The last couple of months has been a busy period of archival investigation to support the Lake District Charr Recovery and Management (LD-CHARM) project. Activity has included diving into the FBA's extensive archive and a visit to the Natural History Museum. Here we join FBA’s Emma Kelly for a Q&A to discover more about these explorations for historical information relating to Arctic charr.

Want to get involved in Riverfly Monitoring but not sure what it entails? The Riverfly Partnership have a new film explaining why and how we monitor riverflies. Learn about its applications in spotting pollution, deterring polluters, measuring the impact of restoration works, contributing to long-term data sets, and increasing awareness and education around our waterways.

Registration now open!

Funded by NERC, the Freshwater Biological Association, Bournemouth University, Natural England and AECOM, we are offering a free field workshop on Freshwater Taxonomy and Field Identification Skills: macroinvertebrates, protists, meiofauna and eDNA.

At the Species Recovery Centre, the FBA has finished its annual "Exhaustive Surveys", a census which involves counting all mussels in the facility that are more than 5mm in length. Counts take place on every mussel rearing system and from this a representative sample will be taken to determine average lengths of the freshwater pearl mussel population at the FBA Ark.

Here we catch up with FBA’s Pearl Mussel Assistant, Jodie Warren, to hear about the daily activities at the FBA Ark species recovery sanctuary and the freshwater science making a vital contribution towards protecting vulnerable freshwater pearl mussels (Margaritifera margaritifera).

From October 2024 to Summer 2025, the FBA will be conducting a trial, placing juvenile mussels into temporary holding devices called mussel silos in three river locations across the River Kent catchment.

Established in 2007, the Freshwater Pearl Mussel Recovery project is an ongoing partnership project between the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Freshwater Biological Association.