The Friday evening of our annualgatherings usually sees a few

early arrivers share supper, a fewdrinks and catch-up on the past year

and early new-season victories. 2015was no different, save for thosewhose time was spent enjoying thequeues on the M40 and M6…

SummeR 2015

SPLENDID GATHERING ONTHE RIBBLE. . .

NewsWILD TROUT TRUST

ANNUALDRAW 2015

To be drawn at 7pm, Tuesday 8December 2015 at The ThomasLord, West Meon, Hants. Tickets

are available via the enclosedorder form or by visiting

www.wildtrout.org.

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 two 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.

2

NeWS AND NOTICeS

After much deliberation, WTTdecided not to attend the CLA

Game Fair at Harewood in 2015. This was not an easy decision since

we’ve been a regular feature in Fisher-man's Village for many years and the Fairhas been a great place to meet existingand new members, but we feel that,based on the experience of recentyears, we could not justify the cost ofattendance. A stand for WTT costs sev-eral thousand pounds – money that wecan put to better use for trout in ourrivers and lakes. We'll be sure to keep aneye on the future of the fishing area inthe Game Fair and hope to return atsome future point. We'd be delighted tosee members at our annual gathering, anevent that travels around the country, orthe other shows that we'll continue toattend, such as the British Fly Fair Inter-national and Sportfish Show.

From this summer, WTT willincorporate to become a

charitable company limited byguarantee, bringing us into line withthe vast majority of other charities.

We believe that this move mightbring us opportunities to pursue workwhich we currently cannot do and thatthere may be other operationaladvantages. This move will not changewhat we do and how we do it: we willstill work feverishly to make life betterfor wild trout and the places they live.For existing WTT members, there willbe a need to update any direct debit andGift Aid arrangements you have with usand Christina will be in touch during thesummer with details, if applicable. Pleasedo not hesitate to contact me, ShaunLeonard, Director, WTTdirector@wildtrout.org; 07974 861908).

WTT GOESLIMITED

NO GAMEFAIR 2015 FORWTT

News and Notices pages 2–3Annual Gathering front, pages 4–5Other News pages 6–7

Conservation News pages 8–23Merchandise page 24

IN THIS ISSUE

The eagle–eyed amongst you mayhave noticed that Dennis Moss

was missed off the team sheet ofvenerable Vice-Presidents of WTT inour 2015 Salmo trutta journal.

We would like to point out that Den-nis is still very much one of our mostesteemed V-Ps and his omission was aneditorial error, for which the Directortakes absolute responsibility. Sorry, Den-nis and thank you for your excellent andongoing support of WTT, especially inIreland.

DENNIS MOSSSTILL GOINGSTRONG! The auction held in March was

very successful and providedsome much needed funds for theWTT. The final total crept up follow-ing the auction close, finally comingto rest at over £70,000, a big increaseon 2014 (£58,000) and anotherrecord!

Thank you to all the very generousdonors and bidders for making it such asuccess. The generosity of our support-ers is truly astonishing – people givingup their time, fishing and money to helpus improve habitat for wild trout. Wepromise to use the money wisely andcontinue to focus our work on practicaladvice and delivering projects.

We had over 40 new lots in the auc-tion this year, along with many regularlots, and a very wide range of pricesfrom £20 to over £5,000. The aim is to

AUCTION

WTT members will rememberwith fondness and great

respect, Peter Lapsley, who died lastyear.

Peter bequeathed his fly tying kit toWTT which, through a blind auctiondrawn at the British Fly Fair in October,raised £680. The kit has gone to a lovinghome near Blackpool and WTT hasteamed up with the River Chess Associ-ation to donate the proceeds to thepurchase of tackle for the start-up of afishing ‘school’ based at Latimer Park onthe Chess. Peter much loved LatimerPark and here taught kids to trout fish; afitting and happy end to a sad story.many thanks to Peter’s widow, Liza andto his great friend Neil Patterson for allhis help, and to Snowbee for so kindlysupporting us to provide 14 fly fishingkits to the River Chess Association.more on this at www.wildtrout.org.

PETERLAPSLEY’S FLYTYING KIT

appeal to a broad range of pockets andtastes, so that as many people as possi-ble can participate in what is increasinglyquite an event at the start of the season.Although the final total was a newrecord, there are still many lots that sellat or below the guide price so pleasedon’t be put off from bidding!

We will continue to use eBay CharityPages to run the auction as eBay refundall their usual charges and it gives usvery secure access to a large global au-dience. Postal bidders win lots everyyear as we bid on their behalf, so do bidby post if that’s easier.

The process of gathering lots for the2016 auction will start in October, soplease get in touch if you would like todonate a fishing day, a book, art, tackleor flies.

Contact dashton@wildtrout.org orcall 07802 454157.

3

DIARY DATESTuesday 6 October 2015

WTT Conservation AwardsLondon.

Saturday 24 & 25 October 2015

Grayling WeekendThe Haddon estate, DerbyshireThe Haddon estate has kindly offered usgrayling fishing again this year. There are15 places available each day. Pleasecontact Christina via:office@wildtrout.org or 023 9257 0985,to book a place for either or both days.until 31 July priority will be given tomembers who have not fished a WTTGrayling Weekend before. The cost willbe £35 per person per day which ispayable on confirmation of a place.

Tuesday 13 to 15 October 2015

Institute of Fisheries ManagementAnnual Conference, Plymouth. http://www.ifm.org.uk/

Tuesday 20 to 22 October 2015

2nd International Sea TroutSymposiumIreland. http://seatroutsymposium.org/

Tuesday 8 December 2015

WTT Raffle Draw5 top-notch prizes, including a Sage rod,for just £1 per ticket. All proceeds go tosupport WTT’s habitat improvementwork.

Saturday 13 & 14 February 2016

British Fly Fair InternationalStaffordshire County Showgroundwww.bffi.co.uk or tel. 01782 388382.

March 2016

Wild Trout Trust AuctionA fantastic selection of lots includingfishing, shooting, books, tackle and more,with all the proceeds supporting ourwork. Keep an eye on the website fordetails: www.wildtrout.org. If you wouldlike to donate a lot please contactDenise Ashton dashton@wildtrout.orgor tel. 07802 454157.

11 June 2016

WTT Annual GatheringLangfordA day of fascinating talks and a chanceto get together with WTT staff,trustees, volunteers and members.Details to be announced but watch theWTT website, www.wildtrout.org.

LOSTMEMBERS

We have lost touch with thefollowing members as they

have moved and we do not have acurrent address. If anyone can help,please contact Christina via:office@wildtrout.org. Thank you.

Nicholas Ferguson, Cirencester•Thomas Goddard, Dorchester•James Gout, madrid•Bevil Granville, Hungerford•John Griffiths, Chepstow•mark Hancox, London•Richard Hunter, Perth•D S W Lee, Sheffield•Douglas macAdam, Glasgow•Thomas de la mare, London•Ian morris, Oswestry•Jon Pratt, melbourne•Robert Shakespeare, London•R J Smith, Camberley•J Vater Oxford•J Walton Newcastle upon Tyne•Philip Wilkinson, London•m R D Yates, Wallingford•

IMPORTANTREMINDER

PLEASEREMEMBER TO

TELL US IF YOUCHANGE YOUR

ADDRESS!

