I’m walking along the South-West Coastal Path towards Watermouth Cove, near Ilfracombe in North Devon. Anyone who’s watched Enid Blyton’s Famous Five on TV might recognize it as the location of the scenes at ‘Kirrin Island’. I walk through a campsite, then disappear into the overgrowth to photograph the Sterridge stream. On the little bridge, I pull out my bucket and lower it to fill it with water from the stream. Then I use a syringe to squirt water into a test tube.

Campers and hikers sometimes give me puzzled looks, especially when I’m holding the syringe. I explain I’m a volunteer, here to monitor the health of the coastal streams.

In 2020, dismayed at the state of the environment, I applied to be a volunteer citizen scientist for our regional Rivers Trust. They promptly gave me two coastal streams to monitor. Until recently, sampling was the job of the Environment Agency, but due to funding cuts, it can no longer send out its employees to sample the water. Now it’s down to volunteers like me — around 600 of us in Devon — to take the bucket for a walk each month.

An excuse for a walk

I joke when I say this, but having a purpose for a walk, makes me get outside. One of the sampling spots is on the coastal path, which means a stop at the bench overlooking Broadsands Beach and the Bristol Channel. Until recently, this bench had a sign claiming it was ‘voted the happiest view in the UK’, whatever that means!

The third sampling spot is within the Sterridge Valley, part of my village. Sometimes the woman living in the cottage where I sample brings me out a mug of tea.

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Water Quality