State of the Foss Presentation to Society Members, July 2025

This was an opportunity for members of the Society to find out what varied activities are being carried out by the Society to learn more about the river and its environs, and hopefully ‘persuade’ the relevant authorities to take some action to improve the overall environment of the Foss. There is a lot of work being done by active members including water quality monitoring covering a range of chemical parameters, biological monitoring, Balsam bashing, monitoring Water Voles, Otter and Mink, litter picking, including a project by York University students on litter pollution on the Foss. The close collaboration we have with a range of research projects at York University and other environmental organisations was also mentioned. Speakers were Mike Gray, Barbara Hilton, Peter and Lynette Mills. Of necessity the presentation was an overview with Society President, Alastair Fitter, providing a resume at the end with suggestions of how to take the work forward. There was an opportunity for questions, followed by tea and biscuits.

RFS Walk with York’s Hidden History, July 2025

Dr Simon Rogerson guided us on York’s Hidden History Water Walk looking at the history of the Ouse and the Foss. Starting at St Mary’s Abbey, Simon explained the importance of the Ouse for bringing in stone, metals and wool to the city, the former to build the Abbey and the latter to make York’s monks very rich. Following the river we walked past the Minster’s water tower, which no-one knows how it worked, past St Nicks new floating ecosystem to John Snow’s memorial – he was a York boy. With low river levels, we walked down to the Viking Recorder, which has monitored York’s many and various floods, then up to King’s Staith to hear about the different bridges built over the Ouse, their ups and downs, then onto the Esplanade with its reused Minster carving. We passed an overgrown record of York’s floods, viewed the Tudor toilet which discharged directly into the Foss from the guardroom of the Fishergate Postern Tower and then walked past St Denys’ church with its new masons’ marks as they continue to maintain the building following its much earlier and significant reduction in size due to subsidence (ongoing) following the draining of the King’s Fishpool on the Foss. We were taken to the best view of Rowntree’s Wharf and finished at the Merchants’ Hall, built on the bank of the Foss by those men who helped to make York a vibrant and successful mediaeval city, like the monks we started with.

New Members’ Meeting, July 2025

We held a meeting at the Riverside Centre for new and potential new members to inform them about what we do and what we know and love about our small river. We displayed a number of information boards showing the different activities we do to monitor and improve the river,  a display of historical photos of the Foss plus a range of live, small animals (macroinvertebrates) caught in the upper reaches of the Foss the day before. Volunteers were on hand to explain things and also answer any questions. Roger Button gave a well-researched and informative presentation on the historic and present day photos donated to the Society by Mr Paul Thorpe. Savoury nibbles, cake, wine and other drinks helped the evening along!

Stand at Portakabin Safety Stand Down Day, July 2025

We were invited to have a stand at Portakabin Headquarters’ annual Safety Stand Down Day where members of their staff are encouraged to visit stands highlighting new equipment and health and safety measures within their industry, but also organisations relating to mental health and well-being. As we explained to Portakabin staff what the Society aims to do and what activities our members can take part in to improve our local river, we enjoyed conversations with them on a range of subjects from biodiversity to climate change, national water quality to how to encourage children to respect their environment. An interesting day in an unusual setting for us.

Biodiversity Walk Along the Banks of the Foss, July 2025

Professor Alastair Fitter led members of the Society along with members of York Naturalists’ Union on a walk from The Hound Lounge to Lock Cottage, across the relatively new ‘reserve’ adjacent to Haxby Road and back to New Earswick. Unusual flowers, grasses and trees were pointed out by Alastair, including Tansy, but without Tansy Beetles as yet on the Foss, Pendulous Sedge, once rare but beginning to spread locally and Wych Elm, unfortunately now rare due to Dutch Elm Disease. Due to the blustery conditions, few flying insects were about but those spotted were identified by Sam Buckton from York Naturalists. The relatively new ponds on land adjacent to Haxby Road and New Earswick Reserve, dug to encourage Great Crested Newts, were low in both water and aquatic plants so a bit more development will be needed before the newts possibly take up residence.

Wildflower Walk Along the Banks of the Foss, June 2025

Dr Margaret Atherden led a leisurely stroll along the Foss, from All Saints’ Church, Huntington to the footbridge over the river at Earswick and back to Huntington looking at many of the wildflowers found on that stretch of the river. These included the Common Spotted Orchid, Bittersweet, Grass Vetchling (much prettier than its name implies!), Ground Ivy and garden escapees such as the Multiflora Rose and Red Valerian. Many questions were asked and answered so, hopefully, those of us on the walk will look out for these flowers in the future and also feel encouraged to find and identify more.

RFS walk with York’s Hidden History, May 2025

Dr Liam Herringshaw guided RFS members around York City for his interesting and entertaining York’s Hidden History Earth Walk. Liam explained the ancient, natural and scientific secrets of the city including the age of the city, finding York’s unexpected oldest building, the remarkable scientists who lived and worked in York and ending with the entirety of Yorkshire in pebbles!

RFS Information Stand for City Nature Challenge, April 2025

Our stand near the Hound Lounge, New Earswick on 27th April, 2025, was there to encourage people to take part in the City Nature Challenge where cities around the world collaborate to share observations of nature. York secured a position of 47th out of the 669 participating cities from 62 countries, securing a GOLD award for the total number of species observed with 1487 different species recorded. Apart from all of these species found, photographed and uploaded to the iNaturalist app for confirmation of identification and counting, one or two more undesirable items were also found in the Foss! Stalwart volunteers from the Society dragged the offending items out of the river in New Earswick and they were then collected for disposal by City of York Council.

Biological Monitoring

Biological monitoring, by kick-sampling, takes place from spring to autumn each year, currently at 19 sites on the main river and some tributaries. We use professional equipment and sample to professional standards i.e. using a 3-minute kick-sample followed by a 1-minute hand washing of stones where possible. The animals are sorted, identified to family level using the Extended Riverfly Groups and then professional biological indices are calculated to assess the biological health of the river. Teams of two or more trained citizen scientists do this work at most of the sites, some of which are very close to excellent cafes and pubs! One or two sites are rather difficult due to depth of the water (see Haxby Weir!) or depth of the bank sides (Black Dike) so sweep-sampling might be used when necessary. It’s important work which will hopefully identify any future improvements in water quality so if you would like to get involved and find out more about the smaller animals in the Foss, just contact us.