ANNuAldrAW 2015

Support WTT by buying a book ofraffle tickets (just £5!) to win thefantastic prizes below. Purchase

using the enclosed order form, fromthe shop on our website, or by

phoning the WTT on 023 9257 0985.Orders must be received by

Monday 7 December.Draw to take place at the Thomas

Lord pub, West Meon, Hants at 7pmon Tuesday 8 December.

FIRST PRIZE Kindly donated by Sage, worth£669. A Sage One 9ft 6in, 4-piece,

4-weight Fly Rod.

SECOND PRIZEKindly donated by The Peacock atRowsley & Haddon Fisheries,

worth £400. One night’saccommodation in a large

double/twin room for 2 with3-course dinner and buffet breakfast,plus 2 low-season tickets to fish the

Derbyshire Wye.

THIRD PRIZEKindly donated by Orvis, worth

£310. A day’s trout fishing on Orvis’sItchen beat at Abbots Worthy for 2rods in August or September 2016.

FOURTH PRIZEKindly donated by Snowbee,

worth £174. Snowbee Spectre 3-4weight Fly Reel and an XS-Plus

Spectre 4-weight fly line.

FIFTH PRIZEKindly donated by Phoenix Lines,worth £80. 2 Phoenix Tenkara Lines,

2 Phoenix Braided Leaders and 4Phoenix Furled Leaders.

NewsAUTUMN 2015Wild TrouT TrusT

2

Conservation Awards front, pages 2–6Notices page 6-7Conservation officer updates pages 8-16

other News pages 16-22book reviews page 23WTT shop page 24

iN THis issue

WTT CONSERvATION AWARDS 2015

Wild TrouT TrusTCoNservATioN AWArds 2015,suPPorTed by THAMes WATer

over 100 guests attended a WildTrout Trust evening at the

savile Club in Mayfair to present the2015 awards for the best riverhabitat conservation projects. Theevening was introduced by WTTdirector, shaun leonard, with theawards presented by richard Aylardof Thames Water, which generouslysponsors the Conservation Awards –but the process begins long beforethe awards night. Here, WTT's Troutin the Town Programme Manager,Paul Gaskell, wears his judge’s hat totell us something of this year’sentries.

The WTT Conservation Awardsrecognise and encourage excellence inthe management and conservation ofwild trout habitat, celebrating theefforts, skills and ingenuity of projectscarried out both by professionals and bygrass roots voluntary organisations. Ithas been a privilege to work alongsideDr Jenny Mant for the past four years toinvestigate and judge the tremendousefforts of applicants.

A dozen great projects competed forprizes this year and I want to give just asmall flavour of each of them – finishingup with the winners. Each and everyproject deserves a huge amount ofrecognition and the margins betweenrunners-up and award winners is sosmall that it is really important topromote all of the projects that getthrough to be interviewed.

Here are the projects (and thecategory in which they were judged);each accompanied by necessarily scantdescriptions of their scope.

Cumbrian Derwent , RiverCorr idor Group

Lead applicant Jack Abernathyexplains that “The project was originallyset up in 2005 with the aim ofdelivering, through partnership, works toimprove the river environment for thepurposes of enhancing the conservationstatus of the SAC (Special Area ofConservation). Since this time theproject has evolved to include a numberof partners all working together tosecure funding, deliver practical worksand engage key stakeholders in the goodwork we do. The key objectives includeworks to improve riparian habitatthrough stock exclusion and riparian

planting, to improve in-river habitat forfish species through the introduction oflarge woody debris, spawning gravelsand through assisted natural recoveryprojects.” This group of stakeholderscontribute significant financial supportto ensuring that their goals are met –which, in addition to tacklingenvironmental pressures, has seen adramatic shift towards catch-and-releasefishing away from a long-standingadherence to catch-and-kill.

Leven, Hutton Rudby F lyF ish ing Club

The application made under leadcontact John Gifford explains that alogbook scheme was ratified by the clubcommittee that allowed the impact andvalue for money of their fish stockingprogramme to be assessed. Coupledwith innovative and low-cost, self-madefish passage easements and in-channel

Contributionto Wild TroutConservation

Jeremy Paxman and Matt Wright.

3

habitat improvement, the logbookresults led to the club switching to awild, catch and release trout fishery thatenjoys fantastic catches of wild fish. Atremendous case study and example forfishing clubs everywhere.

Thornton Beck, P icker ingF isher ies Associat ion

Previous winners of a WTTConservation Award, the Associationcontinues to campaign for improvedland-use, landowner engagement and,under this year’s lead applicant MartinSmith and team, to expand in-channelhabitat works to an area of ThorntonBeck. The Beck endures a number ofsurrounding land-use pressures thatinclude forestry and livestockproduction. Balancing the priorities ofmultiple interests whilst promoting andprotecting self-sustaining wild browntrout populations (and makingdeliberate habitat provision for widerbiodiversity) is a terrific undertaking andWTT looks forward to supporting theclub in their current and future efforts.

Medium sizedProjects

challenges to win huge improvements ingeomorphology, connectivity, water-quality, riparian flora and in-channelhabitat structure. A flagship project thatsits in an even larger scheme (andnarrowly edged out from the award by asingle point).

Wel land, River Wel landRivers Trust

Lead applicant Lisa Smallwood ex-plained that the river through MarketHarborough suffered severe impacts toits modified physical form, poor ecology,poor connectivity to the floodplain andthe local perception of a steady declinein environmental quality over the pastfew decades. The channel had been se-verely over-widened, dredged andstraightened. Several weirs had been in-stalled to maintain water in the channelin summer months. Working under sig-nificant constraints due to perceivedflood risk, the Trust was able to installover 80 marginal berms, remove barri-ers and tackle choking vegetation whilstimproving the energy and diversity offlows: an excellent achievement.

Wel low and Cam, Br istolAvon Rivers Trust

Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (leadapplicant Ian Mock) has worked to bringanonymous sections of river back to theattention of local community members.Along with improved access andinterpretive materials, in-channel habitatimprovements and greatly diversifiedtree canopy structure have broughtdirect benefits to the ecology and wildfish populations of these rivers. Theindirect benefits by significantlyincreasing the awareness andengagement of local communitymembers will help to generate ongoingbenefits for these rivers.

Upper Wandle(Carsha l ton) , South EastRivers Trust

It is difficult to over-use superlativesto describe the transformation of thissection of urban chalkstream in theLondon Borough of Sutton. A dedicatedteam of people headed by lead applicantDr Bella Davies have overcome myriadpractical, institutional and political

large sizedProjectsEden, Derwent and Kent –Cumbria River Restorat ionStrategy, Natura l Eng landand Environment AgencyPar tnership

An epic-scale project with leadapplicant Rebecca Gray explaining thatthe Cumbria River Restoration Strategy(RRS) is a partnership project betweenNatural England, the EnvironmentAgency and three Rivers Trusts (Eden,West Cumbria and South Cumbria). Thispartnership seeks to implement riverrestoration across three rivercatchments. The works includedextensive interventions to land-use,uncovering and returning historically-diverted rivers into their paleo-channelsand direct structural habitatimprovements. It is impossible tocapture the scale of this project in just afew sentences where objectivesincluded (but were by no means limitedto) reduction in sediment inputs,increased biodiversity, improved flood-water management, improved salmonid

fish populations and more.

Tarrant , Env ironmentAgency and River TarrantPar tnership

Lead applicants Sarah Guest andRoger Genge drove a project on the15km long river – with significantchallenges posed by periodic drying outof the channel (and the upper reachesbeing a winterbourne). In 2015, some2,000+ fish were rescued, about halfeach from the upper and lower dryingsections. Without this effort, these fishwould have died or been predated on, asthe pools in which they get strandedeventually dry out completely. The aimsof the project have been to improveupstream and downstream migration byimproving sinuosity between pools,reducing barriers to migration andextending the range of migration. Greatimprovements have been made in theface of substantial constraints due toflood risk and land-use imperatives.

South West CatchmentRestorat ion Fund,Westcountr y Rivers Trust

In 2012 the Westcountry Rivers Trust(WRT) through lead applicant LaylaOusley secured CRF funding to deliverover £4 million of river restoration andcatchment management work. This wasexecuted over three years on rivercatchments across the South Westunder the following 5 projects: The Dartand Teign River Improvement Project(DTRIP), The South Cornwall RiversImprovement Project (SCRIP), TheSouth Hams River Improvement Project(SHRIMP), The Taw River ImprovementProject (TRIP) and The Axe and ExeRiver Improvement Project (AERIP). Allriver improvement projects werespecifically developed using a rigorousevidence-led, partnership approach tomitigate the pressure acting on theserivers and improve the health of theseprecious and vital river ecosystems. Yetagain, the scale and ambition of theworks completed during this project arenot possible to convey in just a fewwords.

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WTT CONSERvATION AWARDS 2015 – WINNERS

Lough Derg Wild BrownTrout Conservat ion, Co.Donegal , I re land.Pett igo & Distr ict Angl ingAssociat ion, in Par tnershipwith the Loughs Agency.

Declining wild trout populations,including a rare and genetically distinctoutlet spawning trout, prompted thelocal angling association to take action.Working with the Loughs Agency, BelfastUniversity and the Wild Trout Trust,Pettigo & District Angling Associationcombined genetics, citizen science andhands-on habitat improvement to stopthe decline. This project is a superbexample of how an angling club caninvolve a wide range of other groupsand organisations in a long-term andwide-ranging conservation project.

Contributionto Wild TroutConservation

River Lark at West StoweCountr y Park , Suf fo lk . Bury St Edmunds TroutClub (BTC).

This project is a story of sheerdogged determination, with GlennSmithson, Ian Hawkins and theirsupporters battling against widely-heldviews that what they were attempting(and have now achieved) wasimpossible. Five years after decidingthat the wild trout in the River Larkdeserved better habitat, the project wasfinally delivered by the late Dr NigelHolmes in association with the BTC.The result is the transformation of astraight, dredged channel into a sinuous,lively river bustling with wildlife. As wellas promoting a wild and self-sustainingpopulation of wild brown trout, theproject benefits all wildlife includingdamselflies, ground nesting birds, owlsand water voles.

Medium sizedProject

Davy Stinson and Michael Stinson of Pettigo & District AA(centre and front right) receive their trophy from Richard Aylardof Thames Water (left) and WTT's Shaun Leonard (back right).

