Severn Gorge Countryside Trust

PROJECT OVERVIEW: Severn Gorge Countryside Trust is a registered Charity whose aim is to promote, protect and conserve the living landscape of the Ironbridge World Heritage Site for the benefit of local people and visitors. Three years ago SGCT established a new Partnership called Farm the Flow, working closely with Telford & Wrekin Council to address the challenge of flooding within the Rapid Response Catchment (RRC) of the Lydebrook, which flows from Little Wenlock into the River Severn in Ironbridge.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES: CREST support was employed to collect and analyse multispectral drone imagery and soil moisture data in order to investigate whether remotely sensed data on vegetation stress can be used as an indicator of groundwater pathways, and thus improve understanding of groundwater hydrology within the catchment.

PROJECT SOLUTIONS: This is an ongoing research project that has involved CREST academics undertaking drone surveys of the area. We have also completed field and lab measurements of groundwater. This will allow us to determine whether a relationship exists between vegetation health/stress and groundwater measurements.