Extended Riverfly Training Autumn 2026

Already confident in the Riverfly method? Join us to learn more about freshwater invertebrate groups with Steve Brooks, Riverfly Co-chair
About this Event

This Extended Riverfly Training has been designed for existing Riverfly monitors who are already confident in the basic ARMI method - we suggest that you do the standard Riverfly Monitoring for ~1 year to gain experience before qualifying as an extended surveyor. If you are not already Riverfly trained, please book on to our standard RMI course on 17th October instead .

Extended Riverfly involves the identification of 33 groups of macroinvertebrates, instead of the standard ARMI 8 groups. It is a great way to reveal even more detail about the condition of our rivers. You may already have a site in mind that would benefit from Extended Riverfly which is great, but if not the Chilterns Chalk Streams Project also have sites - such as new restoration schemes - that we would love to have more Extended Riverfly surveys conducted on.

This training course is led by expert Extended Riverfly tutors Steve Brooks (Riverfly Partnership Co-Chair, Natural History Museum) and Simon Stebbings (CHM Riverfly Hub Co-Chair), so you will receive excellent instruction to become a certified Extended Riverfly surveyor.

During this indoor session, you will be taught to identify all 33 target groups of the Extended Riverfly Method, and advised when is best to carry out this method to complement the standard monthly ARMI surveys.

After presentations, you will be given trays of pre-collected live specimens to sort into as many of the groups as possible, following which you will undertake an informal 'test' at the end of the session.

Those passing the test will be certified as Extended Riverfly surveyors, whereas those not quite reaching the required scores will simply be welcomed to our next training session to continue developing your identification skills. This training runs as rolling sessions, so you are welcome to attend this session as a first time Extended Riverfly trainee, or you may have already attended multiple sessions.

Tea/coffee and biscuits will be provided, but please do feel free to bring snacks with you.

The £10 fee is a small donation to cover the cost of the Extended Riverfly ID Sheet that you will be provided as part of the course, with the cost of the room hire and supplies included for free.

The session will take place in the Old Dairy at Restore Hope Latimer. There is free parking on site.

If you have any questions please email us at [email protected]