Printed on Amadeus 100, a recycled paper containing100% recycled waste

This piece outlines the work ofartist, Scott Winstanley, who has

set out to document, in watercolours, the amazing variety in ourwild trout, starting in Cumbria.Here’s some of Scott’s work andwords to tell his tale...

Having witnessed a great diversity inthe colouration and markings of Cum-bria's wild trout, I have set out to docu-ment, in watercolour, the stunningbeauty and variations of these fish andpresent the information in a series oflimited edition prints. I have a passionfor prospecting, finding those wild andunlikely waters, those mountain toptarns and hanging valleys where our wildbrown trout have somehow found away. Fascinated by the heritage and evo-lutionary paths of these fish and the an-cient Cumbrian landscapes in whichthey survive, I like to record and crys-tallise my experiences through painting,drawing and the written word. I havenarratives published in Waterlog Maga-zine and Fallon's Angler, and I'm currentlyworking on a book documenting mywild fishing adventures. You can seemore of my artwork and contact methrough my Facebook page 'Scott Win-stanley Art'.

STUNNINGTROUT OFCUMBRIA

4

THE SUN REALLY DOES SHINE ON THERIGHTEOUS…Annual Gathering report continuedfrom front page.

The Saturday kicked off with ShaunLeonard, WTT Director, openingproceedings with a review of WTT’syear, with highlights including delivery of:

83 Advisory Visits, of which 4 out of•5 resulted in practical work on theground.35 practical demonstration events,•1 day to 2 weeks in length,undertaken from the Southwest ofengland to the Northwest ofScotland.32 practical projects ranging from•Somerset to Argyll, many funded bythe environment Agency (eA) androd licence monies but always withgreat support from local groups.  A number of major projects were•undertaken including those on theRiver Lark in Suffolk and the Glavenin Norfolk.mayfly in the Classroom was rolled•out into 40 settings engaging over1,000 kids from Inverness to SouthWales.The Wild Trout Trust Auction raised•the new record sum of over£70,000.Shaun thanked the team and•welcomed Gareth Pedley and JonGrey as full time ConservationOfficers for the North.

Shaun stressed the vital importanceto WTT of its many partners, includingeA in england, water companies such asThames Water, the John ellermanFoundation and all the clubs and otherlocals who make WTT’s work possible.

The first presentation of the day wasby Karen Potter, university of Liverpool.‘Floodplain Restoration – SomethingFishy Going On’ was a fascinatingpresentation on the impact ofdevelopment on flood plains and rivers,recent changes in policy integratingflood planning into floodplaindevelopment and the concept of livingwith water. An interesting insight onhow policy becomes entrenched or‘institutionalised’ and how to changethat.

Karen was followed by Vaughan Lewisof Windrush AeC, stepping in for DavidJenkins of Coed Cymru, talking about

the Pontben Project in mid-Wales. Agrassroots project driven bottom-up bya small group of upland farmers. Vaughanopened ‘Trees, Soils & Water: GoodNews & Bad’ with an exploration ofhow post-war timber managementpractices had impacted on rivercatchments before going on to explainthe lessons that have come out of thePontben Project. These included thevalue of broadleaf shelter belts,incorporating stock fencing, to providecover for sheep, the value of ponds andwetlands for watering, wildlife benefitand drainage interception, theimportance of tree planting to preventoverland run off by increasing waterinfiltration into soils through tree rootsand the role of streamside fencing tokeep sheep in accessible areas withenormous collateral benefits for thestreams’ ecology.

After coffee, Kyle Young fromAberystwyth university, formerly of theeA and Natural Resources Wales(NRW), took to the stage. This was aninteresting and entertaining perspectiveon 5 years at the eA and NRW and theproblematic relationship betweenanglers and the agencies. Kyle endedwith a celebration of the WTT, on theway noting the power that the anglingfraternity holds and can direct to getthings done for the river. Kyle will moveto Switzerland later in the summer, ahuge loss to the pantheon of the uK’sfishery scientists.

Next up was Jack Spees, Director ofthe Ribble Rivers Trust (RRT). ‘The Painof Passing a Trout’ covered thechallenges trout face in terms ofbarriers to migration and movement,why addressing barriers is importantand what the RRT is doing to addressthem. Jack acknowledged the work ofmike Forty (a PhD student withDurham university) who, with RRT, hasbeen tracking trout (and salmon)attempting to navigate the many weirson the Ribble system. mike’s work hasshown that not only can some weirsstop most trout from moving upstream(e.g. to spawn) but even supposedlypassable structures can greatly delaythat movement. In one case, a singleweir took on average 102 hours for

trout to get over! Different approaches,from complete removal to modification,have resulted in significantimprovements in fish passage.

Neil Handy, fisheries officer with theeA, then shared his practical experienceon trout stocking on the Ribble.Working closely with manchesterAngling Association (mAA), Neil wasable to demonstrate the dis-benefits ofstocking on the upper Ribble and as aresult mAA ceased stocking in 2004,resulting in significant increases in thenumbers caught by rods of wild browntrout. Subsequently, Settle Anglers alsovoted to stop stocking in 2012 andother clubs on the river have followed

WTT ANNuAL GATHeRING

CONSeRVATION uPDATeS

5

suit. A number of clubs have reportedintriguing increases in grayling numbersas they have ceased trout stocking.mAA, for example, reported an annualcatch of 600 grayling, up from a handfulwhen their river was stocked withtrout.

The daytime session came to acrescendo with WTT Vice-President,malcolm Greenhalgh and ‘The Ribble:me & my River’. This covered malcolm’slife spent by and in the Ribble from theestuary to the tributaries, tagging birdsand fishing for chub, dace and theoccasional trout. malcolm coveredeverything from abbeys and blanketweed to abstraction, dairy farming,

churches and ministers, gilrfiends withrivers, pies, dippers breeding habits,stocking, idiots, Oliver Cromwell, railwayviaducts, mills and weirs. A packed 30minutes; great fun!

After a wonderful lunch accompaniedby much debate, discussion and laughter,the WTT Conservation Officers ledattendees on a river walk. We saw thefish pass with its counter on the weir atWaddow; the counter has been pivotalin the Ribble spring salmon study,completed in 2014. We then movedupstream to the waters of RibblesdaleAnglers, seeing and discussing issuesarising from impoundment of the riverby the Waddow weir and examples ofgood and poor habitat in this reach.

Saturday evening saw an excellentsupper enjoyed by over 30 WTTmembers and friends with a great after-supper talk by Steve Cooper ofCookshill Fly Tying: Confessions of a FlyTying materials Salesman. Steve’s brandof humour and tales from his worldwent down a storm with the audience.

Sunday saw twenty or so of ourguests head for the hills to sample theRibble valley’s wild trout fishing. Theywere not disappointed, with plenty offish to 2lbs reported from a number ofbeats. massive thanks to Bowland Game,manchester Anglers, Ribblesdale Anglersand the Ribble Rivers Trust for allowingour guests access to their specialwaters. Director’s comment: “even Icaught fish, including one good one,shortly before snapping the tip sectionof my beloved Sage VXP.”

