The River Gavenny Project
The Gavenny is a river flowing through Abergavenny in the Central Monmouthshire National Landscape Character Area (NLCA). Abergavenny gets its name from the river, meaning “Mouth of the Gavenny”. It is the main tributary of the River Usk catchment, which is designated as a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), SAC (Special Area of Conservation), and SINC (Site of Importance for Nature Conservation) due to the rare and high-quality habitats and species it supports, such as migratory fish: Atlantic salmon, lamprey, shad, eels, brown trout, and also otters. The Monmouthshire County Council Green Infrastructure Team is part of the Usk Catchment Partnership.
In 2022, MCC became the first council in Wales to declare a water quality emergency, and commission a strategy to improve waterways in the council (Motion for Rivers and Ocean Draft Action Plan – September 2022).
In 2024, Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) commissioned Groundwork Wales ‘Healthy Rivers’ team to produce a Community Action Plan for the River Gavenny, Abergavenny, for a community led approach for river restoration, working with key stakeholders on the river (both local organisations & volunteers). Data was collected from key stakeholders about their river restoration delivery projects, both past and current, to help identify any current gaps in river restoration within the Partnership.
The Community Action Plan aims to:
• Aid the restoration of the River Gavenny and its biodiversity.
• Increase community engagement with the river.
• Raise public awareness of the river’s many benefits.
Data was collected from key stakeholders about their river restoration delivery projects, both past and current, to help identify any current gaps in river restoration within the Partnership.
A survey was also carried out among the public at the Greener Abergavenny Fair in October 2024, which found that these were people’s main priorities for the river:
Priorities for the River Gavenny (larger text indicates greater priority)
This process revealed a gap in community connection with the River Gavenny, needing greater community involvement, ownership, and awareness of the many benefits of the River Gavenny, for which the town of Abergavenny is named after.
Our Community Action Plan refers to and builds upon the previous work of the 2015 River Gavenny Partnership Project (Natural Resources Wales, Abergavenny Civic Society, Wye & Usk Foundation, and Monmouthshire County Council). The 2015 project included a River Restoration Plan produced by Natural Resource Wales, with recommendations for restoration of different sections of the River Gavenny. The funding for this project finished in 2021.
In 2025, Monmouthshire County Council commissioned the Groundwork Healthy Rivers Team, to design and deliver a River Gavenny engagement program including: 5 river care days, 4 educational workshops and 1 larger river event.
The current project funding is administered by the National Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Nature Networks grant, on behalf of Welsh Government, and is being delivered by the Monmouthshire County Council Green Infrastructure Team for the River Gavenny Partnership. Click here to jump to Healthy Rivers Events.
The River Gavenny: Landscape and Ecology
The river’s catchment flows for four miles through a rural landscape. Originating from a spring below Bryn Arw then flowing through the urban fringes of Abergavenny, it confluences with the River Usk in Castle Meadows. It is 400m to 40m above sea level at Abergavenny and is a ‘misfit river’ in a glacial valley; it is thought that the River Honddu, which flows into the Monnow (itself a tributary of the Wye), may have once joined the Gavenny and flowed into the Usk. It has several adjacent floodplains in Swan Meadows and Ross Meadows.
The Cibi Brook is also in the Gavenny catchment, draining the Southern Sugar Loaf slopes and joining the River Gavenny near its confluence with the River Usk at Castle Meadow. However, it will not form part of this project.
It’s vital we protect the existing biodiversity in the River Gavenny, which has currently 954 individual species listed by the local environmental record centres (BIS and SEWBReC). This includes native species of brown trout, bullhead, and white-clawed crayfish, which are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, as well as European eel, dipper, kingfisher and otter which have higher wildlife protections as their populations are in severe decline. Many of these species are linked to the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) designation of the River Usk.
European eel (©Cal James)
Dipper (©Andy Karran)
Oil beetle (©Ella Grundy)
What pressures does the river face?
The River Gavenny is classified as “moderate” quality under the Water Framework Directive. Despite NRW targets to increase this status to “good” in recent years, this has yet to be achieved, largely due to the river’s lack of migratory fish spawning sites (salmon and trout), silting, and high phosphate levels resulting from pollution and agricultural runoff.
