The document contains a student's geography homework assignment about observing different sides of the River Ouse. It notes characteristics like vegetation, terrain features, and water speed on each side. It also includes information about the formation of the Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust and their water quality testing, habitat preservation work, and guided riverside walks along the river.

1. Geography homework week 18-19 By Paul Nixon.

2. First side of the river. The river is moving forward. There is no pebbles on this side Of the river. Sadly people could easily fall into the river itself. Luckily the movement is not that fast. The flood plain is just empty right now. The river cliff is where you can get closer to the river. The slip off-slope just lives to its name. The river is very calm right now and its slowly moving forward. 1.Flood plain 2.River cliff 3.Slip off-slope 4.River

3. Second side of the river. River very calm. There is no place you can fall into the river but the flood plain but that’s if you jump in or just walk backwards into it. Trees look kind of dead maybe there dead bushes? I can see that mountain made of chalk here. The river is hardly moving at all it looks very contempt and clear. 1.Trees/bushes 2.Flood plain 3. Chalk mountain 4.River

4. Third side of the river. Wow a lot of life here! Once again clear and soft water. The trees this time are FULL of life. There leaves are perfect! I like the Grassland its very nice you Could have a picnic there. A little swampy down there but its fine just don’t go in. Once again the river is clear and fresh but it looks abit swampy down there. 1.More trees 2.Grassland 3.Swampy River

5. Formation of the Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust - OART The Sussex Ouse Conservation Society has now joined forces with the River Adur Conservation Society to form the Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust (OART). This amalgamation gives OART the opportunity to deliver greater environmental improvement across both adjacent catchments.

6. How Clean is the water of the River Ouse and its tributaries? Every first Sunday of the month members of the SOCS water testing team do the rounds collecting samples from 18 locations in the River Ouse catchment. Each sample is tested for ammonia, phosphate and the dissolved oxygen concentration using our “in house” testing facilities. The results of these tests are published in our Monthly Water Quality Report.

7. How can we tell how Healthy the River Ouse and its tributaries are? The simple answer is to go out and see what’s living in the water by means of capturing invertebrates! The tricky business is identifying what you’ve captured and scoring each macroinvertebrate using the BMWP protocol. These scores are used to calculate a health index for the location sampled.

8. The uniqueness of Sussex Ouse Sea Trout, they’re BIG! Research indicates they have possibly the heaviest average weight of any English or Welsh river. They show exceptionally fast growth and differ in behaviour from stocks in other rivers - find out more… Did you know that the scales of a Sea Trout tells its life history? Like rings on a tree trunk they reveal information such as the fish’s age, growth rate, and key stages in its life.

9. Wildlife Habitat, Flora & Fauna The Sussex Ouse provides a rich habitat for a diverse range of wildlife, plants and trees. Find out about the types of habitat along the river and its tributaries, view photos and facts about the flora and fauna that you are likely to see, if you take one of our riverside walks.

10. So what’s been happening along the riverbank recently? Jim Smith, our field officer keeps a diary recording what he sees on his daily river patrols. A fascinating record of the ever changing flora and fauna written in Jim’s own characteristic, light hearted style. Feel the seasons change with each episode of Jim’s Diary!

11. Enjoy a Riverside Walk We have produced some guides detailing the routes of some of our favourite riverside walks to provide readers with information to explore the river. Each of the walks we publish takes in as much river bank as is possible using public footpaths and provides interesting facts about historic features and wildlife along the way. New walks will be added as and when we research them .

12. Rainfall Measurement In July 2006 SOCS became an official recorder for the Environment Agency but has been recording rainfall in the river catchment since 1995 - Without rain there wouldn't be any rivers. The seasonal pattern and quantity of rain is fundamental to the flow and health of our watercourses - SOCS is now able to present some fascinating historical comparisons. What about climate change? Do our local measurements show any interesting trends?

13. OART Task Force - Conservation work & river restoration OART runs a group of volunteers that we call “The Task Force”. The Task Force objective is to maintain and improve the habitats of our river and its many tributaries. Not just for our satisfaction, but for the benefit of future generations, and of course the ecology of the river systems. Due to man's influence many of our rivers and streams have suffered degradation . All of the watercourses that make up the Sussex Ouse and Adur catchments have been modified to some degree for development, milling and agriculture. The need for water for human consumption, industry and agriculture has resulted in damaging abstraction from the river and the aquifers of the South Downs , the source of many of the Sussex Ouse and Adur chalk streams. The resultant low flows are often inadequate to dilute treated sewage causing further ecological damage. Some of this degradation can be reversed by the restoration work undertaken by the OART Task Force.

14. I noticed along the river bed lots of mud and silt, some chalk , a little sandstone but very smooth pebble like boulders- few in numbers- rounded classification. My main home is found upon part two. It took 5 seconds on the bridge for a stick to float under but an orange or floating ball from one marker to another took 9 seconds .The markers were 9 metres, so I guess the travel spped of water was 1 sec for the floating objects. Mum and I had a stop watch. I think the River Ouse near Lewes is quite settled and in a valley. Tidal by nature but not near the sea, slower where we were because further up was like a dam slowing the water down.I noticed that a meander had started a circle shape and in time may come an ox bow lake, perhaps another 50-100 years. The nature of the river is turbulent in places so you could drown, so be very careful. Also, mum said whether the tide was in or out would affect the speed of objects floating. I noticed the other day it was faster, perhaps more rainfall and tide going out so double up the time of objects to float from one marker to another. Extension