An improved Lough Derg feeder stream.

Ian Hawkins and Glenn Smithson receivingtheir trophy for the Medium Sized project.

CONSERvATION UPDATES

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Upper River Aire , NorthYorkshire , Malham toKeighley. The EnvironmentAgency (EA) in Par tnershipwith the Yorkshire Farmingand Wild l i fe Par tnershipand the Yorkshire Wild l i feTrust .

Although flowing through thebeautiful landscape of the YorkshireDales National Park, the Upper RiverAire is a troubled river, severelyimpacted by diffuse pollution fromagriculture. Enthusiastic localEnvironment Agency staff established apartnership to tackle the issues withlandowners and farmers. Starting withdemonstration plots to prove thebenefits, they have worked with 15landowners to carry out work such asfencing buffer strips, visited over 50farms to advise on nutrient managementand planted 27 hectares of woodland.These actions will not only reducepollution but will also help slow the flowof flood water and improve the qualityof habitat for wildlife. Congratulationsto Pete Turner and the EA team and thepartners working on this flagshipproject.

large sizedProject

The River Lark in Suffolk, looking like a functioning chalkstream!

Pete Evans of the EnvironmentAgency (centre) receives the trophy

for the Large Sized project.

Prize winning riparian improvements on the Upper Aire in Yorkshire.

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THe Wild TrouT Hero 2015MIke Duddy

This year, at the WTTConservation Awards, supported

by Thames Water, we presented thesecond Wild Trout Hero award to aperson who, in our view, has pushedthose extra yards to make life betterfor wild trout; WTT’s 2015 WildTrout Hero is Mike duddy.

Mike Duddy is an indefatigablechampion for wild trout in the northwest of England, especially his nativeIrwell, Irk and beyond in the Merseybasin. He spearheads the SalfordFriendly Anglers Society, reputedly thecountry’s oldest (and a free-to-join)fishing club that seeks to have peoplecampaigning and caring for (and enjoyingfishing in) the Irwell.

Mike has been a great friend to WTTand established a strong partnershipwith our Trout in the Town (TinT)project, led by Paul Gaskell, helping usorganise a highly successful gathering of

the TinT clans on the banks for theIrwell in 2013.

As Mike says “All we want is a riveras good as everybody else’s. We don’twant anything better.” He’s doing his

very best to make that happen in andaround Greater Manchester and WTT isdelighted to recognise his achievementsas our 2015 Wild Trout Hero.

WTT CONSERvATION AWARDS 2015 – WINNERS

NOTICES

Please come to the british Fly Fairand visit our stand.

Staffordshire County Showground.www.bffi.co.uk or tel. 01782 388382.

Just in time to buy some fishing atthe start of the new trout season! We’ll run the auction again on eBay

and by post and we hope to have over200 lots, mainly fishing but also books,art, tackle and flies and some more un-usual lots (for example, learning how tobrew beer). If you are planning a fishingholiday, watch out for the overseas fish-ing section in the catalogue for someexcellent offers. We will be sending out

4-13 MArCHANNuAlAuCTioN

the printed catalogue to members inearly February and the illustrated ver-sion will be available to download as aPDF file or view online on the websitearound the same time. We had over 250lots in 2015, so the catalogue is gettingrather large! This year, we will divide theEngland fishing section into regions tomake it easier to find the lots you mightbid for near to home and away. The elec-tronic version is easy to search and wehave a map of fishing lots on the websiteso you will be able to zoom in to seewhat is available in a particular area. Ifyou are new to eBay, please contact usfor help and advice, or put in a bid bypost to Christina in the WTT office andshe will bid on your behalf.

The auction is an increasingly vitalsource of funding for us. We raised over£70,000 in the auction in 2015, and thatmoney helps us to deliver more practi-cal advice and in river-habitat projects. Itenables us to buy basic tools and equip-ment like chainsaws and waders for ourConservation Officers to do their workin the river; provides us with match-funding to help release more projectmoney from other sources such as char-

13-14FebruArybFFi

itable trusts and enables us to keep theteam up to date with latest research,and help disseminate this informationvia the website. These purchases and ac-tivities would be hard to fund in anyother way.

If you or your club or syndicatewould like to offer a lot for the auction,please contact Denise Ashton: 07802454157 / dashton@wildtrout.org.

Following on from truly memo-rable WTT Get Togethers in re-

cent years, we are delighted toannounce that our 2016 event will bebased at Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’slangford reserve on the river Wylyenear salisbury.

We hope to run an Anglers RiverflyMonitoring Initiative training day in asso-ciation with the Riverfly Partnership onFriday, then a day of top quality talks and

10-12 JuNeANNuAl GeT-ToGeTHer

WTT's Wild Trout Hero 2015 - Mike Duddy (centre)

CONSERvATION UPDATES

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a river walk on Saturday and a chance tosample some excellent chalkstreamtrout fishing on Sunday. Keep an eye onthe WTT website and the nextNewsletter for details in the New Year.

For many anglers, fishing for wildtrout on natural rivers and lakes

has given us some of our most re-warding and memorable experiences.

Joining the Wild Trout Trust and per-haps starting some of our own habitatimprovements are just two ways we canput something back into a sport that hasgiven us so much pleasure, and ensurethat the experience will still be there forour children and grandchildren to enjoy.Other valuable ways include making adonation to the Trust, or by leaving a giftin your will.

Finding the funds to carry on ourwork is a constant challenge, and we dolive ‘hand-to-mouth’. Any gifts we re-ceive help enormously to allow us tobridge those periods when, inevitably,other funding is hard to find. Your giftcan be designated for a particular pur-pose, river or catchment if you wish, orcan support our day-to-day advisorywork and practical projects. Advice onhow to make a gift in your will is avail-able on the website under ‘Support Us’,or contact Denise Ashton on 07802454157 / dashton@wildtrout.org.

leAve A GiFTiN your WillTo WTT

iN MeMoryoF dAveJeNKiNs

The fisheries world mourns theloss of dave Jenkins who died in

August 2015 after a short illness. In his early career days, Dave was

Senior Fisheries Officer based atOxford, appointed by Thames WaterAuthority at the time of the making ofthe 1975 Salmon & Freshwater FisheriesAct that mandated the Authority tomaintain, improve and developfreshwater and migratory fisheries. Hewas almost the only one of the fisheriespersonnel with Thames Water whowasn’t an angler but he used hiseducation – having a degree in appliedzoology – and his strong interest andknowledge in the natural world and wasone of those who clearly understoodthat thriving fisheries need a goodquality environment. Dave pioneered theholistic approach to fisheriesmanagement at a time when it was alltoo easy to rely on restocking to solveproblems. His skills lay in breaking downbarriers – people, ideas, entrenchedviews – and moving forward. He saw thebigger picture but was not uncaring ofthe smaller view – detail mattered.

One of Dave’s legacies lies in thegeneration of young fisheryprofessionals that he inspired, as afriend, mentor and moral touchstone:Greg Armstrong, Alan Butterworth, PeteGough, vaughan Lewis, Martin Moore,John Sutton, WTT’s Andy Thomas andGodfrey Williams were all among Dave’searliest work colleagues.

In 1988, Dave moved back to hisnative Wales to take up the post ofDirector of Coed Cymru, championingsustainable forestry.

Dave’s enjoyment came from being inthe countryside and engaging with othercountry folk. He spent much of his sparetime out with his dogs and ferrets and,during his years at Oxford, was alsoshowing his interest in wood, producingsome quality individual pieces offurniture and very fine relief carvings ofbirds and animals.

So long, Dave – even the mightiest ofoaks have to fall.

planning to enhance the content of thispage by adding a list of clubs andsyndicates that are looking formembers, or willing to add members totheir waiting list. It will be a PDFdocument that can be downloaded fromour website and will hold some basicinformation on club name, location,website, type of fishing and a contactdetails. Anglers can then contact theclub directly if they are interested inlearning more.

If clubs are willing to offer guesttickets for prospective members, we willinclude that too. We will review the listevery January.

We can’t guarantee that all thepeople that get in touch will be WTTmembers, nor will we get involved in‘vetting’ people in any way, but we hopethat the connection with the WTT willhelp link up like-minded anglers and wildtrout fishing.

If your club or syndicate would liketo be included in the list, please get intouch with Denise Ashton ondashton@wildtrout.org.

FisHiNG ClubiNForMATioNoN WTTWebsiTe

We are often contacted by troutfishermen requesting

information about clubs they mightbe able to join, and the WTT teamanswer based on their localknowledge on an ad hoc basis.

Our website receives over 10,000visits a month and one of the popularpages is about wild trout fishing. We are

WTT does a huge amount ofwork with volunteers in and

around our rivers. We are blessed by donations of

money and sometimes kit to supportthat work and are delighted to reportthat Richard Hardy, a WTT Life Member,has donated a Stihl brushcutter andHayter wheeled strimmer which we’lluse carefully when the right opportunityarises. Many thanks, Richard.

doNATioNoF KiT

river usK,dAN-y-PArC,

CriCKHoWell A few 2016 season rods available.Excellent fly fishing for wild brown

trout and salmon. Both banks are 1.5miles long. Easy access and wading.

For details please email RobertMelvin: rm.a@btinternet.com.

CONSERvATION OFFICER UPDATES

8

souTH WesT – MiKe blACKMoreA Simply Stagger ingSummer of Work

The summer has beenexceptionally busy in the south

West: this season, i’ve worked in 7different rivers on 8 different projectswith 5 different project partners. ontop of that have been a handful ofone-day practical visits (Pvs) and afew days over in the south eastdelivering river Habitat Workshopdays on tributaries of the river Colnein Hertfordshire. As i type this, mypoor chainsaw is in for multiplerepairs and a service to recover fromthe beasting it’s received over thepast month in particular (six of theseprojects have been undertaken inoctober). The van also needs aservice and all my waders needpatching!

The season kicked off with a coupleof Pvs followed by a fish passage andspawning enhancement project on theRiver Crane at Edmondsham in Dorset.Here, a small weir holding up a head ofwater to supply fishing lakes was abarrier, limiting the availability ofspawning habitat to the Crane’s annualrun of sea trout. In addition, some of theexisting spawning sites were in a state ofdeterioration, putting the population atrisk of decline. The initial plan was toease passage over the weir with timberbaffles affixed to the wing-walls of theexisting weir. However, fate would haveit that the weir became breached duringwinter flows, giving rise to theopportunity to create a more naturaland simple alternative. Logs were cutfrom nearby alders and used toformalise the breach and create anaturalistic pool and traverse-style fishpass. This low-cost solution was createdin just two days with volunteersproviding the elbow grease.

