An awkward one this as it features yours truly moving his arms too much, but this is a film of our River Nar project made for the Norfolk Rivers Drainage Board and the River Restoration Centre 2022 river prize, for which the project was shortlisted.
The film was put together in only a few days by my son, Patrick, using his own interview footage and also footage very kindly supplied by Chris and Leo at chalkstreamfly and by Peter Christensen of Oslo University who has been studying chalk streams and their socio-environmental space (watch this space for Chris and Leo’s upcoming film for which this footage was shot).
Patrick – a film-production graduate – is looking for voluntary or professional projects at the mo and so if your trust or group would like help with an audio-video or photographic production project, drop him (or me) a line. A short film can do wonders to raise awareness for your local chalk stream.
Chalk-Streams 
Dear Sir, First, may I congratulate you on your richly-deserved OBE, very well done indeed. I thought you might perhaps like to see a couple of photos I captured just two days ago (25/7/22), at the sluice/hatch pool whence the River Wissey exits the MoD battle area, just East of Ickburgh. I was really quite surprised to see a relatively healthy flow of crystal water, given the absolute lack of rainfall which appears to have afflicted almost all the mainland. Indeed, my much-loved Ure has virtually vanished in its upper reaches & I hate to imagine the effect upon the resident & migrant salmonid populations. I guess the pristine nature, & lack of exploitation, of the battle area would explain the remarkable health of this little river here? I spied a couple of brownies dashing away, pleasing. Only a mile or so downstream, the flow is barely discernible, sadly, thanks to abstraction. Keep up the good work. Best wishes, Yours sincerely, Jon Wood
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Hi Jon, apologies for taking a while to reply. I keep meaning to go and look at the Wissey in the battle area where I have been told it is a lovely and unspoilt stream. Interesting that the flows are noticeably lower further downstream. Lots of chalk streams are already in trouble and we desperately need a wet winter. Many thanks for mentioning the OBE. I was thrilled and surprised in equal measure. V best. C.
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Dear Charles, Thanks for sharing that. Plenty of conviction, deftly presented and a clear summary of what has obviously been a lot of work, well done all. All the projects presented are a real inspiration to us (Friends of the Ems) and I’m sure many other river groups. The River Ems would certainly benefit from a video overview to support the case we have been plugging away at. We are currently working with our local River Trust (Arun and Rother RT) on the start of a catchment plan for the Ems and we are certainly jointly interested in the video possibilities at this stage. I will contact Patrick to see if we can discuss the project. We recently hit the buffers over our short term proposal to better utilise the two augmentation points on the River. Purely an interim measure as long term we aim to see a return to no abstraction or to the 2 million gallons a day originally licenced in 1962, 25% of the current 8 million gallons taken daily. The most frustrating issue has been the failure of Natural England and the Environment Agency to ensure the plight of the Ems is considered in the current WRSE planning process around the Havant Thicket reservoir. The EA as I think you say in your WRSE consultation response need to treat chalk watercourses as a priority and use the right ‘science’ in their restoration and continuing management. Nor are any of the current stakeholders showing any urgency! Kind regards, Sandy Galloway
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Hi Sandy and apologies for replying to “Alexander” in your other posting, which I have just replied to. I was confided by the username. Delighted you’ll be getting in touch with Patrick. If I can help in any way, just shout. It’s really important we don’t forget the smaller, less well known chalk streams, so keep up the pressure and maybe a campaign film will help? With best wishes, Charles.
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