incidents.  To find out more about Riverfly monitoring, or to get involved, please click here.

Projects needing funding

Several of the projects detailed in this plan are ready to start as soon as funding is obtained.  If you have any suggestions for potential sources of funding, please let us know.

Practical help needed

Some of the projects will require some hands-on, practical help.  If you can give your time and fancy getting involved with practical work in and around the river, this could be for you!

We will post information here as projects require help.  Please check back regularly for details.

WANTED - Mink raft locations

Mink are the main threat to watervoles on our local rivers.  Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust run a mink raft scheme.  Floating rafts with a clay base are placed on the river – if mink are about, they will investigate the raft and leave their footprints on the clay.  Traps can then be placed to try and catch them.

If you are a riverside landowner and would like a mink raft on your land, please email HMWT’s Watervole Conservation Officer This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

WANTED - Watervole surveyors

Volunteers survey various sites along the Upper Lea for watervoles.  If you are interested in learning how to survey for watervoles and contribute to this monitoring scheme, please email HMWT’s Watervole Conservation Officer This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

WANTED – Riverfly monitors

Riverfly Monitoring is a national scheme whereby local volunteers are trained to monitor their local river for invertebrates, which give an indication of water quality.  For more details, see here.  If you are interested in becoming a Riverfly monitor for the Upper Lea, please email the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..