The next project was the first of fouron the Hampshire Avon and itstributaries and the first of threeproviding graft and technical support toMartijn Antheunisse’s river and wetlandrestoration team at Wiltshire WildlifeTrust (WWT). Situated on the upstreamoutskirts of Salisbury, the project atButt’s Sports field was relatively limitedin terms of what Flood DefenceConsent would allow. However, Martijn

has become more bold and ambitiouswith every restoration project and wasdetermined to take every opportunityto introduce woody habitat featuresinto the channel. An army of volunteersturned up to help improve the river andpatch up eroded ‘dog-slides’ along thebank. The project was fully supported bySalisbury & District Angling Club whoshould start to see the benefits of thework by this time next year.

Other projects within the HantsAvon catchment have included three on

the River Nadder. The first was a habitatimprovement project with WWT atChicksgrove near Tisbury whichincluded felling and hinging some treesdown near-vertical banks into thepreviously dredged, over-shaded andoverly-uniform channel. The newfeatures have allowed more light intothe channel, diversified flows andreactivated channel morphology.

The next on the Nadder was withJacob Dew of Wessex Chalkstream andRivers Trust (WCSRT) downstream at

The completed pass.

Volunteers on the Hants Avon at Salisbury.

CONSERvATION UPDATES

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Burcombe, near Barford St Martin. Theweek consisted of hinging banksidetrees to create an abundance ofmarginal coarse woody habitat alongsidepotentially productive spawning riffles.Followed up with a good gravel jetting,the result is an absolute textbookexample of prime salmonid spawningand nursery habitat. This is part of awider project across a number of othersites in the wider Avon catchment andit’s great to see WCSRT delivering somuch in-channel work.

The final Nadder project was also, inpart, a project on the River Wylye. Backhelping WWT with an ambitious 1700mre-wilding project of the confluence ofthe Wylye and Nadder at Quidhamptonnear Wilton. This has been one of theboldest projects I’ve worked on forsome years and it has been an absolutejoy to be involved. I’ve heard it said thatwhen using woody debris for riverrestoration, “Go hard, or go home!”.very few people, however, have the gutsto follow this through. MartijnAntheunisse’s team, with the blessing ofthe Wylye Fly Fishing Club and thesupport of the Environment Agencyhave gone all out. Monster-sized treesdropped into the river and created areally substantial change in flow. I can’twait to see how the Wylye and Nadderadapt over the next few years but I’d

put money on it being one of thewildest and most diverse reaches ofeach river.

The final project with WWT was atChisenbury on the Avon. A precursor toa bigger project planned for next year(watch this space). It was great to beback in the upper reaches of the Avon (Iworked on a river restoration projectup at Chisenbury in my previous life as acontractor). It’ll always be a favouritepart of the river for me. As with most ofthe other projects this year, it was astory of hinging and staking. Instanthabitat for fish and setting the river upnicely to get some gravel on the movethis winter.

From the Hampshire Avon totributaries of the Bristol Avon, a coupleof projects have had great volunteerturnout. Firstly, a project with theBristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART)introducing sunlight and woody habitatfeatures to Luckington Brook atSherford, near Malmesbury. As withother BART projects I’ve helped with,the proximity of the EnvironmentAgency offices in central Bristol broughtout a variety of EA volunteers thatwould otherwise have been chained to adesk for the working day, includingvolunteers from the legal team and theclimate change team.

Finally, a project on the River Biss on

the outskirts of Trowbridge. The Friendsof Biss Meadows Country Park(FoBMCP) turned out in fantasticnumbers with wheelbarrows full ofenthusiasm. We had volunteers as youngas 7 who got stuck into planting upbrushwood berms and a welcomehelping-hand from members of the EAFisheries, Biodiversity andGeomorphology team out of theBridgewater Office. (You just can’t beatvolunteers in dry-suits – you can sendthem anywhere!)

These projects have been on top ofthe usual Advisory visits and I’ve evenmanaged to fit in a belated honeymoonto Grenada and a road trip holidayaround Scotland. This coming winter, I’mlooking forward to slowing down just alittle and getting ready to squeeze a fewmore projects into the tiny windowbetween the end of the spawning seasonand the end of the financial year. I’m alsolooking forward to getting back into theday job and hopefully meeting moreWTT members in and around the SouthWest.

A restored spawning riffle on the Nadder at Burcombe.

EA volunteers help diversifyLuckington Brook.

The course of the new channel (blue line) alongside the oldengineered section (flow left to right).

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MidlANds ANd eAsT ANGliA – TiM JACKliNGrange Farm, River Witham

WTT have been involved in anumber of projects on the

upper river Witham in lincolnshire,the latest of which is the most ambi-tious undertaken… so far! in partner-ship with the local environmentAgency team at lincoln, GranthamAngling Association and landownersstoke rochford estate, a 600m reachhas been restored to provide bothsuperb trout habitat and access forfish around a previously impassableweir.

The redundant weir dates back tothe mid-nineteenth century when it wasused to drive a ram pump supplyingwater to nearby houses and farms. Tocreate the differential water level overthe weir, the river channel had been

moved to the side of the valley, widenedand straightened. The original course ofthe river in the valley bottom was lost,apart from a few damp depressions inthe field betraying its former route.Over the intervening years, the riverchannel filled with fine sediment trappedabove the weir (to a measured depth ofover a metre) and became uniformlyshallow and silty.

During July and August this year, theriver was restored to a route approxi-mating its original (pre-weir) course.The new channel was designed by GezFoster and Katie Murphy of the Environ-ment Agency to ensure that naturalriver processes and habitats would berestored. I jointly supervised the con-struction and the overall project wasexpertly managed by Katie Murphy. Thenew reach is 600m long, an increase of

Grange Weir before: straight, wide, shallow,silt-choked channel upstream of the weir.

Grange Weir after: water flows downthe new channel for the first time.

200m on the old channel because of therestoration of meanders. 24 pools werecreated and the same number of spawn-ing riffles constructed from 400 tonnesof imported gravels. The excavated spoilwas used to backfill the old channel.

Only around a dozen trout werefound in the old channel during theplanned fish rescue prior to backfilling.We expect to see a large increase inthat number in the new channel as itmatures.

Bent ley Brook

The bentley brook, a tributary ofthe river dove, derbyshire, has

recently benefited from the removalof an obstruction to fish passage. 

A former packhorse bridge collapsedinto the brook decades ago, the debris

Grange Weir during: excavating the course of the newchannel (the old channel is at the base of the tree-line).

CONSERvATION OFFICER UPDATES

CONSERvATION UPDATES

11

forming a swift-flowing cascade and im-pounding the brook upstream into aslow-flowing, silty reach. Working withthe Environment Agency’s Fisheries, Bio-diversity & Geomorphology team atLichfield, we removed the stone fromthe river and installed large woody de-bris at four locations upstream. The bedof the brook has since naturally re-graded to expose gravel and createmore varied and valuable habitat. 

Hof fer Brook

The Hoffer brook is an 8km longtributary of the river rhee, a

Cambridgeshire chalkstream. The Brook had been neglected for

decades since it was dredged for landdrainage purposes, resulting in the over-widened channel becoming denselyovergrown and full of silt. Step in RobMungovan, Ecology Consultancy Officerwith South Cambridgeshire DistrictCouncil (and WTT stalwart), and RuthHawksley, Water for Wildlife Officerwith the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire,Cambridgeshire & Northamptonshire(WTBCN). Building on work carriedout on the lower reaches in 2014, thisyear the middle reaches of the brookhave been improved by clearing scrub,narrowing the low-flow channel, re-pro-filing banks, introducing log flow deflec-tors and constructing cattle drinks. Wewere pleased to help by providing ademonstration day with WTBCN volun-teers in August to demonstrate in-stream habitat techniques. Theimprovements will make the brookmore resilient to floods and droughts,enhance the habitat for fish and wildlifeand benefit users of the adjacent publicfootpath.

Dunston Medieva l Fayre

in something of a departure fromthe natural habitat of a WTT Con-

servation officer, i found myselfdressed as a monk and manning astand at a Medieval Fayre in the lin-colnshire village of dunston in lateseptember.

As ‘Friar’ Tim I was accompanied by‘Sir’ Matthew Parr (Environment AgencyFisheries) and ‘Lady’ Fiona McKenna(Lincolnshire Rivers Trust). The aim ofthe weekend was to publicise the habi-tat restoration work that these partners

Installing large woody debris on the Bentley Brook.

Rob Mungovan and nephew Harry at work on Hoffer Brook.

have carried outon the DunstonBeck and tomake contactwith locallandowners andresidents. Thiswas successfulwith subsequentinvitations froma number oflandowners tovisit their sec-tions of the Beck.

The EmRiver river simulation modelproved a popular attraction on thestand, as did the bugs and grubs sourcedfrom the Beck in the village centre. Fol-

Tim in the stocks – the result of admitting to oncehaving fished down-and-across on a chalkstream.

lowing on from this, Lincolnshire RiversTrust are leading a project in localschools using WTT’s Mayfly in the Class-room initiative.

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NorTHerN eNGlANd – GAreTH PedleyDemo Day in NorthYorkshire

Following on from the success ofprevious practical demonstrations

in the north, a workshop was held onthe river seph in North yorkshire.

The potential for this work wasidentified during a Water FrameworkDirective investigation walkover of theRiver, back in November 2013,undertaken with John Shannon of theEast Yorkshire Rivers Trust. Along withmany issues such as poor fish passage,overgrazing of the banks and significantfine sediment input to the watercourse,the walkover identified potential conflictbetween the preservation of valuable in-channel habitat and the way that riparianowners and tenants manage largewoody material that enters the river.This led to development of theworkshop to demonstrate ways ofmanaging trees and branches that enterthe watercourse, to reduce bankerosion, but avoiding full removal so asto retain the habitat it provides.