The annual Get-Together, wanderingas it does around the country from yearto year, is an excellent opportunity forWTT to cement still further its contactswith angling clubs, eA and others in thearea. many thanks to Ribble Rivers Trust,the local Ribble clubs, eA staff andvisiting WTT members for making thissuch a great weekend. Thanks too tounited utilities for so generouslysupporting the weekend.

We look forward to the event, atLangford on 11 June 2016.

NeWS

6

THE LARK SINGS

for this section of the Lark to beabsolutely riddled with water voleburrows. Great I hear you cry and it isindeed a good-news story that a speciesthat was virtually absent from this riverhas come back with such a vengeance.Fortunately for ratty and unfortunatelyfor me, crushing a vole burrow with thebucket of a large excavator is illegal. Onthe plus side we had Nick mason fromthe Suffolk Wildlife Trust looking over usto advise on the areas we needed toavoid to stay out of prison!

unfortunately for us, this meant thatthe bottom section earmarked by Nigelto have the top cut off and pushed intothe toe of the bank could no longer bedelivered. This was a low moment forthe group but we rolled up our sleevesand did what Nigel would also haveundoubtedly done and that’s foundanother way. With the landownersagreement (elvedon estates) and theblessing of the eA, we set about radicallychanging the shape of 300m of channelrunning up from Temple Bridge inLackford, as well as creating some inchannel diversity on a further 400mrunning downstream.

A highlight for me was theenthusiastic way Tim volunteered tocheck out the bed of a reach that heknew ‘like the back of his hand’ only tofall flat on his face after less than ten

As many will know, last year theworld of river restoration was

dealt a terrible blow with the sad anduntimely loss of Dr Nigel Holmes, atruly inspirational character andriver-mender extraordinaire.

One of the projects recently tackledby Nigel was to work with the eA andthe Bury St edmunds Trout Club toradically improve a section of the RiverLark in Westow Country Park. Thisproject followed a long campaign bymembers of the club to follow uprecommendations made in a 2010 WTTAdvisory Visit report. members of theclub, ably supported by local eAFisheries Officer James Hooker,eventually found the resources andpolitical will to complete the project.Such was the success of theimprovement works that further planswere drawn up by Nigel, this timeworking with the Lark AnglingPreservation Society and eA to tackleanother phase of work furtherdownstream. With funding and plans inplace, the project sadly falteredfollowing Nigel’s sudden death.

Fortunately for the Lark, twoindomitable characters and WTTstalwarts, Glen Smithson and Tim Taylor,were not about to let the opportunityof finishing what they and Nigel hadstarted slip from their grasp. I hadpreviously had the pleasure of firstmeeting Glenn and Tim on the banks ofthe Lark way back in 2008 and togetherthey have been setting about improvingthe Lark ever since. All they needed tocomplete Nigel’s project was somebodyto interpret Nigel’s plans and supervisethe delivery of the project with the aidof a 15m 360 excavator and 100 tonnesof local gravels, earmarked as reparationmaterials for a past pollution incidentand just waiting to be used on the ‘right’project. This was my chance to pay backall the work and enthusiasm put in byTim and Glenn, as well as anopportunity for me to pay my ownpersonal respects to a man that I likedand admired. For me, the chance tofinish off Nigel’s plan could only bedescribed as an honour.

So with a budget in place, plans alldrawn up and consented, what couldpossibly go wrong? Well, the first thingthat Nigel, or I, had not expected was

seconds of wading! I apologise now Timif it took me some time to composemyself.

As for the project, well I won’tpretend that it was an easy site to workon but we are all delighted to havecreated some much needed variation inchannel shape and associated flowpatterns that was at the very heart ofNigel’s original plans. I hear from Timthat the trout quite like it as well whichfor me is really what it’s all about. Thebrilliant news is that it seems to havegalvanised the local clubs and the eA inwanting to deliver more improvementsinto the much underrated and delightfulRiver Lark.

Andy Thomas

BIT LIKELIVERPOOLLOSINGGERARD?

Late summer 2015 will see AndyThomas hit a serious age and a

time when a chap should spend moretime fishing and pottering in hisgarden.

Andy is going to step down to athree-day week with WTT. While we’re

Glen Smithson and Tim Taylor by the River Lark

7

Many WTT members will know ofEdward Twiddy over most years

of WTT’s existence, acting always ina voluntary capacity as our projectsofficer and since 2008, the Chairmanof Trustees. In Salmo 2015, Edwardsignalled his intention to step downfrom the chair at some point in theyear, so this piece offers some partial

GLAISDALEBECK DEMODAY

In late March, the Wild Trout Trustheld a river management workshop

at Glaisdale Beck (North YorkshireMoors National Park) todemonstrate the importance ofnatural bankside and in-channelstructure habitat and how it can beappropriately managed. All too oftenthese features are over-managed andtidied by angling groups and riparianmanagers, leaving many rivers with alack of low cover, trailing branchesand little woody material within theriver – all of which are vital fishhabitat features.

each of the two days consisted of ariver walk highlighting the benefits ofthese habitats and covering how best toretain and promote such features withminimal impact upon other river and ad-jacent land users. Practical demonstra-tions of enhancing river margin habitatthrough laying saplings into the channel

EDWARDTWIDDY

delighted to be keeping 3/5ths of him,losing 2/5ths of Andy is a big blow. He’sa huge presence and unerring influencefor good within the Trust and in theworld of trout conservation. Bit likeLiverpool losing Gerard? Yep, in part.But, Andy’s move will create space for aprotégé and we’re working on that one.Bit like Rahim Stirling? Hope not.

Thank you, Andy and well played.

and how woody brash material can beemployed to reduce bank erosion ratesand enhance habitat were also under-taken.

The workshops were attended byover 20 individuals, from a range ofbackgrounds, including local anglingclubs and conservation volunteers.These events are just part of the widerange of work that WTT is involvedwith. For more information please visitthe website, www.wildtrout.org

Andy

recognition of his enormouscontribution.

edward has trout in his blood,without doubt committed to the fishand to the progress of WTT in workingto make life better for that fish and itshabitats. He has been a simply brilliantchairman and advocate for our work,overseeing the progressive rise of theTrust, from employing a part-timeofficer to now a team of ten, includingseven full-time staff doing mountains ofwork for our trout. edward has adumbfoundingly incisive, logical brain,able to spot opportunities and the rightthing to advise and do. Throughout histenure, edward has driven us to remainfocused on what we do best: practicalwork, engaging people to look aftertheir rivers and lakes for wild trout.

edward may no longer sit among uswith the chairman’s hat on but he vowsto continue to support the work of theTrust and we look forward to keepinghim close and benefiting from hisexpertise.

Edward Twiddy doing what he loves: pretending toinvolve his elder son, Joe, in trout fishing!

8

BUTTS BEERMAKES LIFEBETTER FORWILD TROUT

In 2014, Butts Brewery ofHungerford gave WTT a donation

of nearly £500, arising from acontribution to WTT of 5p per bottlesold of their outstanding Barbus beer.We turned that donation into a set ofchesties, adapted for chainsaw use,for our southwestern ConservationOfficer, Mike Blackmore.

