Do you know someone from the Scottish Borders or north Northumberland who deserves to be our next Tweed Forum River Champion? The Tweed Forum River Champion Award is our way of recognising and celebrating individuals who are dedicated to helping protect and enhance the natural, built and cultural heritage of the River Tweed catchment. Their contributions can be through their work, volunteering or personal commitment and they can come from all walks of life including farming, forestry, angling, conservation, education and community work.
Peeblesshire farm manager Matt Griffin (pictured) won last year’s Award for his efforts to boost land resilience and enhance biodiversity. Other previous winners have included people working to restore woodlands, monitor riverflies, tackle non-native invasive plant species, conserve historic buildings, campaign against pollution and improve wildlife habitat.
We know that there are lots of people who work quietly behind the scenes to look after our rivers so if you know of anyone you think should be nominated for this year’s Award, please get in touch by Friday 11 September. Please visit our Tweed Forum River Champion page to find out how you can nominate as well as additional information about the Award.
The latest Tweed Matters is packed with updates on what we’ve been up to over the last year. In this edition we feature a visit from the BBC Countryfile team (pictured below), celebrate our 2025 Tweed Forum River Champion and share exciting news about the launch of the Tweed Landscape Enterprise Network (LENs), as well as all the usual project updates and other news from the Tweed Forum team.
This summer, restoration works are planned at Hedgeley Estate as part of a major project to improve the River Breamish and Pow Burn for wildlife, water and people.
For years, rivers like the Breamish and Pow Burn have been shaped by drainage, engineering and land management. While many of these changes once served a purpose, some now limit the river’s natural ability to connect with its floodplain, slow water, create healthy habitats for wildlife and remain resilient in the face of climate change.
The River Breamish and Pow Burn Restoration Project will help restore natural river processes by creating new side channels, reconnecting floodplain habitats, improving wetland areas and creating more space for water during high flows.
The construction phase of the project is expected between August and October 2026 and we have lots of information on our River Breamish and Pow Burn Restoration Project page including the types of works taking place and their timings, project maps, details of temporary footpath changes and measures we will be taking to protect wildlife during the construction phase.
River Breamish and artificial gravel ponds at Hedgeley
We are excited to share our new short film, “A River Set Free”, which explores and celebrates the successful delivery of the Harehope Restoration Project. Created by Tommy Wilkinson and Tweed Forum’s Craig Marshall, the film follows the project team as they showcase the restoration of the River Breamish at Harehope Estate.
As one of the largest and most ambitious river restoration projects in the UK, the restoration design included re-meandering a straightened section and reconnecting the river with its floodplain, delivering benefits for water quality, biodiversity and flood management.
As part of the programme, presenter Matt Baker helped Tweed Forum Project Officer, Jane Gibson, plant some downy birch, goat willow and alder trees along the riverbank in the headwaters of the Leader Water, a tributary of the Tweed.
Tweed Forum’s Jane Gibson (far right) takes BBC Countryfile presenter Matt Baker (adjacent) through the process of planting native trees along the banks of a river
Native trees are important for many reasons including helping young Atlantic salmon survive. They provide ideal habitat for pollinators and for invertebrates that the Atlantic salmon can then feed off. Importantly, when grown they provide dappled shading that helps cool water temperatures which are increasing due to the warming climate. Warm water holds less oxygen, making it harder for Atlantic salmon, a cold-water species, to breathe and causing significant stress.
The whole programme is a wonderful showcase of the River Tweed, its heritage, traditions and importance in the area so we highly recommend that you take a look.
And thanks again to Matt and the superb Countryfile team for including our work.
One of the reasons the Borders Tree Grant Scheme was established was to benefit wildlife, and it’s fascinating that oak trees benefit wildlife more than any other tree species in the UK. Oak trees are important for a wide range of birds, mammals, insects, fungi and mosses, with 2,300 species dependent on oak at least for part of their life, 326 of which are only found on oak (source: www.scotlink.org/species/oak).
If you have a small piece of ground (that is outwith a formal garden) and you’re interested in planting some trees with a high amenity value, why not apply for up to 100% of material and labour costs (up to £1,000) to help with tree planting.
The Borders Tree Grant Scheme helps community groups and private landowners to plant small woodlands (up to 0.25 ha in size), individual parkland trees, field margin trees, riverside trees, apple orchards and trees in school grounds and on community managed land.
