Give canals your eyes and ears

Our expert engineers, hydrologists, ecologists, heritage and wellbeing experts often take a scientific approach to their work. Now, thanks to our growing ‘citizen science’ programme, supporters and volunteers, like you, are helping us collect data to keep an even closer eye on canals across the country.

A whole new bank of important information is building up, based on your observations and responses to our recent surveys. For instance, The Science of Scenic Beauty, run in partnership with the University of Warwick, asks you which canal scenes you find most appealing in our ‘Rate this Scene’ game. Sense in Nature asked people to share the sights, sounds and even smells you found on the towpath; and our King’s College collaboration Urban Mind looked at how happy people felt by water and examined how it added to people’s sense of wellbeing. The results of all three surveys, give you, the very people who use our canals on a regular basis, a stake in driving our future plans to improve waterways, restore wildlife and protect canal heritage. “With every survey we’ve done, participation from our supporters has grown,” explains Lucie Unsworth, national youth and civil society manager. “From a few hundred participants in our Urban Mind survey to over 13,000 people helping us to rate over 700,000 images in our Rate this Scene survey. People shared over 10,000 of their own images with us, which shows how much people love their local canal scenery. It’s hugely encouraging that so many people want to #ActNowForCanals by giving up just a few minutes of their time to share their experiences, feelings and observations from the towpath.” And as Lucie goes on to explain, this information is much needed: “Although we conduct regular surveys of our engineering, heritage and nature assets, with over 2,000 miles to look after, it’s simply not possible for all our colleagues and volunteers to keep an eye on every metre of towpath, all of the time. Things are always changing and we need to keep up to date. That’s why involving the millions of people who use our canals and rivers every year is so important. It gives us the chance to have eyes and ears everywhere. And gives people the chance to help improve their local canal, simply by telling us what they see when they’re out, walking the dog, or pottering about on the river.” A vast amount of data is currently being collated and analysed by us and our university scientist partners, so it will be some time before we can share full results. But some fascinating insights are starting to emerge, as Lucie explains: “In our Sense in Nature survey for instance, we’ve been surprised to see how important the sense of smell was to people by the canal. Perhaps we’ve taken for granted how many people find the canal to be a much-needed breath of fresh air. These good smells were a key factor in significantly improving people’s mood. So, particularly in urban areas, that gives us all sorts of ideas about how plants and wildflowers could help people stay positive. It was also interesting in our Rate this Scene survey how much variety there was in the scenes that people liked the most. Some people went for greenery, others for dramatic sunsets, others the changing of seasons. Some people loved industrial heritage, others modern street art. It reinforces that canals need to be a rich tapestry for the wellbeing of all sorts of people.” So where does Lucie expect our ‘citizen science’ programme to go next? “We are delighted to have received support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery for this first phase of projects. Given the wide range of work we do, this valuable experience gained will certainly enable us to have many other ways we can engage with people from all walks of life to become citizen scientists and help make life better by water for everyone.”