Well, Chris Butts has done it again.early in 2015, Butts Brewery donatedanother £432, which we pledged to turninto a chainsaw for one of our northernConservation Officers, Gareth Pedley.Here's the proof: Gareth, ornately or-ange, with his (shiny) new tool, at workon the Witham at easton, Norfolk.

Thanks so much to Chris Butts andhis beer. You can help WTT’s cause byquaffing Chris’s ale, obviously in modera-tion. See more on Butts Brewery athttp://www.buttsbrewery.com/.

If you would like to help our workwith a donation, we'll always put yourmoney to good use. For example, thelatest recruit to our ConservationOfficer team, Dr Jon Grey, started withus in April and he too needs a chainsawand all the associated PPe. If you wouldlike to help, please call Denise Ashtonon 07802 454157 or e-maildashton@wildtrout.org.

RIVERHABITATWORKSHOPIN ARGYLL

Keen to expand Wild Trout Trustcoverage in Scotland, an exciting

project was initiated with assistanceand financial support from IntegratedAquatic Resources ManagementBetween Ireland, Northern Irelandand Scotland (IBIS). The projectdelivered a collaborative workshop,hosted and organised by ArgyllFisheries Trust, with technicalguidance on river habitatmanagement and installation of in-channel features provided by theWild Trout Trust and Argyll FisheriesTrust. The event drew in participantsfrom a range of fisheries trusts andforestry interests across central andSouthern Scotland and Ireland.

An initial morning session entailed aseries of presentations on the back-ground and theory behind riparian man-agement and habitat improvements,including the requirements of trout andimprovements that can be made to in-crease fish survival and fish carrying ca-pacity within a river, the importance ofreinstating and managing more naturalstructure within a river and the con-senting process for in-channel work inScotland. The workshop was designed tobe interactive, with discussion and com-ments welcomed throughout, engender-ing a friendly learning environment andchance to share experiences.

In the afternoon, the workshopmoved to a tributary of the River Aray(a small spawning burn heavily impactedby straightening and forestry drainage)for some hands-on training. A brief walkand talk about the current habitat qual-ity and issues was followed by a practi-cal demonstration of methods forinstalling woody debris to diversify thechannel, increase fish cover and kick-start more natural geomorphologicalprocesses. Attendees then tried thework themselves and saw how quicklyand easily habitat and in-channel struc-ture can be improved on a small spawn-ing tributary, provided that there is abasic understanding of the ecologicaland geomorphological requirements of

the site and the species for which it isbeing improved.

The second day of practical trainingwas on the larger River Shira, again im-pacted by significant straightening forland management and suffering from in-cision within its channel, but where nat-ural input of large woody debris hasbegun to improve habitat and reinstateriverine processes. The importance ofLWD in providing in-channel structureand diversity was discussed before ademonstration of how simple tree kick-ers and hinged trees can be employedand secured in place to accelerate riverre-naturalisation by mimicking the natu-ral processes already underway.

A final day with a local angling clubon the River Goil saw the demonstra-tion and practice of soft revetmenttechniques to stabilise eroding banks onupland rivers. This proved to be a goodfinish to the workshop, furnishing partic-ipants with a further skill for protectingriverbanks while improving habitat,rather than degrading it, as is so oftenthe case with harder, engineered bankprotection.

All the participants considered theworkshop to be good news, with severalrepresentatives from fisheries trusts ex-pressing an interest for future work-shops and Wild Trout Trust assistance intheir local areas, something we are verykeen to support wherever possible.

For more information about theseevents, keep an eye on the WTT web-site, or to discuss the possibility of de-veloping a similar workshop in the northof england, Scotland or Ireland, pleasecontact gpedley@wildtrout.org.

CONSeRVATION NeWS

Securing brash marginalhabitat.

CONSeRVATION uPDATeS

9

NORTH OF ENGLAND– JONATHAN GREY, WTTCONSERVATION OFFICER

What have I done? As I put digitto keyboard, I have been in

the North for one month exactly,although officially I have been a‘Wildie’ since Easter.

It’s been a tumultuous few weeks,upping sticks and moving from Kentwith the bluebells and wild garlic in fullswing to settle in North Yorkshirewhere it has swung violently fromglorious sunshine to driving snow! I’vealso left full time academia and itsassociated baggage; well, hopefully justthe baggage that sucked at my soul, theadmin tasks that are part and parcel of asuccessful department and expectedfrom someone with a senior position.Part of my drive to pursue this new rolewith WTT was born from spending mytime stuck behind a desk, applying formoney to employ Post-Docs and PhDstudents to do the very practical, hands-on science in the field that I wanted todo, that drew me to my career in thefirst place.

So, what have I done? Of coursethere has been an element of bringingmyself up to speed and shadowing someof the other COs. On the practical sideof things I was lucky to spend a day(before I left Kent) with Andy Thomason a challenging bit of water, the Adur.I’ve undertaken a couple of AVs withGareth Pedley, my colleague in theNorth, the first of which I can almostconsider my home water. The Aire atConiston Cold is a classic Daleslimestone river that is seriously under-performing. We spent the best part of

the day in the company of a veryenthusiastic young Roddy Bannister,marvelling at the potential of a waterabsolutely hooching with trout food butseverely lacking in cover and variety ofhabitat for all the life-stages of trout:impoundment above weirs and bowlinggreen grazing to the water’s edge, theusual suspects. Hopefully thesuggestions we made can be takenforward as it would be great to havesome projects to get my teeth into righton my doorstep. Indeed, having writtento various angling clubs, societies, RiversTrusts and the like to introduce myarrival, the response I have had from allconcerned along the Aire is particularlyheartening.

A further foray with Gareth, acrossthe border to work with Alan Kettle-White and colleagues at Argyll FisheriesTrust, has also provided ampleopportunity for getting wet and muddy.I’m very familiar with Large WoodyDebris from within my ‘ivory tower’ andhave dropped the odd piece into lowenergy systems in the South, but to be atrainer on a CPD workshop forPractical Habitat Improvements (fundedby the IBIS project) on spate rivers withattendees from across Scotland andIreland bringing their own experiencesand expertise was extremely beneficial.

It was fantastic to finally meet AlanKettle-White. We had exchanged emailsin the 1990s re ferox trout when I wasworking on the food web of Loch Nessand publishing a study on using ferox asRussian dolls. Now there is a man

dedicated to his fish! I will be returningto Argyll to discuss potential projectswith Alan, but may wait until there ishigh pressure and a prevailing wind tohopefully rouse one of his ‘Awesome’trout. The workshop also gave me theopportunity to chat to Kenny Galt ofthe Tweed Foundation. He has beenusing stable isotopes to help identify theprovenance of spawners throughout theTweed catchment (see updates in therecent Salmo). After 26 years dedicatedto an academic career in aquaticecology and with stable isotopes beingmy ‘bread and butter’ for that time, I amnot letting it all go! The Research part ofmy WTT title allows me to continuechasing interesting ideas, as well as viamy part-time Professorship at theLancaster environment Centre. So, asidefrom reviewing the science behemoththat is the library section on the WTTwebsite and starting to put togethernew ideas for synthesis papers with PaulGaskell, I am developing a couple ofpractical research projects: one withNoel Hulmston to determine whetherperch predation upon trout is a limitingfactor to populations in some Welshlakes; one with an mSc student atuniversity College London on the dietof the fast growing trout of malhamTarn; and one with an mSc student atmy old university (Queen maryuniversity of London) testing simplesampling and storage options forproviding samples for stable isotope andploidy analysis from Citizen Science (akaanglers). I hope to be able to update onthese, as well as more practical habitatwork in future newsletters.