We are halfway through winter but there is still plenty time to plant trees. Why not visit our Borders Tree Grant Scheme page to find out more and make an application. Please note that the scheme will close for the season on Monday 23rd February 2026.
Peeblesshire farm manager, Matt Griffin has been chosen as our 2025 Tweed Forum River Champion in recognition of his nature-inspired approach to agriculture which is boosting land resilience and enhancing biodiversity. The award is presented each year to someone with an outstanding commitment to protecting, preserving and enhancing the River Tweed and its surrounding natural, built and cultural heritage.
Peebleshire farm manager, Matt Griffin, receiving his 2025 Tweed Forum River Champion trophy from Tweed Forum Chair, Debbie Playfair
Presenting Matt with his trophy, Tweed Forum Chair, Debbie Playfair said: “The health of the River Tweed and its many tributaries depends on the land that surrounds them. Matt’s work at Neidpath Farms shows how thoughtful land management can deliver benefits far beyond the farm gate, including improved water quality, increased biodiversity and a landscape that is strengthened against climate pressures. Matt’s work, and his willingness to share the knowledge gathered as a result, makes him a truly deserving Tweed Forum River Champion.”
We’ve just completed work on one of the UK’s largest river restoration projects, in Northumberland’s Breamish Valley. The River Breamish had been historically modified and straightened centuries ago for agricultural purposes, with around a mile of river channel lost. Tweed Forum has been part of a team helping to restore the river’s natural processes as part of the LIFE WADER nature recovery programme.
Credit: Tommy Wilkinson
In partnership with the Environment Agency, Natural England and local landowner, Harehope Estate, we’ve reinstated the original meandering course of the river and created silt traps, shallow ponds, wetlands, embankment breaches and woody dams, delivering a more natural mosaic of habitats to help nature recovery, improve water quality and make the landscape more resilient to climate change.
The river will develop its own ‘final design’ and following recent rainfall it’s already spilled onto its floodplains, forming wetlands, with the river adapting and changing constantly. Habitat in and around the new river channel is already developing and being used by wildlife including heron, kingfishers and damselflies. Vegetation is starting to establish with water crowfoot sighted in the newly re-meandered section.
The Breamish is part of the River Till catchment and you can read more about our strategic restoration efforts in this catchment on our River Till Restoration Strategy page.
Do you know someone who goes above and beyond to project the River Tweed? Maybe an angler, farmer, landowner or community volunteer working to protect the rich natural, cultural or built heritage of the river and its catchment?
We’re now accepting nominations for the 10th Tweed Forum River Champion Award – which is open to people living or working in the Scottish Borders or North Northumberland. Our previous winners (see gallery below!) have been recognised for contributions in areas including riverfly monitoring, community woodland restoration, built heritage preservation, tackling invasive non-native plant species, pollution campaigning and conserving nature in a farm setting.
If you know of anyone you think should be nominated for this year’s Award, please get in touch by Friday 12 September, you can find out how on our River Champion page.
The Tweed catchment contains significant tributaries including the Teviot, Ettrick, Gala and Leader Waters, the Whiteadder and the River Till plus many smaller watercourses.
Congratulations to Craig Burmann-Duke, ghillie at Mertoun Estate near St Boswells, who has been awarded Scotland’s first AQUA (Aquatic Quality) biosecurity award for his work protecting the River Tweed from invasive species.
Tweed Forum nominated Craig for the award following his many years of volunteer work removing giant hogweed as part of our Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) programme. Craig encourages anglers on his beat to make use of a special wash station and drying racks to clean their fishing equipment before entering the water to ensure the removal of fragments of invasive plants and help prevent the spread of fish disease. He uses a special disinfectant supplied to ghillies along the river by the Tweed Foundation and also shares information and literature on DEFRA’s Check, Clean, Dry protocol to encourage good practice.
Craig Burmann-Duke, ghillie at Mertoun Estate near St Boswells, has been awarded Scotland’s first AQUA (Aquatic Quality) biosecurity award
As well as being the first AQUA accreditation in Scotland, this is the first time that the award has been presented to a wild salmon fishery. We’re delighted that Craig has received this award and hope that other ghillies and water asset managers across the Tweed catchment will also consider taking part in the AQUA scheme and champion biosecurity in their own areas.
