An important milestone for the LIFE R4ever Kent project – we receive our mid-term visit from the LIFE Project Monitors.
As part of our project requirements, we were visited by Hannah Fenton from NEEMO, who support and advise on technical and financial aspects of the project, and Gustavo Becerra-Jurado from CINEA, who run all the LIFE projects across Europe.
None of us on the team have worked on a LIFE project before, so were a little trepidatious about what to expect and how well the monitors would view our progress. Despite being proud of it ourselves, it is fair to say we have had our share of set-backs and hiccups! And if we weren’t quite sure what to expect, you probably aren’t either…
Day one
Across a two-day visit, we delved into all aspects of the project to date. The first day, Project Manager, Morgan Barrie, gave a detailed update to both monitors about the technical progress of the project so far across all project actions, covering milestones reached, deliverables achieved, issues or risks encountered and lessons learned. We discussed project objectives and how we are going to achieve them, next steps and changes on the project. The finances of the project were examined with spend variations and unforeseen costs to discuss, and queries and clarifications from the project raised and potential solutions deliberated. Reporting mechanisms and requirements were examined, and Judith Milne and Elle Padfield from the Natural England Programme Office were on hand to provide more in-depth explanations on the intricacies of Natural England and DEFRA financial processes – and some moral support to Morgan, which was much appreciated!
Day two
The second day got us away from the paperwork and out on site to demonstrate some of our work on the ground. It was a delight to show Gustavo, Hannah and Judith around one of our restoration sites at Elf Howe farm, with Project Officer, Emma Wright, taking the lead on explaining the fantastic varied work there and it’s impacts on the Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
The warm day was perfect for a gentle stroll inside the new riparian fencing and looking around the tree planting, hedging, scrapes, wetland, leaky dams, large woody debris and fish refuges. IAS Officer, Sammy Graves, and Engagement Officer, Kath Smith, joined us to talk about the ongoing invasive species work, and school and community engagement undertaken by the project.
After that, we took the long drive around to the Freshwater Biological Association’s Species Recovery Centre – of all the times for the car ferry across Windermere to be out the water for maintenance! Head of Science, Louise Lavictoire, and Pearl Mussel Assistant, Jodie Warren, showed the monitors around the different systems, explaining how the mussels move through each as they grow. Louise gave a wonderful talk on our breeding programme and discussed the successes and pitfalls of different trials. The interim results of our genetics and encystment studies were exciting to talk about, as we could provide the monitors with an idea of which may be our chosen population for reinforcing the River Kent freshwater pearl mussel population.
Time for lunch
The visit finished with a wrap up (delicious) lunch at Claife just next to the Species Recovery Centre, and barring the mad dash to the train station (the less said about that the better!) the visit was a resounding success. There are, of course, some points the monitors raised and which need to be addressed, but none of these are major issues that we can’t cope with or indeed unexpected, as all delivery projects like this have their teething issues. We now wait for our official letter in return – however, the feedback over the two days was all positive and we are well set for submitting our official mid-term report to LIFE later this year. The benefits of these face-to-face meetings with monitors cannot be underestimated for LIFE projects. The voice of experience, guidance, feedback and steer they provide in such a short time has given such reassurance and support to the project team – and learning to apply in part 2…
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