We’ve got three new videos on the site for you to enjoy, have a look under “The River” 1) Water Monitoring – carrying out the monthly check of water quality 2) Litter picking – a glimpse of the last water-borne pitter pick 3) Slow ‘TV’ – a trip along the Foss from Huntington Road in a kayak.
Lost Your Way?
The RFS has for quite a while been trying to get the waymarking of the Foss Walk improved and the path maintained. Council budgets did not allow for such activities before Covid, thanks mainly to government cuts, so now it’s going to be impossible for the foreseeable future. We’ve been talking to NYCC for a while and the culmination of … Read More
What a load of Rubbish
A lot of members collect litter as they walk alongside the Foss, either as a useful adjunct to their walk, or as its main purpose. Without these efforts I can’t imagine what state the riverbanks would be in. Tim went one stage further and used a grapnel to haul out a selection of old bikes and supermarket trolleys – the … Read More
Have you seen a Water Vole recently?
Water Voles. A couple of years ago a group of members together with volunteers from St Nicks waded up most of the Foss from Yearsley baths to Towthorpe and found recent or active water vole traces in several places. We intended to repeat the exercise this summer, particularly as the water levels were very low, but Covid put a stop … Read More
Yet more mink
The photos here were taken by Lynne Kinder along Huntington Road recently. It just goes to show that invasive non native species can be pretty – you can see why they are bred for their fur But their voracious appetites and the absence of predators to control them is dangerous It’s no coincidence that we have had no reports of … Read More
Terrapin Anyone?
Have you seen the terrapin swimming around in the Earswick area? We had quite a few reports and photos from members walking along the banks in the area. One can only assume that someone had it as a pet and disposed of it in the river. It’s apparently quite a common phenomenon and they can survive UK winters and thrive. … Read More
Balsam Pulling
We’re running sessions regularly with teams of no more than six and fully socially distanced. If you’d like to know more let us know via info@riverfosssociety.co.uk . If you’d rather try it en famille or as a small group and would like more information on where to look and how to go about it, ask us your questions. It’s around … Read More
Our Weedy River – Again!
There have been several questions recently about weed in the river. There is a lot of a filamentous alga growing and in some places a surface covering of duckweed is developing. Duckweed, though the individual plants are tiny, is a flowering plant, unlike the alga. Both these are quite normal and tend to occur when flows are low, as now. … Read More
A fishy tale!
This was snapped by Neil Nicholson near Huntington Church a few day ago. Low water levels and plenty of sunshine show just how many fish there are in the Foss – some are quite a fair size too.
History of the River Foss
There’s been a fair bit of interest recently in the still visible relics of the days when the Foss was canalised, some 200+ years ago, so the section on the river’s history has been revised and expanded. There are remains, mainly of the locks, to be seen all the way from Yearsley Baths to above Strensall. If you’ve got any … Read More