A HAMPSHIRE river was chosen to host the launch of a ‘love your river’ campaign.

Richard Benyon, minister for fisheries and the natural environment, visited Winnall Moors near Winchester to see conservation work on the River Itchen.

The campaign aims to highlight the value and benefits of our rivers to our everyday life.

As well as the importance to wildlife the Itchen also supplies drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people.

The Itchen is one of only four chalk rivers in England designated under European legislation as a Special Area of Conservation.

Potential dangers include over-abstraction, pollution, development, climate change and the drought.

Hampshire Wildlife Trust managers took the chance to discuss these pressures with the minister whilst showcasing the habitat improvements, river restoration, floodplain management and educational work the Trust is doing.

Winnall Moors is currently being returned to the landscape of 100 years ago when it was more open and a better habitat for flora and fauna.

Alongside the more serious discussions, Mr Benyon also enjoyed dipping in a stream with a group of local children, seeing water shrimps, fly larvae and a range of other aquatic invertebrates. The group also saw kingfishers, water voles, wild brown trout and grayling.