After a giddy six weeks then, I alreadyfeel comfortable and accepted by thegreat group of passionate people that isWTT. Don’t get me wrong. my closeacademic colleagues are all extremelypassionate about their particular sciencetoo but they are often stifled by theadmin and bureaucracy that wore medown. Perhaps it is still early days but itfeels like a ‘What have I done?’ ratherthan a ‘What have I done!’.

Gareth Pedley demonstrating installation of LWD into anincised and straightened forestry channel to delegates on the

IBIS-funded workshop, hosted by Argyll Fisheries Trust.

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SOUTH WEST – MIKE BLACKMORE, WTTRESEARCH & CONSERVATION OFFICER

My first drop-in is to a habitatproject on the River Allen at

Witchampton near WimborneMinster.

An old mill tail race had been clearedof encroaching vegetation using an exca-vator. This practice would be less thanideal in any chalk stream, but local resi-dents were particularly concernedabout the impact on native white-clawedcrayfish along with trout and otherwildlife. With the residents and DorsetWildlife Trust, the straightened and over-wide channel was narrowed and given anew sinuous form by the introduction ofbrushwood berms, flow deflectors andhinged live willow limbs. six monthslater and silt has been scoured from thebed and deposited into the brushwoodberms which are beginning to becolonised by marginal plants. Ranunculusis growing over golden, clean gravel.Hopefully, the channel will cope wellwith lower summer flows and will befully naturalised in another 12 months.

The following day, the next projectstarted on the River Wylye at SteepleLangford between Salisbury and

Warminster. This was a WiltshireWildlife Trust-led project and I was gladto have only been involved in theplanning in a very brief and advisorycapacity! martijn Antheunisse’s team(that is himself and his faithful side-kick,Lev Dahl) had organised a monsterproject with Bryan Gordon-Smith andthe Wylye Fly Fishing Club. From dayone, Lev and I were on the chainsawsintroducing trees into the river andfollowing hot on our heels were martijn,Bryan’s team and a hoard of volunteers.my role (when not buzzing through treelimbs) was to lead on the constructionof habitat features, helping supervisevolunteers and showing them a fewsimple techniques and tricks of thetrade.

Overall, 22 volunteer tasks wereundertaken with 135 volunteer man-days of work. About 60 individualfeatures were installed including flowdeflectors, hinged willows andbrushwood berms.

Next it was down to Dunster nearminehead in Somerset and a dredgedand straightened section of the River

Avill. The river was straightened in the1800s but more-recently, low flowscaused by a poorly designed weir at thetop of a 1970s flood relief channel hadcaused it to silt up and become chokedwith vegetation. This then prolonged2012/13 flooding to the consternationof the locals. The environment Agencyagreed to dredge the river and as aresult the channel was left completelybare and a really hostile place for fish.Fortunately, a local resident got in touchwith the Angling Trust, who got in touchwith WTT and John Philips and mattPang from the local eA team. A plan washatched to get the channel back into ahealthy condition, able to better copewith low flow events, and less likely tochoke up with silt and vegetation.

With an absolute shoestring budgetof approximately £3.5k, designs weremade, materials were sourced fromnearby woodland, and an army ofvolunteers from all over Somerset wasassembled. 42 separate volunteers gotinvolved and in just seven days we hadreturned a sinuous, scouring flow toabout 450m of formerly bare channel.

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A winter’s flush through later and theriver appears to be recovering well.New berms are beginning to becolonised and eA electrofishing surveysbefore and after the work suggest trout,including sea trout, have found the newhabitat to their liking.

Species R. Avill, April 2014 R. Avill, April 2015

Brown trout 0 10

Bullhead 36 79

Brook lamprey 45 50

Eel 32 25

Flounder 3 1

3-spined stickleback 15 13

The volunteer team gets to grip with a brushwood berm on the River Wylye.

WTT IN THEPOLITICALWORLD

WTT tends to stick to itsmission: protecting and

improving habitat for wild trout,their associated species, the riversand lakes where they live andengaging people that enjoy thoseplaces.

We work, generally behind thescenes, with the fisheries and conserva-tion organisations whose role is tolobby on political issues, most notablythe Angling Trust and Salmon & TroutAssociation and the other groups work-ing in the Blueprint for Water coalition.We can do this effectively by supplyingcase studies on what our ConservationOfficers see out there on the rivers andlakes. using this ‘intelligence’, we’ve been

What the WTT Conservation Officer saw: probableillegal activity on a Devon river, the kind of on-the-

ground examples that WTT can input to the fisheriesand conservation lobbying organisations.

able to input to various consultations,e.g. the environment Agency’s StandardRules and its River Basin management

Plan review, the Scottish Wild Fisheriesreview.

EA electrofishingsurvey resultsfrom the RiverAvill at DunsterMarsh, before(April 2014) andafter (April 2015)the habitatimprovementwork.

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ACCURATE IDENTIFICATIONOF STOCK FISH

This edited piece comes fromWTT member, Terry Lawton,

based on the early days of hisexperiences of marking and taggingstocked brown trout to identify anddifferentiate them from resident, wildbrowns.

As a fishing club secretary, I havewanted for some years to have ourstock fish tagged, or marked, so thatthey can be identified quickly and easilyby any club member or guest. Someanglers find it much easier to identifyand distinguish between stock fish andnative fish; others find it very difficult.But if all stock fish were marked, lifewould be very much easier.unfortunately, until this season, wehadn’t been able to mark our fish, partlydue to the reluctance of hatcheries tospend the time and costs involved. Nowthat we will be stocking with triploidfish in the hope that in the near futurewe may be able to stop stockingaltogether, it is even more importantthat we can all differentiate betweenstock and wild fish.Why we need to be able to identifystock fish accurately?

Like many clubs, we ask all ourmembers to keep a record of what theycatch each day. But it has one majorflaw: no accurate means ofdifferentiation between stock and wildfish. Are we over-estimating how manywild fish are being caught? Are weunder-estimating that number? To beable to make sensible and informeddecisions about future stocking plans,we need accurate figures.Different ways to tag or mark stockfish

I have been aware of the use of aneedless injector called a Panjet toinject a spot of alcian blue dye onto thestomach of fish where it can – onehopes – be seen clearly. unfortunately,Panjets are no longer available andsimilar injectors (e.g. the Dermojetinjector) are very expensive at around£800, as are the dyes used in theinjector. Although marking fish with dyeis being done successfully by some clubs,it has two problems. The first is that thedye may not last long enough; it must bevisible for at least one season and ideally

two; these marks do fade and they canbe very difficult for anglers of a certainage to spot on the bank. The secondproblem is that because the mark isunderneath the fish, when a fish iscaught it will need to be turned over tocheck for the blue dot. This may meanthat it has to be removed from thewater.

