Description:
The River Habitat Survey (RHS) is a standard methodology for recording hydromorphological features of importance to wildlife. The EU-Water Framework Directive (WFD) compliant methodology is designed to provide surveyors and organisations with a way of consistently recording habitat and geomorphological features such as riffles, pools, erosion, deposition, woody debris, fine sediment, as well as pressures (engineering, land use) and management. Altogether, there are more than 200 features recorded in a single 500m survey.
Originator:
Strongly influenced by the development of the EU Water Framework Directive. A number of organisations provide training an guidance on how to complete RHS.
Is this an existing or new approach to measuring landscape change?:
Existing
Aspect of landscape:
Spatial coverage:
Park Wide
All designated Rivers
Geographical unit:
500m length of River Channel
Frequency of measure:
5 years
Indicator:
Physical Attributes (e.g. Material, Bank Modification, Marginal & Bank Features, Channel Substrate, Flow-Type, Channel Modification, Channel Feature) Banktop land-use and vegetation structure, Channel Vegetation Types
Establishment cost:
Medium (additional staff time and limited cash up to £15k)
Data source:
The RHS survey form is four pages long and is accompanied by a separate two-page spot-check key. The health and safety form is integral to the survey and should not be detached. It is recommended that a clipboard or “Weather-writer” is used, and a waterproof laminated version of the spot-check key taken into the field at all times.
Surveyors are required to record the presence, absence, and in some cases the number or extent, of specific features. Four basic types of records are made: counting the number of certain features within the whole 500m site (riffles, pools, unvegetated
and vegetated point bars, and artificial features); ticking boxes () to indicate whether a feature is absent, present or extensive; entering a two-letter acronym for features in the spot-check section; taking measurements of the channel such as height, width and depth. Where there is a choice of features to be scored, but only a single entry is allowed, boxes on the survey form are either ‘shadowed’ (❏) or have emboldened edges ( ).
Submitted by:
Dean Mason
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