Looking Back on the Watercress and Winterbournes Programme
As the Watercress and Winterbournes Landscape Partnership Scheme comes to an end this May, it feels like a good moment to take stock of what’s been achieved over the past five years.
This has been an ambitious, landscape-scale partnership, bringing together charities, local authorities, communities and landowners to protect, enhance and celebrate the headwaters of the Rivers Test and Itchen. These chalk streams are globally rare habitats, and their headwaters, including seasonal winterbournes, are particularly important but often overlooked and vulnerable to pressures such as pollution, habitat loss and climate change.
Supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund investment, the scheme has delivered a wide range of projects shaped in collaboration with local people. At its heart, it has been about people as much as rivers, building skills, confidence and connections so that communities can play an active role in caring for these special places.
There’s still some restoration work planned for this spring, but a huge amount has already been delivered - from hands-on habitat work in rivers and wetlands to working with schools and communities across the Test and Itchen catchments.
Getting Children and Communities Involved
A big part of the programme has been about helping people, especially children, get to know their local rivers.
Over five years, more than 3,600 children and young people have taken part in activities ranging from river dipping and wildlife walks to geography fieldwork and water safety sessions. In total, that’s over 6,300 learning opportunities delivered through more than 240 sessions.
We’ve worked with 26 schools and 30 different groups, including Scouts, Guides, holiday clubs and Wildlife Watch groups. Sessions have taken place along rivers such as the Pillhill Brook, Upper Anton, River Test, River Arle and Cheriton Stream - often within walking distance of schools, which made a real difference.
It’s not just been children taking part either. Around 880 adults - teachers, group leaders and parent helpers - have joined sessions, building confidence to get out to rivers with their own groups in future.
Community events have also been a big part of the picture, with more than thousands of people getting involved through events like the Four Fun Fridays in Andover and Whitchurch Children’s Festival.
Volunteers have played a huge role too. A small but committed group have given hundreds of hours of their time to support sessions, events and training to become riverfly monitors, helping to keep an eye on river health. Across the wider scheme, volunteers have been central to delivery, contributing their time, developing skills and in many cases going on to support or lead their own local initiatives.
We have also trained teachers, youth leaders and community group members, giving them the support and equipment to keep running some activities themselves.
Restoring our Headwaters
Alongside the education work, the programme has delivered a wide range of habitat restoration projects over the past five years, with some of the most recent work wrapping up in the final months of the scheme.
Recent projects have included transforming a former watercress bed at West Lea Farm Shop into a wetland, and restoring a rare chalk winterbourne at Hinton Ampner, near the source of the River Itchen. While very different sites, both have focused on putting natural processes back in place - reconnecting water with the surrounding landscape and enhancing habitat for wildlife.
Elsewhere, work has continued across the catchments to improve habitat for a range of species, including efforts to support white-clawed crayfish on the Cheriton Stream.
Volunteers have been a huge part of this work throughout the programme. From large-scale restoration days to smaller, hands-on tasks, they’ve put in a huge amount of time and effort on the ground. More recently, this has included supporting work at sites like Rooksbury Mill on the River Anton and Flashetts on the upper Test, helping to install features that improve habitat and river flow.
Alongside this practical work, the scheme has also helped build knowledge and share best practice, supporting a wider understanding of how to restore and manage chalk stream headwaters.
What Happens Next
Although the programme itself is ending, the work it has started will continue.
More restoration is planned this spring, and the relationships built with schools, volunteers and local groups are still very much in place. With training, equipment and ongoing projects to link into, there’s a good foundation for this work to carry on.
Over the past five years, the scheme has brought a lot of people closer to their local rivers and made some lasting improvements to the rivers themselves. It has also helped create a strong network of people who understand, value and continue to champion these unique environments.