I then researched the variousmethods available for marking andtagging fish; there is an interestingoverview on the Arizona Game and FishDepartment website(www.azgfd.gov/w_c/Fish_Tagging_marking_Techniques).

One widely-used method, fin removalor clipping (e.g. of the adipose fin) is tome unacceptable for aesthetic reasons ifno others, and, I understand, the clippedfin will heal and the mark may then notbe visible.

Then I came across Anchor or Floytags. These are nylon T-bar tags verysimilar to those used to attach pricelabels to clothing and similar soft goodsor hold packs of socks together. Theexternal part of a Floy tag is muchthicker than a nylon T-bar tag as it willusually be printed with either a numberor other information relevant towhoever inserted it. In the retail market,T-bar tags are known as Kimble tags andthey are applied using a tagging gunwhich a sharp, hollow needle. Taggingguns and tags are cheap. And colouredtags are available so a different colourcould be used each year or todifferentiate between stockings in thesame year. As well as being cheap to buy,they are quick and easy to insert in theback of a fish close to the dorsal fin. Anexternal tag, either Floy or T-bar, has onekey benefit: it can be seen while yourfish is still in the water if you havecaught a stock fish. There should be littleor no need to handle an un-tagged fishwhich can be released while still in thewater.

You can buy tagging guns withdifferent coloured tags on ebay. Trysearching for Avery Denison taggingguns as not all searches will find gunsand coloured tags.Trout wrangling

It is a wet job wrestling a lively fish,

straight out of the transport tank.Wearing a pair of thin cotton gloves, orsimilar, will help you to get a hold of afish immediately in front of its tail andunder its head. You can then lift it out ofthe water container and place it in yourbespoke tagging station, on the ground.Once tagged, return the fish to thewater container, again cradling it withboth hands, ready to be put in the river.

A hammock-style tagging station tohold and steady the fish can be made

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using a sheet of neoprene rubber whichis soft and flexible. The hammock needsan end stop, with a cover over it, intowhich the fish’s head is inserted. Thisrestricts movement at one end whilethe fish wrangler holds the fish by thetail as it is being tagged.Lessons learnt

Always have a spare gun with you incase you have a breakage and spareneedles. While the Avery Denisonneedles are very sharp they have provedto be fragile and can break.Fishing experience

You should be able to see the tag inthe back of a fish once it is getting closeenough to net; our early experience isthat our coloured tags are visible fromabout 3m distant. Once you have seen atag or lack of tag, you can decidewhether to net the fish or unhook itand release it in the water.

A full version of this article willappear in the WTT’s annual journal orthe website.

IS IT A TRIPLOID?

The Environment Agency’sNational Trout & Grayling

Strategy implemented a policy underwhich, from 1 January 2015, stockingof brown trout into rivers in England(& Wales) will only be consentedwith fish that are infertile (triploid),all-female fish or fertile fish producedin local broodstock schemes i.e.those that use parental stock fromthe same river into which the fish willbe stocked.

much has been written in the anglingpress about the ‘evils’ of triploids. Theactual science that has been carried outon them (e.g. in a PhD study at theuniversity of Stirling or the work byCefas on the Itchen) seems to dispelmuch of the angling myth e.g. thattriploids are smolt munchers or thatthey don’t rise like diploids. The hugebenefit they do bring to the river is thattriploids will remove the risk of geneticcontamination of wild stocks by fertile,farm-reared fish. There’s a great dealmore on this topic on the WTT

website:http://www.wildtrout.org/content/trout-stocking

But, if you catch a stocked fish, howcan you tell if it’s a diploid or a triploid?Well, with the whole fish in your hand,you can’t. But, if you kill the stockie toeat, when you open it up, you can spot adifference in the reproductive organs.Look for these lying between the massof the ‘guts’ of the fish and itsswimbladder. If it’s a male (highly unlikelybecause there are very few, if any, malesin the restocking trout market), you willsee the testes as long, white-ish, almostcarrot-shaped organs. If it’s a normal,fertile, diploid female, you will seeorange ovaries, again almost carrot-shaped. The size of the testes and theovaries will depend on the stage ofsexual maturity of the particular fish, afunction of age and size. If it’s animmature fish, the organs will be small; ifmature, they will be big and noticeable –refer to the pictures below.

But in an all-female triploid, eggs donot develop, so instead of developed ordeveloping ovaries, there are small, oftenoddly-shaped, creamy colouredstructures – see picture below.

An immature, one year old female brown trout, withdeveloping, orange ovaries, indicated by the tweezers.

A 1.5lb female stocked brown trout, taken inMay, with ovaries ready to develop in the

following winter’s spawning season.

A triploid brown trout with reduced reproductiveorgans, indicated by the tweezers and the black arrow.

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THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT, VIVE LEDIFFERÉNCE – TASTING THE CHALK STREAMSOF NORMANDY

This piece on the joys of the WTTauction from member, Nick

Heasman.I left a copy of the WTT auction

brochure with a good friend after anexcited session in the pub where wehad pawed the pages of delights. Withthe season seemingly a lifetime away, mygallant pal embarked on an ernestmission to secure some fishing inNormandy. A surprise and an absolutedelight to hear when an email appearedstating his bidding success. A window ofopportunity was found in diaries andscribed in blood for early may. Ferrystrikes and demanding workloads aimedto scupper the intention of sampling thechalk streams of our Gallic cousins, butdetermination and boyish excitementkept us afloat.

With a wooded catchment of some35,000 acres, the River Rouloir was ourport of call. A groundwater-fed chalkgeology, the Rouloir was an absolute joyto see from the large front panaromicwindow of ‘Auntie’, our faithful home on

small wheels for the next two days.Historically, the stretch had been

modified to service the mill which stillstands having been restored to thefamily home of Christian and Jeanette,the pounding it took in WW2 now adistant memory. The stream seemedfamiliar with plants aquatic andterrestrial like home, the sound ofcuckoo, the dart of a kingfisher and thewatchful eye of a grey wagtail. Thesetting was exceptional, the lunchincredible and we were joined byLaurent of the Fario Club whoexplained the mission of the Club andthe nature of pursuing wild trout and itsconservation in France. The previousevening we were told of a prolific hatchof mayfly he had fished with anotherBrit who enjoyed the Normandyhospitality that night leading to,inevitably, an extra day. With three of uson the beat, an additional stretch hadbeen negotiated with the neighbouringlandowner, rumoured as a Baronessliving on her own – to us she was a

widow of opportunity, a lady with someof the finest wild chalk stream fishing tobe had in France. We sent our fellowcountryman on his mission to returnsmiling four hours later, he says, due tosuccessful fishing.

Our beaucoup mayfly hatch didn'toccur that evening but sedge o'clockwas fun and handsome fish up to 40cmwere landed, with plenty of wildbrownies rising well from evening untildusk.

That night fine local food withexceptionally well-cooked wild boar anda large night cap of local apple brandymade for sweet dreams. The promise ofa return was made as we parted in themorning, sealed with big grins as ‘Auntie’was persuaded out of the village and upthe hill taking onwards two contentfishermen with memories to savour andstories to share onto our next river, theAndelle. We felt lucky to have found anopportunity to experience the chalkstreams of France and all in good cause,naturellement.

