Yazor Brook Environment project update: January - June 2025

Yazor Brook Environment project update: January - June 2025

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust’s project in the Yazor Brook catchment aims to implement nature-based solutions to improve biodiversity and water quality, and to build resilience to the impacts of climate change such as flooding and drought. This project is supported by the Environment Fund of Dŵr Cymru, Welsh Water.

Project staff have visited 10 landholdings and provided Farm Opportunity Reports for 8 of the sites visited. Numerous interventions are planned to be completed over summer 2025. 

In April 2025 one field in the catchment was taken out of agricultural use and planted with trees to intercept rainfall, improve soil health and provide habitat and resources for wildlife. Within this area, 3 scrapes were also created for the attenuation of water during heavy rainfall events, to improve water quality and as additional habitat for wildlife. Baseline surveys were completed beforehand which included botanical quadrating, river naturalness surveys, soil structure assessments and soil infiltration rates.

Digger in field next to mound of earth

Water quality is already being monitored in the area by Friends of the River Wye Citizen Scientists, and Riverfly surveys are being undertaken a short distance downstream by Herefordshire Wildlife Trust volunteers. 

A further 12 volunteers were trained in May 2025 to undertake Riverfly surveys, and new sites are planned to be surveyed in the upper Yazor catchment from July 2025. This additional data from the upper Yazor catchment, combined with data from the lower Yazor, will provide a full picture of health and water quality of the brook, and could guide where interventions should be focussed.

Four people wearing life jackets and holding nets stood in stream
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