13th October 2018 – Magnet fishing!

An idea for an hour or two’s fun down at the river….grab a decent magnet, tie it onto a reasonable length of cord and fish the river for treasure. It just entertained three boys ages 11, 12, and 12 for the last few hours. Several topped wellies and a full chest of fresh air later and we have treasure….and it was free!!

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Hedgehog season!

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29th September – In-river litter pick (A303 south to sewage works) – approximately 1/2 mile

On a very pleasant Saturday morning, a small (and may I say elite) task force of three tackled a previously unexplored section of the River Cale from Wincanton, southwards to the sewage works.

You will see in the photo that we have stolen a great idea from the Wandle trust and have upcycled some plastic 45 gallon drums into rubbish carrying coracles for use when we are litter picking in-stream. They’re brilliant!

The aim was to litterpick and assess this part of the river and expand the boundaries of the CATCH(ment)…..

Enjoy the short video of what was discovered.… ...read the rest

27th September – Keep clear!!

Flow partially blocked by some fallen branches in the stretch of the River Cale behind Cavalier Way made short work of by CATCH committee member Simon with his chainsaw – and the result. The Cale flowing freely again.

If this had not been tackled promptly then come winter time any debris heading downstream would end up entangled and causing potential flood risk. Well done to Janice and Simon for their quick response!

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26th July 2018 – Wild Flower Meadow scything

The annual scything and clearing of the Wild Flower Meadow – ‘Memorial Meadow’ has been cleared of the spent crop for this summer. The resultant hay produced is being used around the meadow borders to produce Hibernaculums for grass snakes etc.… ...read the rest

19th June 2018 – Bootmakers @ WildFlower Meadow UPDATE video

UPDATE to the bootmakers craft event, from the 17th June.… ...read the rest

17th June 2018 – Bootmakers & CATCH craft event

A joint craft event between a local town business (The Bootmakers) and CATCH to raise awareness of the beautiful wildlife down at the River Cale and Wildflower Meadow at Wincanton recreation ground.… ...read the rest

5th May 2018 – Recreation ground Rock Berm replant

In September 2017 CATCH (in conjunction with the Environment Agency) funded the placement of a rock berm between the two bridges at Wincanton recreation ground. This section of river is a hard engineered area and was lacking in diversity of habitat that a good river environment requires.

Due to the late planting of the rock berm the previous year, we lost most of the plants from the first attempt so this was our second attempt to plant the berm with native sedges etc and we had the added benefit of the whole summer for the plants to get established prior … ...read the rest

21st April 2018 – Final coat – Hawkers Bridge paint

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Pollarding and Coppicing – Saturday 17th March 2018

Despite the snow, members of the team managed to balance the shade/light ratio with some coppicing and pollarding work along ‘Waterside’… ...read the rest