What have AA Milne, Kenneth Grahame, Arthur Ransome, Lord Tennyson, and a Patterdale Terrier called Ted got in common? It’s quite an esoteric pub quiz question but the clue is in the title. 27 September is World Rivers Day, an annual celebration of freshwater ecosystems which aims to raise awareness of the ecological, social and, referencing the above, cultural importance of rivers and other water bodies.

The fascination of being in and around water has been captured in literature countless times. How many of us have been inspired by the adventures of Winnie the Pooh and his friends and stopped for a game of Poohsticks while crossing a bridge over a stream or river? I’m sure most of us would also have included Wind in the Willows and Swallows and Amazons in our childhood reading. A favourite book of mine was Anne of Green Gables (so perhaps we need to add L.M. Montgomery to the original pub quiz question). One of Anne’s most regrettable moments was her attempted re-enactment of Lord Tennyson’s Lady of Shallot. Unlike the original character, who made her final tragic journey down the river to Camelot, Anne’s re-enacted journey was abruptly curtailed to her boat springing a leak. Notwithstanding a very prosaic end to what should have been a romantic interpretation of the original ballad, it still reflects the fascination that we have with being in and around water. That cultural significance has since been extended to our TV screens. Although perhaps not equipped with the same literary prowess as the afore-mentioned authors, the late Ted nevertheless proved to be a very agreeable riverside canine companion for many series of ‘Gone Fishing’.

The cultural and social value of spending time in or near water is what originally inspired the development of Northumbrian Water’s Bluespaces programme. In response to customer feedback, a funding scheme was developed to support access, biodiversity and water quality improvements in areas of the water environment that are freely accessible to the public.  Since the programme was launched in 2020, it has so far supported delivery of 38 projects across Northumbrian Water’s region, of which Durham Wildlife Trust has delivered five. Following the success of the programme in its first five years, it was expanded in 2025 to provide additional funding and more support. This refreshed programme is now seeing a growing number of new Bluespaces projects in delivery or development across the region.

Reflecting the spectrum of wetland environments across Northumbrian Water’s region (including rivers, lakes, sea, reservoirs, streams, bogs, saltmarsh, fen), the species that they support (birds, fish, mammals, amphibians, plants, invertebrates), the environmental pressures and challenges they face (including climate change, habitat deterioration and loss, invasive non-native species, impacts on water quality), and the recreational and engagement opportunities they offer (too numerous to try and list here), Bluespaces supports a huge variety of projects. Some are very small scale, delivered locally by dedicated community groups, landowners and volunteers while at the other end of the scale is landscape-scale or catchment-wide restoration or creation, often with national or regional organisations as delivery partners. Common to all these projects is the desire and ambition to make the areas in and around the water environment (the blue spaces) better for wildlife, better for water quality and better for people to access and enjoy.

Bluespaces helps to improve access through funding footpath upgrades and repairs, creation of new paths, installation of new interpretation and waymarking signage, replacing stiles with kissing gates, provision of seating, bird hides, viewing platforms and riverside landing stages. Funding also supports engagement events, activities, education and interpretation to provide opportunities for schools, community groups and volunteers to get involved with appreciating and enhancing their local green and blue spaces.

Alongside enhancing opportunities to access these spaces, Bluespaces supports improvements to the water environments themselves through habitat restoration and creation. This includes tree and hedgerow planting, woodland management, creating wet scrapes and ponds, re-routing canalised watercourses to create more extensive and diverse wetland landscapes, reedbed planting and restoration, pond clearance, wildflower meadow restoration, litter picking, and providing community groups with the skills and equipment to do some of this management themselves. These habitat measures are also complemented by measures to directly benefit species. Aswell as erecting bird and bat boxes, Bluespaces facilitates the creation of bug hotels, butterfly and beetle banks, amphibian hibernacula, wildflower planting for pollinating insects, installation / repair of fish passes and removal of river weirs to aid movement of migratory fish upstream, creation of sand martin nesting banks and control of invasive non-native species such as Himalayan Balsam, Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed. Activities also include surveys to record species distribution and abundance, these data providing a measure of the condition of the habitat and contributing to national initiatives such as the Riverfly Partnership.

Some of the above habitat and species improvements help water quality, but some projects have a focus on water quality or state as their primary aim. A lot of these improvements make use of nature-based solutions and green engineering to restore more natural wetland landscapes, which are more complex than the artificially straightened water courses with which many of us are now more familiar. Where space in the landscape allows, work has been done to restore river meanders and connections with standing waterbodies, measures which help to slow the rate of water flow and increase the capacity of the landscape to retain more water. Where there is limited scope to expand the watercourse into the surrounding landscape (e.g. in urban areas where streams and rivers are bound by roads, pavements or housing) solutions such as leaky dams, woody debris and in-stream deflectors help to change the watercourse from a straight, monotonous flow to one where the water ebbs and flows as it moves around obstacles, creating a diversity of habitat niches for fish and aquatic invertebrates. The leaky dams not only help to slow the water flow but also help to trap sediment that may have washed into the watercourse from further upstream. Some of this sedimentation may have come from eroding river banks where use of willow spiling (willow weaving on a big scale) is a really effective way to protect the bank from further erosion while also creating a living structure that can blend into its environment. Engagement with local communities has led to the establishment of river guardians who maintain an eye on the state of their bit of watercourse, reporting any issues and also getting involved in citizen science to measure the quality of the water.

Working with the Bluespaces programme has really opened my eyes to the challenges that we face in restoring species and habitat-rich blue spaces which can support natural functioning of wetland ecosystems. However, it has also increased my appreciation of the wealth of opportunities and even bigger seam of ambition and desire to make a difference to our rivers, streams, lakes and other wetland habitats. So, on 27 September, if you’re not already out actively enjoying some time in a blue space, try and get out. You may not find that perfect Poohsticks bridge but you can at least emulate Ratty’s advice to Mole to enjoy a bit of ‘messing about’ and take the time to appreciate your own bit of water environment.

For advice on staying safe near open water, click here.