- Agricultural pollution: While stretches of the lower Usk are bordered by arable farming, most of the land bordering The Gavenny is used for livestock farming. High-intensity agriculture in the area has led to considerable eutrophication of the soil and runoff into local streams, causing a build-up of phosphate and other damaging chemicals in the watercourse. This can then lead to algal blooms, smothering the riverbed in harmful algae and reducing habitats for aquatic invertebrates and fish spawning.
- Sewage pollution: Permitted discharges of sewage from treatment plants or septic tanks currently flow into the River Gavenny; however, there are likely to be many more unauthorised outlets (historical and current) in the river. A further problem is caused by Abergavenny’s reliance on combine sewer systems (foul and surface), increasing the likelihood of hydraulic overload on the system and incidences of associated flood events.
- Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS): As with many watercourses in the UK, The Gavenny suffers from the effects of invasive species. Much of the riverbank is overrun with Himalayan balsam, snowberry, Japanese knotweed, and Himalayan cotoneaster. As well as reducing species diversity, these plants provide relatively little protection to the bank against erosion, particularly in the winter when they completely die back. In the river itself, American signal crayfish are known to be present and outcompeting the smaller, native white-clawed crayfish.
- Physical alterations to the watercourse: The river has been modified to suit different land uses in Abergavenny over time, including several weirs and at least 7 old corn mills along its course that are no longer in use. These historical water management structures have an impact on the river’s flows and fish migration.
- Flood risk: The loss of historical floodplains through development, along with the culverting of rivers in urban areas, has significantly increased the flood risk of many rivers in the area including The Gavenny. Natural flood management – such as planting the right native trees at the top of the river catchment, installing leaky dams in-stream, and planting native buffer zones between farmed fields and the riverbank – can slow the flow of the river to reduce the risk of flooding.
Monmouthshire County Council has recently partnered with the Wye and Usk Foundation’s Resilient Rivers – Monnow Project and other partners to tackle these issues.
The Sugarloaf Regeneration Farm Partnership CIC has also been launched recently, bringing together local farmers, Stump Up for Trees and the National Trust to deliver projects that will benefit the Sugar Loaf community – including the River Gavenny.
Healthy Rivers events
To rekindle Abergavenny’s connection to the river and restore river health, MCC have hosted a number of community-focused river activities around Swan Meadows and Gavenny Meadows since 2025.
These events range from practical volunteer days – litter-picking, removing invasive species – to family-oriented insect hunts, river conservation training, educational talks, and mindfulness & wellbeing nature walks. Many of these have been supported by the Volunteering for Wellbeing Abergavenny & Surrounding Areas Centre, providing shelter and refreshments to volunteers, particularly during wet weather.
A list of events held during the previous year is shown below:
Healthy Rivers Days – We have held 6 Healthy Rivers Day events throughout 2025 and 2026 so far, where volunteers of all ages got involved with litter-picking both along the banks of the River Gavenny and in-channel. Volunteers also enjoyed activities such as Himalayan balsam removal, kick-sampling river silt to flush out invertebrates, fungi identification, and water quality testing for nitrites/nitrates/phosphates, and were even able to watch a Natural Resources Wales fish survey in the Gavenny on 28th August 2025. We removed anywhere between 5-12 bags or 4kg-50kg of litter from the river on each day, as well as shopping trolleys, furniture, paint tins and more!
Dates: 30/6/25, 28/8/25, 25/9/25, 31/10/25, 12/3/26, 15/4/26
Insect Safari 9/7/25 – A family walk led by entomologist Richard Dawson, where we uncovered many terrestrial pollinators in the river meadows of the Gavenny, including a Batman hoverfly (Myathropa Florea), red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus pascuorum), solitary wasps, leaf beetles, ladybirds, butterflies, and more.
Otter talk 15/9/25 – Jointly with the Abergavenny Civic Society, South Wales Otter Trust shared the ecology of otters & their fascinating behaviour.
Family Fun Day 5/10/25 – Parents and children gathered at Swan Meadows for a day of Salmon Storytelling, river dipping for insects, a nature quiz trail, river arts & crafts, and river games. Colleagues from the Reuse shop provided the opportunity to purchase household items saved from disposal at our recycling centres, helping to promote a circular economy and inform people about how litter ends up in our rivers.
