Yazor Brooks Restoration Project - meet the team!
Mo Burns
Mo is Herefordshire-born and has a background in food policy and public health. During her 27 years working and living in Hereford, she has campaigned in areas from sustainable travel systems to increasing green infrastructure throughout the urban landscape, to enshrine a balance between urbanisation and nature as the city undergoes constant development.
Anne Cottringer
Anne has worked for many years as a documentary camerawoman and producer/director in the broadcast sector (BBC, C4, al jazeera) and in the non-broadcast sector. She is presently Chair of the Herford City Branch HWT. Her proudest achievement: being awarded as the Best Lady Gardener Who Hasn’t Won Another Award by the Hereford and Leisure Gardeners Society.
Nichola Geeson
Nichola has a joint honours degree in Botany and Geography, and a PhD in soil science. She has worked in civil engineering and on a series of EU-funded projects on land degradation with universities and other institutions around the world. In the context of Hereford she collects maps that show local history, flood risk, pollution risk and other key features, and also records the species she sees growing along the brooks and other habitats. To support the natural health of the Yazor brooks she regularly tests water quality (including phosphates) as part of the Friends of the Upper Wye Citizen Science Project. She also helps record riverfly larvae living in the brooks to share data with the Riverfly Partnership, and she is a Tree Warden for Breinton. She is currently a Committee Member for both HWT City Branch and Yazor Brooks Restoration Project Committee.
Richard Fishbourne
Richard is an ecologist and keen naturalist and through his business Bugs
and Beasties has worked extensively across the UK developing many school
grounds for nature play and learning. Through his inspirational talks at
shows, horticultural societies and clubs across the county Richard has
inspired many thousands of gardeners to garden with wildlife in mind.
Having had a comprehensive background in community development and action
planning Richard has been working with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust to
restore the Yazor brook system through Hereford City and he now enjoys the
company of several professional volunteers associated with Hereford's City
Branch of the Wildlife trust whilst undertaking habitat enhancement and
monitoring schemes along Hereford's precious blue/green corridor.
Nic Howes
Nic's volunteering roles with the Trust know few bounds: author of our Wild Walks series; reserves work party volunteer, coppicer, City Branch officer, Ice Age Ponds Project volunteer, Hereford City Brooks volunteer and more.
For more see his "My Wild Life" profile in Wildside summer 2020 or his Slow Ways interview here: https://stories.slowways.org/invest-in-good-socks/
Also on Twitter: Geographer/Walker/Citizen Scientist/Outdoor Worker @nichoweswalks
Emil Morfett HWT City Branch Treasurer
Trained as an exploration geologist in the University of London (BSC Geol) and Queens, Kingston, Ontario Canada (MSc MinEx), worked on sites in the Middle East, South Africa and the USA and before returning to London in 1987 where I joined the financial sector as a technical expert analysing the risk and returns of mining projects. From 2000 until 2016 I worked as a consultant analysing investment opportunities in mining for clients throughout the world. I am now retired but keep busy with river bank restoration projects including the Wye and the Yazor Brooks Project. I volunteered for the Ice Age Ponds Project in Herefordshire and also helped to manage a local Community orchard in Breinton.
Maggie Setterfield
Maggie Setterfield grew up in Hereford and works in a local school. She keeps busy with Hunderton Community Garden, South Hereford community car club, is a city tree warden, citizen scientist water tester, and proud member of Extinction Rebellion.