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Two Borders environmental charities dedicated to the health of the land, water and fish populations in the River Tweed catchment are encouraging nature lovers in north Northumberland and the Scottish Borders to take part in an inaugural UK-wide initiative organised by The Rivers Trust.

Tweed Forum and the Tweed Foundation are joining forces to ask local residents to spend just 15 minutes of their time between September 22 and 24 to record observations of the Tweed or one of its tributaries in order to help the Big River Watch gather information about the health of the various waterways.

They are advised to do so on the free-to-use Big River Watch app. Including identification guides for pollution and wildlife, it will be available to download from September 18.

There will also be questions about participants’ own connection to their local river. The results will form a data set on river health covering the whole of the UK and Ireland.

The River Tweed at the Royal Border Bridge in Berwick. Picture by Jane Coltman.

Tweed Forum CEO, Luke Comins said; “Joining forces with other river organisations across the country to collect this kind of data will put us all in a much stronger position when it comes to understanding the overall state of our rivers, directing improvements and delivering the policy changes required.

“We know that people across the Tweed catchment care immensely about the river and its tributaries, so we are encouraging as many of them as possible to take part in the Big River Watch.”

Further details will become available on the Tweed Forum, Tweed Foundation and The Rivers Trust social media channels.

Northumberland residents urged to participate in UK Big River Watch