📍 U8: Waterhall Farm

River: Lea Catchment: Upper Lea (Hertfordshire) Filter(s): 376

Your Site at a Glance

275
Species Detected
198
Genera Identified
104
Families Found
96,757
DNA Sequences

How Your Site Compares

Metric Your Site Lea Average Study Average
Species 275 251 206
Genera 198 174 151
Families 104 87 83
EPT Families 11 6 6

Rank 4 of 10 on Lea Rank 14 of 81 in study

🌊 Water Quality Indicators

Very Good

BMWP score: 150 (Very Good) — ASPT score: 6.2 (Excellent)

24 scoring macroinvertebrate families detected

Near-natural conditions with an unpolluted, diverse macroinvertebrate community.

🔍 Notable Findings

Conservation Species:

Invasive Species:

🦋 Top 10 Families at Your Site

1. Chironomidae (Non-biting Midges)
62 (22.5%)
2. Naididae (Aquatic Oligochaetes)
33 (12.0%)
3. Lumbricidae (Common Earthworms)
11 (4.0%)
4. Cyprinidae (Carp and Allies)
9 (3.3%)
5. Anatidae (Ducks, Geese, and Swans)
8 (2.9%)
6. Enchytraeidae (Potworms)
8 (2.9%)
7. Cyclopidae (Cyclopoid Copepods)
6 (2.2%)
8. Tipulidae (Crane Flies)
5 (1.8%)
9. Simuliidae (Black Flies)
4 (1.5%)
10. Phasianidae (Pheasants and Partridges)
4 (1.5%)
Taxonomic composition

🪲 Extended Riverfly Taxa

1 Flatworms ✓ 18Dragonflies and Damselflies✓
2 Freshwater Snails ✓ 19Water Boatmen✗
3 Limpets ✗ 20Other Water Bugs✓
4 Bivalves ✓ 21Water Beetles✓
5 Aquatic Worms ✓ 22Alderflies✗
6 Leeches ✓ 23Caseless Caddisflies - Green Sedge✗
7 Crayfish ✓ 24Caseless Caddisflies - Net Spinners✗
8 Water Hoglouse ✓ 25Caseless Caddisflies - Non-Gilled✓
9 Freshwater Shrimps ✓ 26Cased Caddisflies - Hood Case-Maker✗
10 Invasive Non-Native Shrimps ✗ 27Cased Caddisflies - Weighted Case-Maker✓
11 Mayflies - Angler's Curse ✓ 28Cased Caddisflies - Bush Tailed Caddisfly✗
12 Mayflies - Olives ✓ 29Cased Caddisflies - Other✓
13 Mayflies - Prong Gilled ✓ 30Craneflies✓
14 Mayflies - Flatbodied ✗ 31Blackflies✓
15 Mayflies - Green Drake ✓ 32Non-Biting Midges✓
16 Mayflies - Blue-Winged Olive ✗ 33Water Snipe Flies✗
17 Stoneflies ✓
22/33 Extended Riverfly taxa detected

Note: The Extended Riverfly Monitoring Initiative calculates scores based on abundance categories, which cannot be determined from eDNA presence/absence data. This checklist shows which taxa groups were detected but does not constitute an official ARMI score.

🐟 Fish Species

12 fish species detected (4 families, 65 ESVs)
SpeciesFamilyESVs
Phoxinus phoxinus (Minnow) Cyprinidae 9
Squalius cephalus (Chub) Cyprinidae 7
Gobio gobio (Gudgeon) Cyprinidae 6
Leuciscus leuciscus (Dace) Cyprinidae 5
Barbatula barbatula (Stone Loach) Nemacheilidae 4
Cottus bairdii Cottidae 3
Cyprinus carpio (Common Carp) Cyprinidae 2
Barbus barbus (Barbel) Cyprinidae 2
Gasterosteus aculeatus (Three-spined Stickleback) Gasterosteidae 2
Rutilus frisii Cyprinidae 2
Scardinius acarnanicus Cyprinidae 1
Scardinius racovitzai Cyprinidae 1

🪰 EPT Species (Mayflies, Stoneflies & Caddisflies)

15 EPT species detected (11 families, 27 ESVs — E:7 / P:3 / T:5)
SpeciesFamilyESVs
Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)
Baetis rhodani (Large Dark Olive) Baetidae 4
Paraleptophlebia submarginata (Turkey Brown) Leptophlebiidae 2
Baetis buceratus (Scarce Olive) Baetidae 1
Baetis vernus (Medium Olive) Baetidae 1
Caenis luctuosa (Angler's Curse) Caenidae 1
Ephemera danica (The Mayfly) Ephemeridae 1
Habrophlebia fusca (Ditch Dun) Leptophlebiidae 1
Plecoptera (Stoneflies)
Zwicknia bifrons (Small Winter Stonefly) Capniidae 4
Nemoura erratica (Erratic Stonefly) Nemouridae 1
Isoperla grammatica (Yellow Sally) Perlodidae 1
Trichoptera (Caddisflies)
Glyphotaelius pellucidus (Northern Caddisflies) Limnephilidae 5
Brachycentrus subnubilus (Humpless Case-maker Caddisflies) Brachycentridae 2
Lepidostoma hirtum (Lepidostomatid Caddisflies) Lepidostomatidae 1
Micropterna lateralis (Northern Caddisflies) Limnephilidae 1
Lype phaeopa (Tube-case Caddisflies) Psychomyiidae 1

🔗 Your Ecological Twin

Most similar site: U6 - Stanborough South
River: Lea (same river)
Similarity: 44% of species shared
Download Data

275 Species detected at this site — CSV format, opens in Excel

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