The day began with a river walk todiscuss the habitat that was currentlyavailable and issues that were impactingupon the river and adjacent land,

including several issues that wereincreasing bank erosion. This wasfollowed by a demonstration of how alarge tree within the channel, that wascausing accelerated bank erosion, couldbe managed without full removal. Theinitial intention was to swing the treeround from its location, across thechannel, so that it lay alongside the bankto which its roots were still attached, aswould be the optimal solution.Unfortunately, this proved too much forthe small hand-powered winch and aback-up plan had to be devised. Toreduce the weight of the tree and allowit to be swung round, it was decided tocut the tree in half and remove some ofthe side branches. This allowed the tophalf (canopy) to be employed as a tree-kicker by cabling it to a nearby tree, justdownstream and then, maintaining thebutt section attached to the bank,swinging it round to lie along the bankand tree-kicker. This worked well andgreatly increased the channel capacity,reducing the erosive forces acting uponthe opposite bank while also retainingvital cover and structure within theriver channel.

In addition to the tree work, brashmattress-type bank revetment was also

demonstrated on a large erosion bay ashort distance downstream. Thisemployed some of the branchesremoved from the fallen tree and somethinned from adjacent alder coppices.The technique was simply to create adiffuse structure along the base of thetall, steep eroding bank that woulddissipate the flow energy acting uponthe bank and also help to retain anymaterial that slumped from the bankabove, allowing it time to becomevegetated and consolidate to form thenew bank. This technique can be veryeffective and relies upon dissipating theenergy of river flows to reduce erosion,rather than installing hard engineeredstructures that simply deflect the energyof scouring flows and cause erosion inother areas. There is some risk that itwill wash out before the bank canbecome established with vegetation, aswith any bank revetment, but it isrelatively cheap and easy to install andcan also provide good marginal habitat.

These techniques are regularlydemonstrated by the WTT all aroundthe country so it is well worth keepingan eye on our website and social mediafor workshops you may like to attend inyour local area.

CONSERvATION OFFICER UPDATES

souTH ANd WesT – ANdy THoMAs

The back end of summer and earlyautumn for a WTT Conservation

officer is a little like being one ofsanta’s elves in the first three weeksof december! Manic but extremelyrewarding and for me, 2015 has beenthe busiest yet.

Our core work has, and probablyalways will be, to help others to improvehabitat for trout through providingadvice and support. Increasingly, we aredelivering more practical work inpartnership with other NGOs than everbefore, as well as keeping up withdemand for providing up to date advice.The demand for river habitatworkshops and habitat managementtraining has also surged and in the lastthree months. I have conductedproceedings on eight different riversystems as far apart as the Suffolk Stourand Lark, to the Leach inGloucestershire, down to the South

coast on the little Ems in West Sussex:getting into rivers and streams withdozens of volunteers to make adifference for trout. If you haven’tattended one of our events and you feellike toning up your tummy muscles, thenget in touch with your nearest WTTConservation Officer to find out wherethe next event is to be held.

A slightly different projectopportunity cropped up this summerwhen the EA suggested that thecontractors working on behalf of theHighways Agency on a major roadimprovement scheme near the M27 inSouthampton, might like to talk to theWTT about mitigation opportunities.Identifying habitat bottlenecks on thepoor little Monks Brook (Itchentributary) was not too much of achallenge for me, mainly because the500m of channel running upstream fromthe road works have been lined in

concrete for the past 40 plus years!Agreeing what might constituteadequate mitigation and coming up withan affordable restoration plan was alittle more difficult.

Following several site visits and someinteresting meetings, I had managed tocome up with a simple design thatinvolved breaking out the concrete bedto create three discrete holding poolswith long gravel tail runs wherespawning could potentially take place forthe first time in decades. Prior to theworks being completed, the deepestwater to be found could be waded in asize 10 Argyll welly. The work is nowcomplete and we have three lovelyholding pools which will provide arefuge for sea trout that are known topush up into the Monks Brook forspawning in the autumn and early winterperiod.

A bonus is that prior to the work

CONSERvATION UPDATES

13

Breaking out the re-enforced concrete bed on the Monks Brook.

A new home for Monks Brook sea trout.

Suffolk-Norfolk borders for a weekwhere I helped the Suffolk Wildlife Trustand local EA team complete a riverenhancement project on a the LittleOuse, it was back down to the WestSussex-Hampshire borders to tackle achannel restoration project on the RiverEms.

This project built on the fruitfulpartnership WTT has developed withthe Arun Rother Rivers Trust andinvolved three phases of work torestore a section of channel adverselyimpacted by abstraction (funded byPortsmouth Water), restore a variedand diverse channel shape to apreviously straightened and divertedchannel and build an easement on aweir to aid sea trout migration (bothprojects funded via the Catchment

Partnership Action Fund).My ‘flagship’ project this autumn and

the one that has given me somesleepless nights was to build a new fishpass on the River Hamble at Durley Mill.Until comparatively recently, sea trouthad not been able to penetrate theHamble due to a large millingimpoundment at the head of theestuary. The EA set about building anovel naturalistic bypass channel severalyears ago and since then sea trout havebeen regularly seen pushing upstream.Unfortunately, full access to the 15km ofhigh quality spawning and nurseryhabitat was blocked by the medieval millat Durley.

Our very own Denise Ashton hasbeen active at local CatchmentPartnership meetings and it was Denisewho got the ball rolling with suggestionsthat perhaps the WTT could helpdeliver the project. Some initial seedcorn funding organised by Kerry Simsfrom the local EA team enabled theproject to gain momentum. CatchmentPartners, hosted by Groundwork, thenbid for the necessary funding to build astate-of-the-art Larinier fish pass. Withwonderful support from the Millowners, a small project group wasformed and it was our job to project-manage and oversee the fish passinstallation. The topographical survey,engineering drawings and fish passhardware were supplied by Dr TobyCoe at Fishtek and the supportingsteelwork fabricated locally. FloodDefence Consents secured, NationalFish Pass Panel approval in the bag, allthat was needed now was to pop thething in place!

One slight complication was the factthat we were to build the pass at thehead of a small bypass channel whichtakes flow of the main mill leat. Noproblem except that we needed to builda ford across a second channel to gainmachine-access for installation.Potentially this wouldn’t have been aproblem had it not rained very heavilythe day before we were to start workon site. Unfortunately, the gaps in mydiary are short and I was very worriedthat we would miss this season’swindow, with all the associateddifficulties of making sure the fundingwasn’t going to be pulled. Fortunately,Sandra Atkins, the Mill owner, suggestedthat we forgo creating the ford (which

being carried out it seems the MonksBrook here was being used as anobstacle course for, shall we say, boredindividuals in modified 4x4 vehicles... Theweekend following the completion ofthe first pool we managed to trap onesuch vehicle, the driver of which wasn’texpecting the concrete bed to give wayinto a four and half foot deep pool.Never mind, new engines aren’t thatexpensive! Hopefully they will go awaynow and play somewhere else wherethere are no trout. Congratulations tothe local EA officers for insisting onriver enhancements, to the HighwaysAgency for stumping up the funding andto the contractors who seemed toenjoy the challenge after a slightly shakystart.

After briefly whizzing up to the

14

CONSERvATION OFFICER UPDATES

Abrief piece penned from myholiday across the Pond, chasing

snook and spanish mackerel.Time seems to have flown since my

first contribution to the newsletterwhen I had only been in post about sixweeks. So, what has been happening inmy corner of the North? I've continuedto foster and develop relationships withvarious angling clubs and organisationslike the wildlife trusts and rivers trustsstretching from the Lune in the West tothe Rye more to the East. Almost every-where I have gone, the eagerness to en-gage and the passion for helping riversto perform naturally to the best of theirability has been heartening and wel-come.

Although I am still yet to undertakeany major practical works on my ownpatch, plans are afoot. I have madeexceedingly good links with the drivingforce behind the Upper Aire Project,Pete Turner of the EA, whom you might

recognise because that outstandingpartnership work scooped the largesized project category at the recentWTT Conservation Awards. Together,and with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, wehave secured two funding pots to tackletwo different tributaries of the Aire: avery small beck within the ConistonEstate which we hope to improve forspawning and juvenile habitat (thesubject of a 2015 Advisory visit), and theEastburn Beck. The latter was the focusof an Advisory visit by Paul Gaskell forthe Aire Rivers Trust some years ago, asit is regularly impounded by small weirs,and constrained by walled banks, afunction of its historic (ab)use at theheight of the milling industry. While wecannot remove the walls, we certainlyhope to notch some of the weirs anduse the remaining infrastructure to kick-start some more natural processes bothin terms of physical and ecologicalconnectivity. Obviously, with my science

background, we are undertaking somebaseline surveys of invertebratecommunity and fish populationstructure, and so just a couple of daysago, I accompanied the local EA fisheriesteam as they electrofishedrepresentative 50m sections.Unsurprisingly, the majority of fish werestuck in the few weir pools as it iscurrently the only holding habitat. Thosethat were caught were in fine fettlethough, so it is hoped by rewilding someof the channel and creating morecontiguous, better quality habitat, wecan boost the population of wild troutin this beck as well as make betterfeeding for the dippers, grey wagtails,and the resident pair of kingfishers. Wewill be taking regular fixed-pointphotography to document changes aswe remove some of the weir structures.

I can't talk about weir removal in thisneck of the woods without reference tothe cracking work of Ribble Rivers Trust.

EA’s Pete Turnerwith a beautifulEastburn Beckbrown trout.Electric fishing survey.

was due to be an asset for thehousehold) in favour of taking the fishpass and 8m long supporting RSJs intothe site by hand. This was to be our onlyviable option so the 360 was sentpacking and more hands drafted in andin less than three days we had ournewly installed Larinier super-active-bottom-baffle-multi-species fish passinstalled.

As I write we are just waiting for aspot of rain to fully charge the pass andentice some silver tourists up to thevirgin spawning territory that is themiddle and upper Hamble.

Post project with pinched pools,bends and runs on the Ems. Stairway to heaven on the Hamble.

RESEARCH & CONSERvATION OFFICER UPDATE

THe NorTH – JoN Grey

CONSERvATION UPDATES

15

TROUT IN THE TOWN UPDATE

ProGrAMMeMANAGer –PAulGAsKellTrent Tr ibutar y Reviva l inNewcast le-under-Lyme .

