As 2025 draws to a close, it is a pleasure to reflect on a year of significant achievements in restoring and protecting Norfolk’s precious water environments, thanks to the combined efforts of our dedicated team, trustees, supporters and partners.
This year, we successfully completed large-scale river restoration projects on the rivers Stiffkey and Yare, and continued our important collaboration with land managers to adopt water-sensitive farming measures. These efforts are enhancing soil health, water quality, and resilience to floods and droughts across the county.
Our engagement work has continued to flourish, reaching diverse audiences through river and wetland-based walks, tours, and public talks. We also launched a new, user-friendly website that provides a much-improved space for sharing useful and engaging information.
To ensure our work is as effective as possible, we have strengthened our focus on data and spatial analysis. This sustained investment is now driving real change by allowing us to use high-quality information to make better decisions on interventions. This includes our partnership in the ‘North Norfolk: wilder, wetter, better for nature’ Landscape Recovery pilot project, which is supporting over 60 land managers in planning chalk river restoration and habitat creation.
We are deeply grateful to our volunteers and citizen scientists. Their vital contributions – from installing woody material in rivers and monitoring invertebrates to collecting weekly Wensum water samples – are essential to our success. We also continued protecting native species, successfully breeding and releasing 56 critically endangered white-clawed crayfish in partnership with the Zoological Society of East Anglia in November.
In 2026, we look forward to sharing our new strategy, focusing on catchment-scale projects and nature-based solutions through collaboration with land managers, communities and stakeholders.
Thank you for your ongoing support, and I wish you all the best for the new year.
Best wishes, Ed Bramham-Jones
CEO of Norfolk Rivers Trust
The efforts of our citizen scientists have supported the creation of a dataset that helps identify effective restoration measures and tackle pollution. This data has now enabled us to build a public dashboard where anyone can access and explore real-time water quality information, understand what the results mean, and see how conditions change over time.
Under supervision, a UEA student released a harmless, non-reactive dye into the River Ingol Integrated Constructed Wetland (ICW), temporarily turning the water green. But why?
Today, we’re celebrating International Day of Action for Rivers, a day that perfectly captures why we do what we do. To mark the occasion, we’re looking back at one of our favourite recent success stories: the restoration of the River Stiffkey at Fulmodeston.
The Wensum Catchment Partnership are seeking a new voluntary Chair to work with partner organisations to help shape a shared strategic vision that leads to meaningful improvements to the river and its catchment.
If you can spare just 30 minutes a week to help protect the River Wensum, you can sign up as a citizen scientist and monitor water quality at a regular sampling spot. Read on to learn how to get involved.
We're celebrating the second year of supporting schools, charities, and community groups in experiencing Norfolk’s beautiful countryside with the Aviva Access to Nature Fund.
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