Thank you for your interest in becoming an Urban Riverfly Monitor! For more information about the Urban Riverfly scheme, which was developed by the Riverfly Partnership, please click here.

Date: Thursday 28 August 2025

Venue: James Leal Centre - Ray Park, Ray House, Woodford, Wells, Woodford Green IG8 7GL (more info about how to get there can be found here).

Timings: 09:15 - 16:00 (more details are in the below table). Please note, timings are slightly flexible so we may finish slightly earlier than 16:00.

Structure of the day:

09:15 = Arrivals, registration and refreshments

09:30 = Intros, health & safety and biosecurity

10:00 = Introduction to Riverfly monitoring (RMI)

10:20 = BREAK (tea/coffee)

10:30 = Target groups - identification, life history & ecology

11:10 = BREAK (tea/coffee)

11:20 = RMI fieldwork - theory

11:45 = BREAK (early lunch. You can instead eat later if you like!)

12:15 = RMI fieldwork - practical session in the river

14:30 = Clean equipment and kit

15:15 = ID quiz (back inside the pavilion)

15:20 = Online database and RMI in practice

13:45 = Questions and feedback

16:00 = Finish

Getting there: The centre is a 15-minute walk from Woodford Station (Central Line) and an 8-minute walk from the Ray Lodge Primary School stop (275 bus). If you're driving, there is a paid car park at the centre, which costs £5.80 for the day

Lunch: Please bring your own lunch with you, or there will be time during the break to buy some from the café at the centre.

Clothing: Please dress appropriately for the weather: If there is rain in the forecast, bring a raincoat. In general for riverfly monitoring, please wear long trousers and wear or bring a long-sleeved top/fleece/jumper to protect yourself from nettles or giant hogweed. Please also wear sturdy shoes for the walk to the site for the practical session.

Waders: Please let me know what your shoe size is ASAP so I can make sure I bring enough waders to fit everyone. I won't be able to let you keep these waders unfortunately - they will just be loaned to you for the training day. Also, please let me know if you are going to bring your own waders. 

Equipment: All equipment for the RMI practical fieldwork will be provided on the day - I will give you/the person representing your group your monitoring kit to take home with you. This kit includes: a large net (approximately 1.5m tall so I would advise not cycling if you are the designated person in your group who is taking the net home), a 16 litre bucket, a large white tray, a nine-section divided tray, a large pipette, a couple of small pipettes, a couple of plastic spoons, a magnifying glass and a paintbrush.

Let me know if you have any questions by emailing me at harrison.tremain@thames21.org.uk