The lyme brook has now seen aseries of significant works spread

over two phases. Progress has been rapid and ex-

tremely well-received by the local com-munity. So much so, the local councilhave just installed a brown trout sculp-ture as an icon of the area. Me and TimJacklin designed, directed and carriedout the modification of the channel andassociated installation of additional habi-tat features along with volunteers pro-vided by Groundwork and theEnvironment Agency. Permissions, logis-tics and contractor-hire were all bril-liantly handled by Groundwork WestMidlands (including Steve Cook, LynneMorgan and Richard Schneider). Alongwith this organisational input, there aretwo other primary reasons that theseworks were moved rapidly and effec-tively from concept to delivery. One key

factor is found in the brilliant regionalEA personnel (particularly MattLawrence in his position within theTrent Catchment Partnership). Anotherequally important asset is the willingnessof Newcastle-under-Lyme council toembrace a bold and novel environmen-tal proposal – with Becky Allen beingcentral to that support.

The works completed so far inphases 1 and 2 (with a third to followshortly) comprise spawning riffle cre-ation using imported gravels, berm/me-ander creation using a mini-digger tocomplete ‘dig and dump’ riverbank andstream-bed reprofiling (and consolidat-ing this new profile with large woodymaterial and brash berms). Significantamounts of planting with native sedgeand iris are also adding to the structuraland ecological value of the new channel.In combination, these works have trans-formed a uniform channel with a bed ofrefuse sacks, broken brick, pottery andsand into a sinuous stream that now hasscattered boulders, gravel spawningbeds, scour-promoting large woody ma-terial and brash refugia.

The works have already been sub-jected to serious spate flows and theself-maintaining nature of the brashberms and large woody material haveserved to use the flow energy to main

What the channel looked like before the works. Same section of channel immediately

after the first phase of works.

I've had some long discussions withthem, from the perspective of my WTTand my academic caps, to develop somenovel metrics for measuring the successof restoration projects. We have hatcheda plan to use some of my stable isotopemetrics of food web architecture to notonly characterise the ideal or target forrestoration but also to measure how far

food webs might deviate from that ideal(the natural situation). This could beusefully trialled by a Masters student orthe like, so I am on the hunt.

In my first newsletter piece, I madereference to several scientific projectson which I am involved with severalresearch institutions and unfortunately,at the time of writing, they are still

ongoing with insufficient data analysedyet to tell a good tale. Plenty ofinteresting work to inform thereadership in the future though. Thewind is now dropping, the tide must beturning and the water beginning to slideoff the seagrass flats. Time to check outif the redfish are holing up on the sandypockets next to the mangrove.

channel with a bed of refuse sacks,broken brick, pottery and sand into asinuous stream that now has scatteredboulders, gravel spawning beds, scour-promoting large woody material andbrash refugia.

The works have already beensubjected to serious spate flows and theself-maintaining nature of the brashberms and large woody material haveserved to use the flow energy tomaintain and enhance the scour pooland gravel bar depositional features. Justprior to going to press, the site now hasa brand new interpretation board thatexplains how and why the habitat hasbeen transformed. This is an excellentfeature for such a well-used urbanpublic park. Judging from the amount ofinterest and enquiry from passers-byduring all of the habitat works events –the board will continue to providewelcome information to the localcommunity for all the times that theworkers cannot be on site.

Local resident and notorious RiverTrent trout-stalker Glenn Pointon hadthis to say after inspecting the section ofstream (which is very close to hishome) “The Wild Trout Trust have donea superb job on my Lyme brook thatfeeds the Upper Trent. For years Ihaven’t seen a fish there and it’s now no

16

longer a canal-type river. They havedone a fantastic job to speed up theflow and it has created some lovely littlefood lanes! If you’re not a member ofthe WTT you ought to be as they knowwhat a river should be like. I have myeyes peeled for some spawning on thegravel! Good work Paul Gaskell, I mighteven smack the Tenkara about on it!”

Por ter Brook De-culver t ing and RiverHabitat Works : Car Park toRivers ide Pocket ParkTransformat ion

Another major project that hasbeen progressing over summer

2015 is the uncovering of a section ofurban freestone stream in the centreof sheffield.

The Porter Brook pops up to thesurface in a staccato fashion throughoutthe city of Sheffield (finally joining theRiver Sheaf underneath platform 5 ofSheffield Railway Station). There is ashort section that had some daylightreaching it just around Matilda StreetBridge – and until recently there was acar park along the left hand bank of thatsection. Until fairly recently, there alsoused to be an industrial premises whoseconcrete floor used to conceal thebrook as it returned to a subterraneanchannel. Whether above or belowground, the brook is confined in an arti-ficial (and artificially-straight) channel –often running in a smooth concretechute. Despite this, where there are sec-tions of natural substrate, the inverte-brate communities have been found tobe among the most diverse in the wholecatchment of the River Don. With thedemolition of the industrial premises,

Work ongoing on Sheffield’s Porter Brook.

the lifting of the concrete lid – and nowthe removal of the steel joists spanningthe river at the site of the old building –the WTT has been working withSheffield City Council and civil engineer-ing contractors (ESH) to improve thechannel. Along with the creation of anew pocket park (that will providefloodwater storage as well as an attrac-tive amenity) beneath the site of the oldcar park, I have designed in-channel fea-tures that will be installed as part of areprofiling of the channel. Additionalcontractors will also carry out plantingon marginal berms that will be createdin order to introduce more sinuosityinto a straightened channel. The site isproving to be a very interesting andchallenging one to work in – as therehas already been valuable archaeologicalremains of buildings uncovered. This hasbeen meticulously drawn and recordedbefore being re-buried throughout thepocket park construction process. Re-markably, the people working on sitehave seen some small trout darting be-

lAKe sPAWNiNG by broWN TrouT

Marcus Walters, of the MorayFirth Trout initiative (MFTi), has

been doing some intriguing work onbrown trout spawning not intraditional river riffle areas, but onthe gravel margins of lakes.

Over the last three years, the MorayFirth Trout Initiative (MFTI) has beenusing local volunteers to investigatelochs in the North East of Scotland

through walkover habitat surveys andangling sampling days. This work hashighlighted a number of world-classbrown trout angling lochs with naturallyrecruiting populations despite therebeing minimal or no stream spawninghabitat. Further investigation in theautumn at one site revealed extensivespawning activity and redds in gravel at2-3m depth in the loch, leading to the

conclusion that these were loch-spawning trout. Subsequentcorrespondence with other projects andbiologists around the UK soon revealedthat although this behaviour was widelysuspected there was very little first-hand observation or solid evidence.

Brown trout, Salmo trutta, ispredominantly considered a streamspawner and although there are

TROUT IN THE TOWN UPDATE CONTINUED

OTHER NEWS

tween what scant cover currently existsin this channel. Hopefully in the comingmonths, the available cover and the to-pography of the channel will become amuch more hospitable home for urbanwild trout and other species ofSheffield’s river corridors.

What with ongoing interests in theRiver Irk, River Douglas and all otherexisting Trout in the Town branches –there is lots to look forward to for oururban trout. There are some newpotential projects that we are looking todevelop on the Upper Dearne in SouthYorkshire, the Penk on the outskirts ofWolverhampton among an interestingmix of other projects too. Check outthe WTT Conservation Awards item inthis Newsletter to see what else I havebeen up to over the last few months…

Any ‘urban trouty’ project queriescan be sent to me atpgaskell@wildtrout.org or over thephone on 07919 157267.

CONSERvATION UPDATES

17

A trout redd, though this one’s not in a lake.

observations of lake spawning it is notwell documented in the scientificliterature and its relative contribution torecruitment is poorly understood. Thereare plenty of anecdotal reports where itis thought to take place but few of thesehave been thoroughly investigated andparticularly in the UK, very few havebeen scientifically recorded. Consideringthe importance of good spawninghabitat and its potential vulnerability toimpacts from land use, it is essential weimprove our understanding of theextent of loch spawning and the physicalenvironment required for it to occur.

Lake spawning is a key strategy ofmany species with similar requirementsto brown trout; Arctic charr spawnwidely in lakes, as do brook trout andwhere Sockeye salmon have becomelandlocked they have formed entirelylake spawning populations known askokanee. For spawning to take placesuccessfully, appropriate substrate isneeded for initial redd cutting andsuitable conditions for embryodevelopment through to the alevin andswim-up fry stages. This relies on thepresence of gravel substrate and suitableconditions; good water quality withsufficient dissolved oxygen, adequateflow rates and stable temperature.These conditions are widely found instreams as the water flows through thegravel, but in a lake environment may be

less common as a range of physicalfactors have to align to be suitable forspawning. Appropriate substrate orgravel in a lake will depend on the localphysical geography but can result fromrock falls on adjacent slopes, a floodedstream bed or shore gravels generatedfrom erosive wave action. Adequate flowcan be maintained in the loch where it isassociated with the inlet or outlet butelsewhere groundwater flow orupwelling is necessary to provideadequate water quality and flow.Groundwater flow is reliant on anaquifer and the associated geology;typically occurring where alternatinglayers of permeable and impermeablerock exist, resulting in underwater influxand subsequent upwelling through thegravel. There is also some speculationthat adequate circulation can be

maintained by wind driven wavesparticularly in shallow shore gravels. InIceland, lake spawning occurs aroundareas of upwelling generated by ventsfrom volcanic activity.

In summary, lake spawning by troutquite possibly occurs more widely thanis reported and is likely a significant, ifnot the sole, contributor to troutrecruitment in some locations. However,due to the difficulties in observing andstudying this behaviour, it is widelyunderreported and poorly understood.To help us improve our knowledge andunderstanding of this behaviour and itsrelative importance in recruitment, wewould be very grateful if you couldcontact us with any observations orthoughts from your local area:walters.mfstp@googlemail.com.

CoNKersKNoCKiNGouT TrouT!Andy Thomas te l l s an in-tr igu ing ta le .

With WTT, i spend every work-ing day exploring ways in

which to make life better for wildtrout and in particular their habitat.before joining the Trust, i spent manyyears working for various Fisheriesdepartments of Thames Water (pre1989), the National rivers Authorityand eventually the environmentAgency. Although my work in thosedays did occasionally extend to habi-tat improvement work, a big chunkof my time involved responding to in-

cidents, often where fish were lostthrough drought, disease and pollu-tion.

