Sweep-up information

Page 3 of the form is designed for recording general information by means of a ‘sweep-up’ checklist. This is usually best done when walking back along the RHS site following completion of the spot-checks. The sweep-up represents an assessment of the extent of features over the whole 500m length, and will include those features not occurring at the spot-checks. Since the site length is 500m and the ten-spot-checks are 50m apart, it is important to include the remaining 50m of the sample length in the sweep-up assessment. This means walking an extra 50m beyond the tenth spot-check and taking a GPS reading.


Features in the sweep-up are recorded by entering a ‘✓’ for those present in at least 1% of the site and ‘E’ for those extending more than 33% along the site. This type of recording is used in Sections H and I to provide information on land-use and bank profiles. Some features may be important, even if they do not extend 1% along an cRHS site. Such features include underwater tree roots, and all such categories are marked with an asterisk (*) to highlight they are special cases, and can be recorded as present even if they do not occur along >=1% of the site.


Information on trees (Section J) is recorded in a tick box format, with categories for the distribution pattern of trees along each bank, and whether associated features such as ‘underwater tree roots’ or ‘large woody debris’ are absent, present or extensive along the channel as a whole.


The extent (absence, presence or extensive occurrence) of specific channel features is recorded in Section K. The check-list represents a range of river channel features that are readily identified in the field. An assessment of their presence, absence and overall extent enables a broad picture of river character to be established. The five features marked by an *asterisk can be recorded as ‘present’ even if they do not occur along at least 1% of the site.