Graphic: UK Rivers Network logo
You are here: Home page > Local community river groups

UK and Ireland: local community river groups

River Itchen watermeadows near Winchester College, Winchester, England

Photo: River Itchen watermeadows near Winchester College.

Last updated: 21 September 2026.

Want to get involved with a local river restoration project... support a national group working on water pollution issues... promote your local river protection group? This is the place to do it!

We think there are about 50 national groups and over 220 active, local community groups and projects working to protect and conserve our rivers, lakes, ponds, and inland waters—amazing!—and that doesn't include the many local angling, swimming, and paddling clubs. Most of them are fairly informal community groups dedicated to protecting, restoring, or celebrating their waterways; some of the national groups have wider environmental objectives, but also support local projects. We originally compiled this list in 2001 from many different sources,completely checked and refreshed it in spring 2025, and now update it regularly. However, there may still be a few out-of-date contacts—and quite a few missing groups too. We'd really appreciate your help in keeping this page up-to-date, so please tell us of any other groups you know about.

Can't find a group near you? Why not start your own campaign, group, or river project? Check out our beginner's guide Adopting a river: How to get out get dirty, and make a difference (written back in 2004, but still fairly relevant) and our quick guide to How to run an effective local campaign. River Action also have an excellent hands-on River Rescue Kit, which is more up-to-date and has more focus on things like citizen science and tackling water pollution problems.

Please be aware that this is not a list of our "members" or "supporters" (the UK Rivers Network does not have either members or supporters); this is simply a helpful directory we've compiled. Inclusion on this page does not imply that a group is linked in any way with or supports the aims of the UK Rivers Network, or vice versa.

National Groups

Some of these groups are marked with green dots on the map below.

Map of UK local community river (and inland waters) groups

You can find your local group on our map or, if you prefer, by browsing through the list underneath. There are a few inconsistencies between the map and the list, but it's broadly the same information in both places. You can scroll the map around and download our data for yourself using the icons over on the left-hand side. Please be aware that many groups are positioned in a fairly arbitrary way (some span several counties and cover entire catchments).

See full screen

Where a group has its own website, you'll generally be able to click the appropriate point on the map for more information.

Blue dots are small community groups run by volunteers and work to protect, restore, clean, or celebrate particular rivers, ponds, or other inland waters. Quite a few are registered charities and members of The Rivers Trust (in England) or Afonydd Cymru (in Wales). These groups always welcome new members and most are involved in practical conservation work.

Red dots show the county Wildlife Trust for each area. The Wildlife Trusts do lots of hands-on conservation work on rivers, ponds, and other wetlands (and much more besides) and also organize river walks, talks, and other events worth looking out for. The Trusts operate across large areas (sometimes two or even three counties), not just the places indicated by the red markers (which simply show each Trust's HQ). Some Trusts have active local branches you can join and it's a great idea to become a supporter or friend of your local trust to help fund its work.

Green dots show other groups of interest (mainly national groups working on rivers, ponds, pollution, and related issues). They tend to be more active on policy and campaigning, with less of an emphasis on hands-on, front-line conservation work. Some of them have local branches or representatives.

List of local community river groups

Most of these groups are marked with blue dots on the map. Names that are struck through are believed to be inactive or defunct; some retain useful websites so we've kept them in our list, but not on our map. (Keeping these groups also helps us remember that there may be vestiges of useful groups, or people who were involved with them, that could be tapped into in future.) In regions where there are many groups, we've split the list into counties, although this is a bit of an arbitrary classification; some groups cover entire river catchments.

England: East Anglia

Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire

Norfolk

Essex and Suffolk

England: Midlands

East Midlands

West Midlands, Birmingham, and Welsh border

Oxford and the Cotswolds

England: North East

England: North West

England: South East and London

Region-wide

Berkshire

Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Chilterns

Hampshire

Kent

Surrey and Sussex

London

England: South West

Cornwall

Devon

Dorset

Somerset (including Bath and Bristol)

Wiltshire

Ireland and Northern Ireland

Scotland

Wales

The Wildlife Trusts

The Wildlife Trusts are perhaps the best place to start if you want to find out about hands-on conservation in your local area. Generally, there's one trust covering each county (though some cover two or three neighbouring counties or larger areas). The Wildlife Trusts are marked with red dots on the map up above.

Other community projects and groups

Other community-based groups are also helping the environment:

Subscribe to our weekly news update!