SCALES FORANYONE?

This contribution comes fromWTT member, Richard Wright,

learning the black art of scalereading.

Where we feel we need to stock, wenow have no option but to use steriletriploid fish, or those reared through alocal wild broodstock scheme. Both ofthese, the best evidence tells us, are theleast harmful evils compared with theideal of not stocking. What change willthis have on the fish populations in ourstreams and rivers? How can wefishermen know what we are catchingand killing or returning? How old arethey? How fast are they growing? Whichare wild and which are stock fish? Alltricky questions.

Literature suggests that the long-established practice of examining scalesamples could go some way toanswering these questions. Is this a

practical proposition for theenthusiastic, amateur, small club,fisherman with modest resources andmodest knowhow? The excellentmasterclass by WTT Director, ShaunLeonard, on scale reading suggests itmight be. A challenge then. Something tobring out the DIY naturalist in you?Something to do when it's even tooinclement to go after those wintergrayling?

Collecting scales, it turns out, is notdifficult. The internet (WTT included)provides many examples of how it canbe done. I will not pretend I have comeacross the definitive technique butlogically the method which you find ableto use quickly, consistently and mostimportantly, with the least stress to thefish, would be the one to go for. I firstpractised on a trout from Sainsbury'sfish counter to feel more confident.Small, dry brown paper envelopes are allthat is needed for permanent scalestorage.

Was the next bit going to be

prohibitive? It didn't take too long towork out that a new microscope wasgoing to be more than a bit difficult tojustify to my wife, no matter howimpressive looking a toy it was.Fortunately, from a microscopic point ofview, trout scales are very big and onlyrequire a low power of magnification.Further still, microscopes have beenaround for 400 years and haven'tchanged substantively since I was atschool 40-something years ago, so nothaving the latest model for thesemodest needs was not likely to be aproblem. What was needed was an ‘oldiebut goodie’. After a bit of surfing,Gumtree produced a retired labmicroscope with missing high powerobjective. £65 – just the job (lucky?). Ifyou're not sure how to set up amicroscope there are plenty of websites which, quickly, take you through it.It's quite straightforward.

The scales, I found, could be mountedby flattening them, sandwich style,between two ordinary microscope

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slides held tightly together withordinary sticky tape (a standard coverslip is far too thin to exert thenecessary pressure). No staining, nofixing, no other fancy enhancement. Inthis respect scales are asking to belooked at. If necessary, prior tomounting, clumped and sticky scales canbe washed clean of mucus andseparated from each other by soakingthem in slightly soapy water. They needto be rinsed and gently dried withtissue, before sandwiching, to preventtrapping bubbles in the scale ridgeswhich makes interpretation difficult. Thisvery simple method repeatedlyproduced a very viewable and readablesample. ‘Simples’: instant gratificationbiology.

The last phase is to record theinformation. The advice from the WTTmasterclass, was that an image could beobtained by the very low tech' methodof manually pointing an ordinary, small,digital camera straight down themicroscope. Appropriate technologyagain; it worked remarkably well. A littlefiddling determined that using thisparticular camera in B&W mode andslightly over-exposing the pictureimproved the quality a little more. (Tip:if, like me, you wear reading glasses, putyour glasses back on and refocus themicroscope before using the camera.

Without glasses I was focusing themicroscope beyond infinity; it seemed tomake my camera panic.)

Digital images are easily stored and ofcourse, easily shared. Sharing will nodoubt be important. It turns out thatinterpreting the scales is moredemanding than the imaging process.Studies show that scale interpretationabilities vary from person to person andwith degree of practice. Shaun Leonardnot only gave his expertise at looking atmy first images but also shared themwith a professional contact and bothagreed on the differing characteristics ofthe wild fish scale and stock fish scalewhich I sent him. It certainly needed theexperienced eye to point out the salientdetails to me.

So, the answer to the question is yes,it can be done but like many answers,

poses more questions.I and perhaps others can't send all

their images to Shaun. When would heever find time to go fishing?

Are there enough members outthere interested enough to form a scaleinterpretation group /section? It is clearthat scale interpretation is as much acraft as a science, improved withpractice, discussion and mentoring.Some sort of scale pool or “I'll look atyours if you'll look at mine” system withsome high level oversight for the trickyones might be worth developing. Who'sinterested?

Anyone keen to join Richard’s gangcan mail him on:richard@familywright.eclipse.co.uk

Scale from a 33cmstocked fish (thisphoto) and a 20cmwild fish (below). Thescale of the wild fish isa ‘replacement scale’,replacing one lost fromthis place in the skin;note the lack of ringsin the very centre ofthe scale.

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MIDLANDS AND EAST ANGLIA – TIM JACKLIN,WTT CONSERVATION OFFICER

It has been a busy few months in theMidlands and East Anglia. Advisory Visits have been carried out

on the Trent (Staffordshire), Cam(Cambridgeshire), Rea (Shropshire),Teme (Herefordshire), upper Withamand Slea (Lincolnshire). The latter was tosupport Lincolnshire Rivers Trust’sapplication for funding from theCatchment Partnerships Action Fundand it was very pleasing to find outrecently that this has been successfuland much needed river restorationwork will go ahead. Advice has alsobeen provided on the Lissan Water nearCookstown, Northern Ireland, atributary of the Ballinderry River whichdrains the western side of Lough Neagh.The visit was hosted by BallinderryRiver enhancement Association(www.ballinderryriver.org), a rivers trustdoing fantastic work on river protectionand improvement, education andconservation of the endangeredfreshwater pearl mussel. The Ballinderryand its tributaries are the breedinggrounds for the migratory dollaghentrout which inhabits Lough Neagh and itwas fascinating to see first-hand thelinks between good habitat and waterquality, healthy fish stocks and pearlmussels (the larvae of the latter hitch aride on the gills of small trout beforedropping off to mature in gravel beds).

On the practical front, a number ofdemonstration days have been carriedout on Derbyshire rivers including the

Noe (Peak Forest AC), Derwent(Cromford FFC) and Dove (NorburyFC). Various techniques that can beemployed on working parties weredemonstrated, improving the cover andfish holding lies. A more extensiveproject has been carried out on theBentley Brook, a Dove tributary,involving the removal of low weirs andinstallation of woody debris and inStaffordshire a bank re-profiling andgravel introduction project on theendon Brook was completed on a veryheavily engineered section of this RiverChurnet tributary. InNorthamptonshire, habitatimprovements resulting from a WTTAdvisory Visit and project proposalwere carried out by contractor DominicCawley on behalf of Welland mayflyFishers, funded by the local environmentAgency fisheries team.

In Lincolnshire, three demonstrationdays on the Dunston Beck were well-attended by volunteers who installedbrushwood bundles to improve thehabitat in this recently dredgedwatercourse. A mayfly in the Classroomtraining event was held for teachers inlocal primary schools to raise awarenessof the Beck and the importance for fishand wildlife.

