Last Sunday, The River Squadron visited Tigers Clough in Rivington, not only to get some more kick sampling practice in, but also to compare the results they recorded here with the results that they have obtained from past River Tawd kick sampling sessions.
Tigers Clough is situated in the ancient Knollshaw Estate and is near to the small village of Rivington, falling off the lower slopes of Rivington Pike.
Photo by Duncan Ashcroft – www.environmenttimes.co.uk
As the Cloughs waterway makes its way down the rocky, wooded ravine it bouncers off a number of picturesque waterfalls that are really stunning to see and offer some fantastic photographic opportunities.
The team chose a number of kick sampling sites and took notes on their finds. One thing that immediately became apparent was the invertebrate species found here were totally absent at Tawd Valley.
Species found included a number of diving beetle larvae, stonefly nymphs and what appeared to be a daddy long legged larvae. The team also discovered a few species of mayfly nymph. All the above mentioned not found on River Tawd kick sampling sessions.
Even though Tigers Clough never had the abundance of invertebrates that the River Tawd had, it definitely supports a greater variety of species. Species that are more sensitive to poor water quality. So, on first impressions is seems to indicate that Tigers Clough has better water quality than the River Tawd does. This doesn’t come too much as a surprise as Tigers Clough is just starting out on its journey from Winter Hill and has very limited human interference at this stage.
What was concerning though was that upon completion of a number of PH tests at the sample sites, it did show that Tigers was suffering from similar PH levels as the Tawd. Results showing different from what a heavily wooded waterway should be. This baffled the team.
Attempts were made to try and catch fish in-between our kick sampling, but no such luck, even though they had been seen. Fingers crossed for next time.
I highly recommend you visit Tigers Clough, if you ever get the chance. It has some lovely walks, breath-taking scenery and is suitable for dogs.