The list of issues and problems thatcan result in fish dying in a river is longand complex and I must admit I thoughtI had witnessed examples of just aboutall of them but during a recent Advisoryvisit to the Chalgrove Brook in Oxford-shire, I was told about a small popula-tion of wild brown trout that met theirdemise this time last year as a result ofcrushed conkers!

The site I visited was called ChestnutFarm; possibly a clue in the title! At thislocation, the tiny but very attractive lit-tle Chalgrove Brook runs parallel withthe chestnut tree-lined road route. Fol-lowing a prolonged dry spell, a suddenbreak in the weather corresponded witha substantial fall of conker fruits ontothe road where they were neatly

crushed by the rush hour traffic. Duringa rainfall event, it was reported that theroad and road-side gulley was temporar-ily full of light green foam. It was a shorttime later that the dead trout were seenand the incident reported to the EA.

Now I knew that conkers weremildly toxic because I had tried to eatthem as a boy. I survived to write thispiece but in all my years working onrivers I had never heard of a fish mortal-ity arising from crushed conkers. I con-cluded the Chalgrove Brook incidentmust have been incredibly rare. But justhow rare?

Last week, I took calls from two landowners who had reported the loss oftheir trout population in a very smalltributary of the Western Rother in WestSussex. The EA were called and an inci-dent investigation carried out. The deadtrout had been seen following a classic

OTHER NEWS

18

‘first flush’; in other words, heavy rainfollowing a prolonged dry spell. Theseconditions are known to put huge pres-sure on fish in small streams but usuallyonly when the weather is exceptionallywarm and flow and dissolved oxygenlevels very low. For fish to die in coolconditions in October generally re-quires something pretty nasty to bepicked up and flushed into the system.Despite the best efforts of the local EAteam, the offending plug of pollutant hadwhizzed through the tiny system leavingno clues and certainly no evidence oforganic pollution, which is the mostcommon problem when an event likethis occurs. It was only when chatting tothe landowner that the conker incident Ihad previously been told about poppedup into my head. Apparently, thelandowner had seen some foaming andmore to the point, the little stream runsadjacent to a bridge and small culvertimmediately adjacent to a giant horsechestnut which had shed loads of fruitsduring some big winds the previous day– crushed conkers galore!

Now although this was a bit of a Eu-reka moment for all involved, the link

between the crushed horse chestnutsand the dead trout has not been provenbut to their credit, Brian Gowdy(landowner) and Charles Bacchus (localEA Fisheries Technical Specialist) did alittle bit of digging and it seems that ouroffending conker tree is probably thesmoking gun.

Brian did a bit of research on the in-ternet and came across a blog from acharacter called Tyra relating a storyabout a reoccurring fish mortality in theriver near the town of Kolding in EastJutland. Apparently, the fish always diedat the same time each year when thechestnut fruits fell down and werecrushed on the road.

The active piscicide in horse chest-nuts is a compound called saponin. Thiscompound can be found in a range ofplants including soapworts and is one ofthree known, naturally occurring toxinsfound in plant material that is lethal tofish. Having a dig around myself I found areference to North American nativetribes the Yuchi and the Creek, who arerecorded as having used crushed horsechestnut material to stupefy fish in muchthe same way that South American na-

tives use plants containing rotenone topoison fish. It is thought the nativeswere originally using the nuts as a soapsubstitute and noticed that fish werecoming to the surface and were easy toscoop out. I was a little surprised at thisbecause the horse chestnut that weknow in this country is a native of theBalkans. I couldn’t imagine Balkanconker trees finding their way to theprimitive river valleys of North Americaat a time when the locals needed to killfish to survive but apparently there areat least six related members of the Aes-culus (horse chestnut) family native tothe Americas.

So what have I learned? Well, I alwaysknew that horse chestnut trees arehopeless riverside trees and now I’vegot a valid reason to dislike them. Thechances are that overhanging conkertrees are nothing to worry about but itis worth keeping an eye on any sitewhere there is the capacity for an unde-sirable outcome – an avenue of treesadjacent to a road and very close to anysmall stream containing our belovedtrout! Food (fruit?) for thought?

usiNGANGlerCATCH dATA

This is a summary of a bsc thesisby Matt Penny of sparsholt

College in which Matt worked withPortsmouth services Fly FishingAssociation to look at what happensto stocked brown trout in theAssociation’s water on the Meon.

In 2013, Portsmouth Services FlyFishing Association (PSFFA) approachedSparsholt College seeking anundergraduate to help manage theirnew ‘Stocked Trout Project’. The Projectaimed to investigate the Club’s routinestocking of farmed brown trout usingdata collected from anglers’ catchreturns. The study formed the basis ofmy BSc Fisheries Management &Aquaculture dissertation; this articlesummarises the approach and findings ofthe PSFFA’s 2014 Project.

PSFFA manage 4.5 miles of the Meon,a lowland river with chalk stream

characteristics in Hampshire; five beatsare located within three separatereaches. The fishery has been stockedannually with approximately 1100farmed brown trout (ranging in lengthfrom 280mm to 305mm) to meet anglerdemand and supplement wild stocks(left-hand photo at top of page 19). Thehistorically low angler recapture rates offarmed fish, alongside a perceived loss ofthese stocked fish from the Association’swater motivated the investigation.

In the 2014 fishing season, all stockedbrown trout (1045 fish in total) wereindividually marked to increase accuracyof identification on recapture. Previously,angler skill was relied upon todifferentiate wild from farmed fish andthere was no means of indentifyingmigrant trout stocked by other fisheries.Four categories of fish were createdusing Alcian blue dye applied by jet-inoculator (commonly called panjetting)as dots on the belly of the fish; thismarking scheme related to the beatwhere fish were released and wasdesigned to investigate rates ofretention and movement from sites of

stocking (right-hand photo at top ofpage 19).

The Club received 78% submission ofcatch returns for the 2014 season(n=172). Angler data showed:

Angler recapture rate of marked•stocked fish was 21% (224 out of the1045 fish stocked).

Members released 75% of stocked•fish post capture; only 25% killed for thetable (68 of the 224 recorded ascaught).

The majority (74%) of marked fish•were captured in the same beat as theywere stocked.

Marked fish captured away from the•beat of stocking moved at least 1.5kmupstream and 7.5km downstream.

Generally few fish were caught in•the same beat where they were stocked(0%-21% of recaptures) but there wasalso little evidence of fish caught inbeats other than where they werestocked (1-4% of recaptures).

Approximately 40% of all marked•fish were caught in the most habitat-richbeat; half of this number had beenoriginally stocked into other beats.

CONSERvATION UPDATES

19

When analysing catch returns it isimportant to recognise the limitationsof angler data. For example, bias tocapture by rod and line, angler skill andunderreporting may create trends thatdo not actually exist. However, if

limitations to accuracy areacknowledged, angler data can be auseful indicator of fishery performance.As the Project progresses the Club aimsto improve the reliability of data with amore durable marking method,

improved catch return format andhigher levels of angler engagement. Ifyou’d like to contact Matt about hisproject, email him onmatthew.penny@hotmail.co.uk.

Stocked (left) and wild (right) browntrout from the River Meon.

A panjetted stockie brown trout. Note two blue dotson the belly in front of the pelvic fins of the fish.

THe 2015 WTT 3-Fly CHAlleNGe

it just gets better and better. Thesixth, annual WTT 3-Fly Challenge

was run at the splendid Meon springsTrout Fishery in Hampshire in June,in memory of avid Meon fisher, PascoJames. 31 anglers fished the event,raising an incredible £3770 for WTTand over £500 for the injuredservicemen’s charity, Fishing forForces.

The competition allows anglers tofish with three flies – a Kite’s Imperial, abuzzer and a GHE nymph – withdifferent point scores awarded for fishsize and each pattern. This year, thefishery contained some ‘bonus’ fish:

brown trout and golden rainbows.WTT is hugely indebted to Neil

Mundy, a WTT volunteer who yet againorganised the day brilliantly, withgenerous support from Waitrose andthe John Lewis Partnership Fly FishingClub. The fishery at Meon Springslooked stunning and produced excellentfish and facilities, including a great lunch(details of the fishery athttp://meonsprings.com/). Phil Marr, thesilversmith, created beautifulcommemorative silver salvers as prizesand Pasco’s mum, Harriet Poland,presented the prizes at the day’s end.

This year saw a new competition

winner, with Chris Hodge pipping to thepost twice-previous winner, David King.In addition to second place, David alsotook the biggest fish prize.

For your diaries, the 2016 3-FlyChallenge will be on Saturday 18 June –if you’d like details, keep in touch withNeil Mundy at ncmundy@hotmail.co.uk.

Pasco James was a super-keen fisherand riverman on the Meon, whose lifeended tragically early in 2010 at the ageof 22. Since then, WTT has run the 3-FlyChallenge in his honour and used themonies for habitat work on the Meon.

Chris Hodge (centre), winner, Neil Mundy, event organiserand Harriet Poland. Chris won a superb Sage One rod, aPhil Marr silver salver and a commemorative tankard.

David King (right) and Harriet Poland. David took secondplace in 2015 but still had the biggest fish.

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2Nd iNTerNATioNAl seA TrouTsyMPosiuM, duNdAlK, oCTober 2015

Following on from the firstsymposium in 2004, this event,

bringing together 150 delegatesworking across the species’ range,sought to update knowledge on whatwe know (and very often don’t know)about sea trout. WTT director,shaun leonard, shares some of hisnotes from the symposium.

The 2nd International Sea TroutSymposium, held in Dundalk, Ireland inOctober 2015, was convened by InlandFisheries Ireland, the Atlantic SalmonTrust and Graeme Harris of FishSkillConsultancy Ltd, with support from anumber of additional sponsors, includingNorthern Ireland’s Department ofCulture, Arts & Leisure, Salmon & TroutConservation UK, the Institute ofFisheries Management and the WildTrout Trust. We at WTT sponsored oneof the keynote speakers, Steve Railsback,from Humboldt State University inCalifornia and produced a poster paperwith the Environment Agency on ourwork with sea trout in southern Englandand East Anglia.

Here are just a few interestingsnippets gathered during the event:

In northern France, brown trout•populations in Brittany include virtuallyno fish that migrate to sea, yet eastwardinto Normandy, there’s an increasinglysignificant component of sea migrants.There is evidence of straying betweenrivers. Water depth, nature of the seabed and the presence of the ContentinPeninsula influences the genetic make-upof sea trout populations. Sea troutfeeding over areas of pebbles and gravelin the sea, which may be importantsandeel, sprat and herring nursery areas,tend to stay closer to their natal river.

