As one of only 200 chalk streams in the world, the River Wandle is a globally threatened habitat that supports a variety of plant and animal species that need our help.
Submitting wildlife records is an easy and enjoyable way to start protecting the wildlife you love on your doorstep!
To make submitting your records for the Wandle Valley quick and easy, we have created a simple online recording form.
| Every wildlife record that’s submitted helps to build a better picture of which species are moving into or leaving the Wandle Valley, how they are thriving or declining and tells us how we can better protect their habitats so that our next generation can still experience nature in the big city! | Submit A Wildlife Record |
- Wildlife Recording
Create a Wildlife Record
We want you to tell GiGL what you see when you’re out and about on the Wandle.
You can do this anytime, whether you’re cycling, walking the dog or meeting a friend for a coffee in a Wandle Valley park.
Making a wildlife record is simple! Just remember to note down the 4W’s whilst you’re out and about: What, When, Where and Who?
- What species did you see? If you don’t know then take a photo (a picture speaks a thousand words!)
- When did you see it? Record the date you spotted it
- Where did you see it? If you can take a grid reference, or just pop down the nearest postcode
- Who recorded it? Your name or the person’s name who spotted it
- Wandle Wildlife Toolkit
Wandle Watcher Resources
To help you along your way we have created a Wandle Wildlife Leaflet which will help you to identify some of the more common species that you might spot.
For further information, take a look at our Wandle Wildlife Toolkit. This resource is packed full of useful websites for learning how to identify a wider range of species and includes instructions on how to survey and submit wildlife records.
- Volunteering
Volunteer for Wildlife
Take a look at the volunteering page to find out more about volunteering for wildlife in the Wandle Valley.
Here are a few examples of how you could get involved:
Eel and Fish Monitoring
The National Trust are leading a team of volunteers to survey eels during the summer months at Morden Hall Park. This is helping the Environment Agency and Zoological Society of London build up a better picture of how eels are fairing along the Wandle.
For more information contact the National Trust at:
Riverfly Monitoring
Volunteers go out once a month to sample, identify, count and record aquatic invertebrates along the River Wandle. Records are then submitted to The Riverfly Partnership national monitoring scheme, which collect data on how healthy UK rivers are.
You don’t need any expert knowledge to take part! It’s easy to learn and the volunteers support each other with training in identification.
For more information contact the Wandle Trust at:
- Catchment Canada Geese Surveys
Surveying Goose Populations
A number of surveys monitoring Canada geese populations in the Wandle catchment took place throughout Living Wandle (2015, 2016, 2017)
Canada geese are not native to the UK. Where they occur in large populations they can cause issues for native wildlife and plants through overgrazing, reducing water quality in ponds and lakes, and outcompeting native wildfowl for food, shelter and nesting sites.
The Living Wandle Partnership wanted to gather baseline data on Canada geese populations and distribution in the Wandle Valley, so it could be monitored into the future by the Wandle Landscape & Biodiversity Group.
All data was submitted to GiGL who also helped map the results.
In 2015, a review of current controls in place in each of the four borough’s was conducted and detailed in a report. Click the button below to read the report.
2015 controls review 2015 population mapIn 2016, a moult survey was completed and in 2017 a juvenile goose survey was completed. Click on the buttons below to read the reports.
2017 juvenile survey 2017 population map
This project is part of the wider Living Wandle Landscape Partnership Scheme, supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund.
