Caitlin Adlam. Photo suppliedA summer student working for Environment Canterbury discovered 80 new springs near the Ashburton River … as well as the carcasses of three dead cats hung on a gate and a “body” buried in bush.

Caitlin Adlam recorded the latter as strange sightings, though they gave her a fright at the time.

Adlam presented the preliminary findings of her summer’s work to the Ashburton Water Zone committee this week and her formal report will also be sent to landowners who allowed her onto their properties near the Ashburton River to look for springs or streams.

Over the three months, she mapped 56km of streams, climbing over electric fences and fighting her way through dense vegetation to locate the origins of water sources. She was crawling through bush one day when she came across “a body” wrapped in a blanket.

The night before she had watched a television programme where the same sort of blanket had been used to conceal a dead body.

She bolted from the riverbed and called for workmate Donna Field, who kicked the blanket and found, to everyone’s relief, it contained a bag of rubbish.

Aside from that scary moment, Adlam said her job and interactions with landowners had been positive and farmers had been keen to know more about springs on their properties and how to look after them.

The University of Canterbury science graduate said mapping the streams and springs along the river would help scientists better understand flows in the river. It will link to another study looking at the interaction of groundwater and river water close to the river margins.

Adlam was working from a 1999 database of springs and streams and she updated or added new locations as she discovered them. She visited 51 of the 146 points on the database and found 43 still present.

“I have also mapped just under 80 new springs and added them to the database.”

She also recorded the most common plants in the streams were water cress, forget-me-not and the weed monkey mask.

Adlam said the environment would continue to change, so updating the database should be seen as a work in progress.

“I have learned so much talking with farmers and thank everyone. I really enjoyed my summer.”

By Linda Clarke © The Ashburton Guardian - 1 March 2018