Healthy Rivers Workshop Cantref Primary School 27/11/25 – Year 6 students learnt about the River Gavenny and its ecological importance, the importance of saving water at home, the impact of microplastics, wildlife living in and around the river and what threatens them, and the effects of climate change on the river. One student said:
“Yesterday was really fun! There was so much information, and I learned loads — including that the River Gavenny begins on Sugarloaf Mountain from an underground spring. I especially loved making the peg dragonflies and the origami frogs.”
Otter Monitoring Training 25/1/26 – Lee Jenkins from South Wales Otter Trust led a presentation on otter ecology and surveying for new local otter surveyors in the morning, followed by a practical session looking for signs of otters along the River Usk.
River Geology talk/walk 30-31/1/26 – Bannau Brycheiniog Global Geopark Officer Alan Bowring delivered a presentation covering the geological history of the River Gavenny, and its changing use by the people of Abergavenny over time. This was accompanied by a guided walk along the Gavenny from Swan Meadows to Gavenny Meadows to spot geological features and landforms.
“Every rock is on a journey; those in the river help us understand its story.” – Alan Bowring.
Riverfly Monitoring 28/5/26 – Partnered with Gwent Wildlife Trust’s Senior River Restoration Officer, we have established a new Gavenny Riverfly Monitor group to assess river health, using river invertebrate species numbers and variety as a bio-indicator. During this first kick-sampling and identification session in Swan Meadows, we recorded many olives, blue-winged olives, cased and caseless caddisfly larvae, a few stonefly larvae and freshwater shrimp, as well as 2 flat-bodied mayfly larvae, which are less tolerant to pollution (a good sign!). Going forward, our volunteer group will survey four sites along the River Gavenny at regular intervals, allowing us to monitor changes in river health over time.
Himalayan Balsam Pulls 18/6/26, 30/6/26, 3/7/26 – In partnership with Gwent Wildlife Trust, volunteers spent several days this summer removing invasive Himalayan balsam from the River Gavenny catchment. We focused our efforts in-channel and along the banks of Swan Meadows, Ross Meadows, under the Pen-y-Fal bridge, and the Daffodil Banks woodland. Gwent Wildlife Trust have since begun an Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) mapping project along the River Gavenny to facilitate a targeted approach to future management. A mix of MCC and GWT volunteers helped to walk and survey the length of the Gavenny, looking for INNS such as Himalayan balsam. The results of the survey will be used to co-ordinate future balsam pulling events in prioritised areas next year. Read more about Himalayan balsam HERE.
What can you do to help your local river?
Report pollution on a river
Any member of the public can report pollution on a river to Natural Resources Wales. When reporting, take the following things into consideration:
- Where is/was the incident taking place? Please provide a grid reference if possible, for example, NT 252 735 or what3words. Otherwise, you should provide accurate descriptions of the location.
- What is/was happening?
- Who is/was responsible for the incident?
- When did the incident take place/is it ongoing?
- A photo of the incident.
Report a wildlife sighting to SEWBReC
The collection and documentation of wildlife records have a significant impact on the preservation of both wildlife and the habitats they rely on. By actively recording and documenting this information, we contribute to the protection and conservation of our interconnected ecosystem.
A simple way to record your sightings is using SEWBReC on-line recording system SEWBReCORD or by downloading the LERC Wales App to your mobile device. This includes common species you may see regularly, as well as rarer species.
Wildlife ID sheets:
Local river walks
Usk Catchment Partnership
Click here for more information about the crucial work being done by the Usk Catchment Partnership to support the River Usk and its tributaries, including the River Gavenny.
Riverside Code
The Friends of the River Wye have produced a Riverside Code to protect our precious rivers and streams, similar to the Countryside Code.
River Gavenny Projects Newsletter
Read our River Gavenny Projects Newsletter 2026 to learn more about projects the River Gavenny Partnership are running this year to support the Gavenny and its community.
If you want to be kept informed of future river events, email LocalNature@Monmouthshire.gov.uk and ask to be added to the River Gavenny mailing list.
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