In Northern Ireland’s Shimna River,•trout survival from egg to summerling(perhaps 6-8 months old) is 3-9%. Troutlonger than 15cm tend to be female andat the downstream end of the river,more than 80% of the females go to seaas sea trout.

Dr Ronald Campbell of the Tweed•Foundation reviewed a number of seatagging studies in the UK, some datingback over 50 years. Most studiesrecaptured sea trout close to their natalriver though some studies from the

north east English coast (north ofFlamborough Head) appear to show seatrout post-smolts moving southwardsalong the English coast before migratingeastward across the North Sea towardsJutland. This pattern of migration followspredominant ocean currents and takessea trout into known sandeel spawningareas in the southern North Sea andalong the Jutland coast. Maturing seatrout then have to make a counter-current migration to reach their natalriver. Dr Campbell stressed too thatthere may in this migration pattern beechoes from a time before the last iceage when large areas now under theNorth Sea were land and streams andrivers flowed into an ancient North Seamuch further north than today.

Dr Ted Potter of Cefas outlined•computer-based, hydrodynamicmodeling work which can include‘particles’ as a proxy for sea troutmoving around in the currents of theIrish and Celtic seas. This work suggeststhat fish stay close to their natal areas,supported by genetic studies whichshowed 40% of fish recaptured close tohome with mostly northerly andeast/west movement.

Work from Iceland, Norway,•Scotland and Sweden reinforces theview that most sea trout stay close tohome and the coast when at sea. Workin two Scottish sea lochs (Linnhe andEil) suggests that whilst tagged salmonsmolts headed out to open sea throughLoch Linnhe (and the up into the NorthAtlantic), tagged sea trout went inlandinto Loch Eil. Only one of 13 tagged seatrout post-smolts was detected leavingLoch Linnhe for the open sea during the50 days of the research. In Norwegianwork, 68% of the tagged sea trout’s timeat sea was spent within 4km of themouth of their natal river, though smallnumbers of fish migrated significantdistances, up to 130km. This same worksuggested that post-smolts returned tofreshwater more than once in their firstsummer after leaving the river,coinciding (?) with times of high sea licelevels in the fjord (where there aresalmon farming cages).

Work in Devon and Cornwall•suggests that the vast bulk of sea trout

returning to the Tamar are from thatriver, though in some years with 10-12%from the Dart/Teign, 80km distant alongthe coast. However, the heads of theTamar and Dart/Teign are only 400-500metres apart on Dartmoor, so maybethe trout are responding to someshared memory of home! This work,however, suggests this straying into non-natal rivers is temporary, genetic studiesshowing no reproductive contributionfrom the strays into the locals.

Icelandic work shows the•enormous growth rates possible fortrout that do migrate to sea. One taggedfish was weighed at emigration at 2.9kg,returning 9 weeks later at 5kg!

Several pieces of work hint at the•risk of migrating to sea, a trade-off withthe great feeding and growth to be had.In Sweden, smolt-loss rate in the estuarywas estimated at between 26%-51% ofthe run. In Dorset’s River Frome, 24% ofsea trout smolts tagged in the river didnot reach listening stations located atthe mouth of Poole Harbour.Interestingly, for those WTT membersthat know Poole Harbour, this samework suggests that the Harbour is notused for feeding by sea trout.

The often under-recognised•importance of sea trout in migratorysalmonid rod catches in Britain washighlighted by Dr Graeme Harris. In theperiod 1994-2011, sea troutrepresented 42% of the total reportedrod catch; in Wales, 80% of the total rodcatch was sea trout.

In the Celtic and Irish seas, analysis•of over 500 sea trout stomachs showedthat 95% of the diet of those fish wasfish, mostly sandeels, though in theSolway, 98% was sprat.

Extensive studies are ongoing for•tidal lagoon power in Swansea Bay,including potential impacts on fish. Thiswill entail a 9.5km, horseshoe-shapedbund out into the bay, impounding anarea of 1160 hectares. A gap in this bundwill house a turbine, drawing energyfrom an in-and-out flow of up to 10,000cubic metres/sec.

Experiments on a hydropower•(Archimedes Screw) turbine in Dorset’sRiver Frome suggests a low level ofentrainment of sea trout smolts into the

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turbine; most used the bypass aroundthe turbine, with little delay. Returningadults used the adjacent fish pass orweir, again with little delay. However, asmall-scale experiment on the Ribble,showed four out of ten tagged salmonsmolts were entrained into ahydropower turbine, causing probablefatal injury. Thus, the potential impact onfish from hydropower turbines isdeemed to be site-specific.

A group of scientists from Ireland,•Scotland and Norway have studiedimpacts from salmon farming on seatrout populations, especially in relation

to sea lice infestation. It is thought thatmore than 13 sea lice on an individualsea trout post-smolt will kill it; thisstudy looked at around 8,000 post-smolts, finding loads of up to 400 liceper fish. The work suggests that a seatrout river must be 30-40km away froma salmon cage farm for there to be noimpact on the sea trout post-smoltsfrom sea lice emanating from the farm.At less than 15km distance, liceemanating from the farm will kill 50-100% of the sea trout post-smolts.Salmon farming in Scotland andespecially Ireland has many fewer

safeguards in place to try to protect seatrout, compared to the Norwegianindustry and its regulators. That said, thisstudy estimates that across Norway,65% of rivers have sea trout populationswhose numbers are regulated by salmonfarms in the rivers’ fjords.

WTT publishes an annual report,the full illustrated version of

which including audited accounts, ispublished on the CharityCommission’s website. extractedbelow are the highlights.

What d id we do in2014/15?

118 Advisory visits (Avs) to river•and lake sites, with follow-on reports;

42 practical demonstration events,•involving local communities in improvinghabitat in their river;

worked directly with over 2,500•volunteers in more than 13,000 hours ofpractical work across the British Isles,contributing over £170,000 worth oftime, to improve habitat for trout andother aquatic biota;

improved habitat on at least 300km•of river;

completed nine significant river•restoration projects in England, workingwith a range of partners;

presented at 27 international,•national and local events, spreadingmessages on aquatic conservation to anaudience of over 800 people;

our Mayfly in the Classroom•educational tool reached over 1,000pupils in 48 settings across Britain;

raised over £70,000 in an annual•auction to drive the cost-effective workof the Trust.

Advisor y vis i ts , ProjectProposa ls and RiverHabitat Workshops

WTT’s core conservation activity isthe provision of advice and practicalhelp to local community groups andlandowners, through Avs and RiverHabitat Workshops.

In 2014/15, WTT’s team ofConservation Officers worked withfishery and river interests across theBritish Isles, completing 118 Avs withfollow-on reports and projectproposals. In over 80% of cases, WTTAvs led to action in and by the river toimprove habitat, carried out bycommunity volunteers in angling clubsand conservation groups. This workinvolved, for example, more sensitivemanagement techniques of riparian andin-stream vegetation or proactivehabitat improvement through theintroduction of woody material,retaining or creating vital habitat forplants, invertebrates and fish, as well asthe birds and mammals that rely on ahealthy river. Much of this work takesplace in rural settings, though animportant part of WTT’s role, throughits Trout in the Town programme, is thesupport of groups working in towns andcities across England to make life betterfor their rivers and people. The WTTwebsite (www.wildtrout.org/avs) is nowhome to over 500 Av reports, datingback to 2001 and covering all corners ofthe British Isles.

42 practical demonstration days,River Habitat Workshops, were led

during this year by WTT’s expertConservation Officers, giving localvolunteers the opportunity to learn ofgood and impacted riverine habitat andto practise hands-on habitatimprovement techniques under theguidance of the WTT staff. Feedbackfrom these workshops has beenextremely positive and there are manyexamples where local interests havetaken the knowledge acquired withWTT and applied it further to improvehabitat in their home rivers (e.g. Brent,Cale, Colne, Lark, ver, Yorks Don).

All of this activity has enhancedhabitat on at least 300km of river anddirectly involved over 900 volunteers in5,100 hours of activity. It is estimatedthat an additional 600 volunteers havejoined the working parties of anglingclubs and local conservation groups,informed by the WTT ConservationOfficers, adding a further 3,500 hours ofwork for the benefit of wild trout andother wildlife in and around the river.The monetised value of this voluntarycontribution is estimated to exceed£112,000. Much of this work wassupported by the Environment Agency(EA), using funds raised through anglingrod licence sales, augmented by WTTco-funding from a range of sources e.g.individual Trust supporters, the WTTannual auction, John EllermanFoundation, water companies,partnerships with other NGOs.

WTT’s 2014/15 yeAr – sHAuN leoNArd

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A partnership with Thames Water, EAand the Angling Trust saw WTT launch athree-year project of Rivers & WetlandsCommunity Days, which, in 2014/15,supported 20 projects in 18 sub-catchments across the Thames Waterarea, involving a further 1,000volunteers in 6,000 hours of work. It isestimated that the initial year’s fundingof £50,000 has leveraged additional co-funding exceeding £230,000.

River Restorat ion Projects

Working with dynamic, localpartners, WTT completed ninesignificant river restoration projectsduring 2014/15. Examples include workon the River Glaven in Norfolk, where,overcoming multiple challenges, 1.2kmof new stream length was created tobypass a large, previously on-line lake atBayfield House. Trout spawned in thenew river during the first winter of itslife and monitoring by one of theproject partners, Norfolk Rivers Trust, insummer 2015, showed that trout andother fish species of different ages hadtaken up residence.

In Hampshire, reaches of a tributaryof the River Itchen, the Monks Brook,flow over concrete banks and bed. Inpartnership with the local EA fisheriesteam and the Highways Agency, WTTdelivered a project to create pools,riffles and other features to make lifebetter for the sea trout that use areasof this Brook for spawning (see AndyThomas’s report in this Newsletter).

In Somerset, the River Avill is abeautiful stream flowing through theExmoor National Park, though thelower reaches have suffered fromchannel straightening and divertedflows. In an excellent practicalcollaboration between the local EAfisheries team, the parish council, theAngling Trust and the landowner(Crown Estate), WTT helped breathe anew lease of life into a recently dredgedsection of the channel. Monitoring bythe EA in April 2015, revealed that theproject had met with the approval ofthe trout population as large numbersof fish moved in after the work,benefiting from the improved habitat inthe river.

