Common Standards Monitoring of riverine SSSIs

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Riverine SSSIs in England are assessed under Common Standards Monitoring by a combination of macrophyte (aquatic and marginal flora) transects, which classify river reaches according to their vegetation communities, and River Habitat Surveys (RHS). Over the course of several years SSSIs were assessed along with Panscape Environmental Consultancy, who carried out the RHS surveys.

Surveys were undertaken on a number of riverine SSSI reaches including: the upper River Barle (Devon); the River Lugg, a tributary of the Wye that runs along the Welsh border in Herefordshire; the chalk rivers Test and Itchen in Hampshire, internationally important for their trout fisheries as well as their diverse floral communities, and the upper River Wharfe in Yorkshire. Surveys were also conducted on other, shorter reaches of rivers classified as SSSI, including: the rivers Torridge, Plym and Meavy in Devon; as well as various small stream catchments in the Yorkshire dales in the vicinity of Malham Tarn NNR.