After many years away, Simon Johnson, FBA Executive Director, recently re-connected with the River Wensum in Norfolk. Once bursting with nature and one of England’s most famous fisheries, he found this beautiful and historic river to be in a sorry state of unnecessary ruin. Compelled to speak up for the Wensum, Simon issues a call to action to those who must do more to save England’s forgotten, and sorely neglected, chalk river.

FBA in partnership with the Institute of Fisheries Management will be convening a special symposium titled ‘Arctic charr - Conservation in a changing climate’ taking place on 1–2 October 2025 in Newcastle. The symposium will bring together 35 invited experts, from across the UK and Europe, to enable greater networking and collaboration, as we work together to better understand and protect this iconic cold-water fish species and the ecosystems that support them.

Results from the most spatially detailed water quality dataset for Windermere have been published today by scientists from the FBA and Lancaster University, in response to community concerns and gaps in traditional water quality monitoring. The Big Windermere Survey report, covering the period June 2022 to November 2024, demands action to address ‘Poor’ water quality results.

A tiny insect last recorded in Britain in 1945, has been rediscovered from the River Brathay near Skelwith, Ambleside by amateur Entomologist, Andrew Dixon. The invertebrate found is known as a ‘micro’-caddisfly (family Hydroptilidae) measuring a mere 2 to 3mm. The species name is Ithytrichia clavata and was first added to the British list from specimens collected at Llanbedr (Merionethshire) by the Grensteds in 1939.

This week the FBA reached a crucial milestone in our efforts to save the freshwater pearl mussel from extinction in England. On 23 July 2025 in the River Kent (Cumbria), we released our 5000th juvenile mussel from our conservation breeding programme, the Freshwater Pearl Mussel Ark, boosting the population in the River Kent from fewer than 10 individuals to over 100.

Here we join Amritha Nair for her reflections on the FBA's Early Career Member Network (ECMN) event at Nottingham Trent University in June. The ECMN event took place on Thursday 26 June, the day after the Annual Scientific Meeting, with the wish to improve the support FBA gives to early career researchers and practitioners.

FBA Executive Director, Simon Johnson, shares his thoughts on last month’s Annual Scientific Meeting. We received a fantastic response and huge thanks to all who attended! It was great to meet old friends and make new connections and the energy in the room over our pre-meeting coffee was a joy to witness! What followed was a day of scientific knowledge exchange on many of the key issues and scientific research affecting freshwaters.

The last couple of months has been a busy period of archival investigation to support the Lake District Charr Recovery and Management (LD-CHARM) project. Activity has included diving into the FBA's extensive archive and a visit to the Natural History Museum. Here we join FBA’s Emma Kelly for a Q&A to discover more about these explorations for historical information relating to Arctic charr.

Want to get involved in Riverfly Monitoring but not sure what it entails? The Riverfly Partnership have a new film explaining why and how we monitor riverflies. Learn about its applications in spotting pollution, deterring polluters, measuring the impact of restoration works, contributing to long-term data sets, and increasing awareness and education around our waterways.

Registration now open!

Funded by NERC, the Freshwater Biological Association, Bournemouth University, Natural England and AECOM, we are offering a free field workshop on Freshwater Taxonomy and Field Identification Skills: macroinvertebrates, protists, meiofauna and eDNA.