In Lincolnshire, a major project onthe River Witham was completed by apartnership involving WTT, EA, the

landowner and a local fishing associationto create 600m of new trout habitat andbypass an impassable 2m-high weir.Pools and gravel riffles were created inthe new channel which will be a goodhome, not only for the river’s browntrout, but also its population of ournative and threatened white-clawedcrayfish (see Tim Jacklin’s report in thisNewsletter).

Ta lks and Presentat ions

WTT spreads its conservationmessages through talks in a range ofsettings, from international conferencesto gatherings of local community groupssuch as angling clubs. In 2014/15, WTT’saudience exceeded 800 people acrossall parts of the UK and beyond. Aparticular highlight was WTT’sparticipation in the inauguralInternational Trout Masterclass, agathering of contributors and studentsfrom 17 European countries who met inSlovenia to learn and share experienceson trout conservation.

Mayfly in the Classroom is an accessi-ble educational initiative designed byWTT to allow pupils, especially at KeyStages 1 & 2, to study a range of topicsaround aquatic conservation. Pupilsgather mayfly (upwinged fly) nymphsfrom a local stream and rear them inlow-cost incubation systems in theclassroom before release back to thestream corridor. This process not onlyteaches simple animal husbandry skillsbut allows teachers to explore withtheir pupils many aspects of aquatic con-servation and management. WTT’s Con-servation and Engagement Officer,funded through a private donation, co-ordinated delivery of Mayfly in theClassroom to over 1,000 children in 48settings across Britain during 2014.However, the Officer delivering thiswork moved to pastures new in Decem-ber 2014 and the Trust decided not toreplace the post and to forestall theprogramme at least in the short term.

Fundra is ing Act iv i t ies

WTT’s fundraising activities are vitalin driving its conservation work. TheTrust benefits from the generosity of its2400 supporters and a number offundraising events, the most significantof which is its annual on-line auction. In

2014/15, 260 lots attracted donations ofover £70,000. The auction also raisesthe WTT profile and provides aninvaluable opportunity for engagementwith a broad community that activelysupports the work of the Trust. Sincerethanks to the many individuals andorganisations who support ourfundraising work.

Sta f f and volunteers

In 2014/15, WTT added two newtechnical staff to its team, both based inthe north of England: a ConservationOfficer and a Research & ConservationOfficer. Both posts strengthen thegeographical coverage of WTT’s workwith the latter adding further to theacademic depth of the team, chargedwith translating and disseminating to abroader audience topical and relevantscientific information.

volunteers continued to be a vitalpart of WTT’s work in 2014/15,maintaining the Trust’s presence withsocial media, uploading lots for theinternet auction, creating newsletterartwork, manning stands at shows,providing technical input throughadvisory panels and working with theConservation Officers in practicaldelivery of riverine habitatenhancements. In total, WTT and itscharitable mission benefited from 2,500volunteers contributing over 13,000hours at a conservative monetised valueexceeding £170,000. We are deeplyindebted to all these volunteers.

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BOOK REvIEWS BY SHAUN LEONARD

excellent angling author andesteemed WTT member, Adrian

latimer’s latest offering is Searchingfor a Rise: Trout Fishing in the Footstepsof the Greats.

Wild trout fishing is really on the up,with a growing band of devoted, avidfishers chasing their prize across the fullrange of the species. They don’t comemuch more devoted or avid than AdrianLatimer and it’s delightful to introduceAdrian’s latest book, Searching for a Rise,as he travels and fishes a vast patch,from South America to NorthernFrance, accompanied by an imaginedpantheon of the all-time greats of fishersand fishing writers.

In addition to his prowess with a rod,Adrian has conservation writ throughhis bones. As with all his other books,Adrian is very generously donating theroyalties from Searching for a Rise to theNorth Atlantic Salmon Fund (NASF;www.nasfworldwide.com) and the WildTrout Trust (www.wildtrout.org); we willbe sure to use those royalties well inour conservation work.

Adrian’s writing is always a treat:breezy, humorous and evocative and hislatest offering is every bit as good. Make

a greatChristmaspressie for akeen fisher.

Whilst not the usual domain ofthe Wild Trout Trust, this

book from dr Mark everard seeks tobring sensitive habitat managementto rivers where coarse fish mightdominate but in many cases whereadult wild brown trout might lurktoo.

This is the latest offering from theprodigious stable of Dr Mark Everard: apictorial guide to the habitat needs ofcoarse fish in the UK and what can bedone by the practical fishery manager tomake life better for those fish species.

The book addresses something of ahole in the literature, following on fromthe likes of WTT’s Wild Trout SurvivalGuide and applying that same practicalfocus for coarse fish. So, Mark leads usthrough the habitat requirements ofspecies like roach and dace, what it isthat is impacting on their lives (e.g.channel modification, intensiveagriculture) and the work that can bedone in and by the river (mainly) by thefishery manager to improve those lives.

As with all Mark’s books, RiverHabitats for Coarse Fish is a good,informative read. It would be excellent ifevery landowner, regulatory authority,angling club working party and evenangler read it and heeded its words. AsMark notes, “we live in a tidied up

world” though “fish evolved in a farmore ragged world”; critically, he goeson to make the link between the vitalityof fish populations and that of all theother plants and animals (includingourselves!) comprising the widerecosystem. So, if our fish species are ingood order, so are our rivers and so bydefault is the land they drain.

Being picky, some of the illustrationsin the book are a little small for totalclarity and Mark mostly uses his otherbooks as reference material, but themessages in River Habitats for Coarse Fishare very well made and very, veryimportant. It’s a snip at £11.95 and youshould add it to your bookshelf.

River Habitats for Coarse Fish. By DrMark Everard. Old Pond Publishing.www.oldpond.com. 114pp. Paperback£11.95.

seArCHiNGFor A rise

riverHAbiTATs ForCoArse FisH

Abook oft remembered but notrevisited for a decade.

In 2005, Dr Nick Giles published TheNature of Trout (or as he calls it, TheNature of Sprouts!). I read it then andloved it. Whilst recently excavating acupboard, I came across my copy of TheNature of Trout and have re-read it. Icannot recommend this book to youhighly enough; I think it should be vitalreading for anyone who claims to lovewild trout and/or wild trout fishing.Whilst over a third of the book is thesuper-long chapter ‘Gone Fishing’, thewhole thing is about so much more.

Nick covers the habitat,biology, conservation andmanagement of brown trout,basing the vast bulk of what hewrites on science. But he doesthis in his own, inimitable style,creating something that isenjoyable, utterly readable and notthe least bit dry. The book and itsmessages are as relevant today asthey were a decade ago.

The only snag is that The Nature ofTrout is out of print. But, it is availablethrough Amazon and other reputablebook suppliers for as little as 1 penny.You’ll not spend a better penny. Or even£25 if you buy it new.

TreAsureredisCovered

CONSERvATION UPDATES

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Printed on Amadeus 100, a recycled paper containing

100% recycled waste

WTT SHOP

WTT memberships andmerchandise can be

ordered via the shop on ourwebsite athttp://www.wildtrout.org/; bysending your order and chequeto the WTT office; or bydebit/credit card over thephone – call the WTT officeon 023 9257 0985. All postageprices are for the uK, pleaseenquire for overseas.

orvis cap£15 + £3.20p&p one size

THe Wild TrouT TrusTRegistered Charity No. 1162478

Charitable Company No. 03345901Registered in England & Wales

PresidentJon Beer

vice-PresidentsProfessor David Bellamy, BrianClarke, Sir Gareth Edwards,Oliver Edwards, Dr MalcolmGreenhalgh, Dennis Moss, PatO’Reilly, Peter O’Reilly, JeremyPaxman, Paul Procter, CharlesRangeley-Wilson, The Rt HonLord (David) Steel of Aikwood

ChairmanDavid Fraser

Company secretaryDavid Marriott

office@wildtrout.orgdirector and Conservation

for scotland & irelandShaun Leonard

director@wildtrout.org 07974 861908

Conservation officers Tim Jacklin

Northern England, Midlands, Anglian,North Wales

tjacklin@wildtrout.org07876 525457 Andy Thomas

Southern, Thames, South West, South & Mid-Wales

athomas@wildtrout.org07876 525499 Paul Gaskell

Trout in the Town pgaskell@wildtrout.org

07919 157267 Gareth Pedley

The Northgpedley@wildtrout.org

07500 870583Mike Blackmore

Southern, Thames, South West, South & Mid-Wales

mblackmore@wildtrout.org07881 248789

research & Conservation officerJon Grey

The Northjgrey@wildtrout.org

07969 337808Newsletter

Shaun Leonard, Christina Bryantand Richard Handley

sponsorship & Communications Denise Ashton

dashton@wildtrout.org07802 454157

Wild Trout Trust office Christina Bryant

Trust Administratoroffice@wildtrout.org

023 9257 0985The Wild Trout Trust, PO Box 120,

Waterlooville PO8 0WZ Christina normally works 09:00–16:00, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday.

When this is not possible and at allother times, please leave a message

on the answerphone.

PaperbacksSimple Guide to Caddis Larvae –•£6 + £1.50 p&pGuide to the Adult Caddis Flies or•Sedge Flies – £3.80 + £1.50 p&pThe Wild Trout Survival Guide –•£10 + £2.16 p&p

CdsThe Uplands River Habitat•Manual £10 + £2 p&pThe Chalkstream Habitat•Manual £10 + £2 p&pUrban Rivers Restoration•Guidelines £10 + £2 p&pRivers – Working for Wild•Trout£10 + £2 p&p

Car stickers andmugsCar stickers – £1.50Pin badges – £3.75Cloth badges – £4.50Mugs – £9 + £3.20 p&p

Fulling Millevening riseFly selection£9 + £3.20p&p

Trout cushions£12 + £3.20p&p

rod measuresand length/weight cards£3.50 per set

T-shirts fromeat, sleep, FishDirect fromhttp://eat-sleep-fish.co.uk/content/2014/09/eat-sleep-fish-t-shirts£19.99 plus £2p&p

Solve your Christmas present cr is i s with a g i f tmembership or something e lse from the shop.

snowbee Fishingshirt£39.99 + £3.20 p&psizes M, L, XL, XXL