Our Plastics Challenge is asking everyone who visits our waterways to pick up just one piece of litter to help clear them within a year. But while you’re busy binning what you find above the water, we’ve still got a job to do underneath…
A magic sword, the Knights Templar and the birthplace of a genius: Dixe Wills has some rather epic encounters on his search for the source of the River Witham
Introduced from the Far East by 18th-century collectors, mandarin ducks are surely the brightest jewels of our waterways
Nature writer Miriam Darlington, known for her books Otter Country and Owl Sense, talks about her childhood connection with rivers – and how she grew up thinking she was an otter
With venomous saliva, closable nostrils, a hyperactive nature and curious ability to disappear without a trace, the water shrews is a remarkable creature, says author and naturalist Conor Jameson
Fashion yourself a thumb-stick, make a May Day crown or twist up some nettle twine, with our handy guide to canalside crafting
Seek out rare flowering plants, which have had a helping hand from volunteers, along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal
Find inspiration in the woodlands and wildflower meadows of the River Aire and Leeds & Liverpool Canal
Seek out distinctive wetland plants at Fens Pool Local Nature Reserve and along the Stourbridge Canal
Discover a hotbed of rare aquatic plants along the Grantham Canal
