About

Friends of the River Exe aims to be a voice for the river and its tributaries by bringing together local people and groups working to protect and restore it to full health.

Friends of the River Exe was launched in 2023 in response to anger about the state of our river with a Transition Network Seedfunding grant that brought together the River Exe Transition Partnership (Sustainable Tiverton, Transition Exeter and Transition Exmouth).

We work in partnership, on citizen science with Westcountry Rivers Trust and Sea-Changers, and on an Oral History project to record memories of the Exe long ago with Tiverton Museum.

We build on some of the work undertaken locally by Tidelines since 2020 in the Exe, bringing creativity, science and community together to respond to the climate and nature crisis in the estuary and coast. This includes the Salmon Run project which connected communities along the river in 2022 on World Rivers Day.

We’re also informed by ESCAPE (End Sewage Convoys and Pollution Exmouth), a group of volunteers who have been working hard to try to clean up the estuary and sea at Exmouth since 2021. Nationally we have been inspired by other friends groups across the UK such as Friends of the Upper Wye and Franny Armstrong’s film Rivercide.

Our volunteers organise a range of activities including citizen science to play our part in bringing community evidence to polluters; and a Festival of the Exe in September 2023 to celebrate the diverse activities along its banks.  

If you’d like to collaborate with us please get in touch.