A father and daughter duo have joined forces to update a Marlborough field guide book first written 20 years ago.

Peter Hamill wrote A field guide to Marlborough’s Freshwater Flora and Fauna in the 1980s when his daughter, India Hamill, was just seven years old.

Helping update the guide and now all grown up, Freshwater Ecosystems Scientist India worked alongside her dad.

The pair collaborated with Te Hoiere Project Programme Manager Rachel Russell to update the 134-page field guide.

Council’s Team Leader Land and Water Peter says the idea for the original field guide came in the early 2000s as a result of an education programme run by Council taking young people into the outdoors.

“This coincided with the advent of digital photography,” he says. “I started taking lots of photos of little critters - that was the genesis of the field guide and it’s now been handed down to the next generation.”

India says that now she works in a similar field, she has a much greater appreciation of the guide’s usefulness.

“I hope for the next 20 years people can enjoy an updated version of the field guide and be able to look at a stream, lake or river and know what freshwater species they are seeing,” she explains.

Launched at Lansdowne Hub earlier this month, Mayor Nadine Taylor, iwi, councillors, Department of Conservation, Marlborough Forest and Bird, Top of the South Wood Council, representatives from Marlborough Boys’ College and Queen Charlotte College and members of the community gathered to mark the occasion.

Mayor Taylor said the day was not only a celebration of a new publication but also of freshwater environments and the people who care for them.

“I encourage everyone to take a copy, explore our local waterways, share what you learn with others and continue to be champions for the health and wellbeing of our freshwater ecosystems.

The guide was funded through the Ministry for the Environment’s At Risk Catchment Fund.

It features descriptions and photographs of species that call Marlborough’s freshwater environments home, including some newly identified and others with name changes.

“When people can identify the plants growing along a stream bank, recognise the native fish living beneath the water's surface, or understand the role aquatic insects play in a healthy ecosystem, they develop a stronger connection to the natural world around them,” Nadine said.

Copies of A field guide to Marlborough’s Freshwater Flora and Fauna are now available at no cost at Council’s Customer Service Centre in Blenheim.