Also in Lincolnshire, WTT advice andplanning work culminated in theremoval of a redundant weir on theupper Witham, improving opportunitiesfor fish movement (for example to

access spawning habitat). There wassomething very satisfying about wieldingthe sledge hammer and watching thewater flow freely again! many thanks toGrantham Angling Associationvolunteers who helped with this work.The removal of the impoundmentimproved upstream habitat and allowedwoody debris to be installed, creatingcover, depth variation and scouredgravels. This work complements theextensive habitat improvementsdownstream on the easton estatecarried out by the environment Agencyand WTT and is a further step in therecovery of the trout population whichwas hit by pollution a few years ago.

Still on the Witham, a couple of milesdownstream of the above site, planningwork has been progressing on anexciting project to create a 600m bypasschannel around another weir. The workwill restore the river to its naturalcourse and the existing impounded,slow, silty channel will be backfilled,delivering great benefits for fish passageand in-stream habitat. This is apartnership project with the localenvironment Agency team and WTT andthe work is due to start in early July.

It’s great to see projects beingtackled which restore engineered riversto a more natural state with increasedsinuosity, connection to the floodplain

Freshwater pearl mussels raised in the Ballinderry hatchery

Wo

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Getting stuck in on the Dunston Beck, Lincolnshire.

Weir removal before ...

...and after on the upper Witham.

Environment Agency staff visit to the Glaven, Norfolk.

and a pool-riffle sequence. Anothersuch project where WTT is involved isbeing led by the Lincolnshire ChalkStreams Project on the Waithe Becknear Grimsby which has also recentlybeen granted funding from theCatchment Partnerships Action Fund.Past projects on the River Glaven inNorfolk have followed the sameprinciples and WTT recently hosted avisit for eA staff from the Lincoln andIpswich offices to see four sites on thisriver, providing an opportunity toexchange ideas, experiences and gaininspiration for future projects. Duringthis visit it was gratifying to see the new

1200m river channel at Bayfieldcompleted last September starting tomature (see Salmo trutta magazine,2015) and to see hatching flies and risingtrout there only seven months aftercompletion!

oody installations on the Bentley Brook, Derbyshire.

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GATHERING EVIDENCE – THE ROLE OFBIOMETRIC FINGERPRINTING

This piece is a synopsis of afascinating paper, by Dr Nick

Everall of Aquascience ConsultancyLtd. (ACL), on the use of aquaticinvertebrates to detect impacts (orimprovements) in the ecologicalstatus of rivers.

I wonder how many of you have satand pondered on times past when youremember greater richness andabundance of river flies in yourwatercourses, or pat yourselves on theback that the health of your riversappears pretty good at present? Theodds are that with or without any truequantum of factual information tosupport such thoughts, many of youreading this article will fall into one ofthese camps. Sadly, completely un-impacted watercourses are becomingincreasingly rare because humanmodification of river systems is sopervasive that sites with arepresentative suite of minimally-disturbed watercourse conditions havebecome increasingly scarce. Recentscientific evidence has shown both gainsand losses in aquatic ecological integrityacross uK rivers, with a decline inspecies-rich riverfly groups across anumber of uK watercourses in recentdecades.

more and more fishery managers arerealising that relying on environmental

protection from Regulatory bodies, withever-depleting finances and resources,may not be the most pro-activeapproach to protecting their ownfisheries. While there have been greatstrides in improving the ecologicalquality of many rivers in the uK overthe last 50 years, relentless populationexpansion is putting more pressureupon finite aquatic resources through,for example the direct abstraction ofwater for drinking water, the disposal ofhuman waste and associated intensity ofagricultural operations impinging uponour wetlands. Indeed, many of theseissues are variably responsible for why,in the uK, fewer than 40% of surfacewaters were in good ecological status in2009, at an early stage of the WaterFramework Directive (WFD) and riverbasin management plans with only 5%more expected to reach good ecologicalstatus by 2015.

Dr Nick everall at ACL has been atthe cutting edge of recent advances inbiometric fingerprinting which providecausal stress signatures responsible fordetected impacts or improvements inaquatic ecological quality. Withcolleagues at the environment Agencyand Staffordshire university, Dr everalland his associates at ACL havedeveloped both the sample species levelanalysis and bespoke computer packages

to facilitate multi-biometricfingerprinting of, for example sediment,flow, organic and nutrient biologicalsignatures in watercourses fromcollected quantitative and species-levelmacroinvertebrate community surveydata. While ACL regularly provide suchservices to regulators like theenvironment Agency and Naturalengland or litigators like Fish Legal, theyhave in recent years been providingfishery-health benchmarking to anincreasing number of independentriparian owners, rivers and wildlifetrusts across england. A part-catchmentlevel and ‘traffic light’ picture of thebiological signature for silt, flow, organicand nutrient-enrichment fingerprints inthe Hampshire River Test catchment,commissioned and mapped by theWessex Chalk Stream & Rivers Trust, isshown (below left) where yellow-orangeareas show increasingly impacted areasand blue shows respective un-impactedareas of the highlighted environmentalstresses.

With the recent peer-reviewedadvances in both the resolution ofaquatic macroinvertebrate communitysample analysis and associated pollutiontrait bio-fingerprinting we can nowreadily determine:

i. impacted fishery health and at thesame time, identify the key root causesof the measured aquatic ecologicalcondition in watercourses;

ii. with identified clean waterconditions, a robust ecologicalbenchmark or baseline for futurelitigation purposes should theunthinkable cloud of pollution darken afisheries horizon in the future.

many riparian owners have been ableto sleep easier that should a pollutionoccur in the future they will haverobust, detailed ecological datadocumenting what they have lost forlitigation purposes or they have beenfactually enabled to engage withregulators and polluters using robustscientific evidence if this heightenedresolution of investigation hashighlighted more subtle signatures ofdeterioration in water quality. Theregulators have come to realise theimportance of both the resolution and

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mapping of some biological signatures ofenvironmental stresses in uKwatercourses with both the sediment(PSI) and flow (LIFe) metrics beingdeveloped as Water FrameworkDirective drivers in the near future. DrNick everall and Dr Cyril Bennett of theRiverfly Partnership are currentlyworking together with Salisbury &District Angling Club in developing aspecies-level aquatic invertebrateidentification and complementaryfingerprinting package which will allowRiverfly monitoring Groups, who wantto take things a bit further than grosspollution monitoring, to undertakemore subtle biological water qualityfingerprinting in their study reaches ofrivers.

An example of one of the speciesphotographic keys is shown in thephotograph (top-right) and a print outfrom the bespoke biologicalfingerprinting package below that.

under the WFD umbrella of ‘goodecological condition’ this relativelyrecent multi-biometric fingerprintingwork is starting to show that many suchwatercourses throughout the uK areoften a mix of un-impacted andimpacted reaches where detailed spatialmapping of the latter is facilitatingtargeted regulatory, in-stream remedialwork and litigation if required. So,whether you want an expert benchmarkand/or you fancy doing your ownbiological water quality assessment intothe future, the question is can youfactually quantify what state your reachof river is in?

Dr Nick everall can be contacted atAquascience Consultancy Limited on01246 239344, or email:rnaquaconsult@aol.com, and hiswebsite is:www.aquascienceconsultancy.co.uk.

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REMEMBERING A WILDTROUT HERO…

Paul Bates working at the end of his rainbow on the Great Stour.

Acommemorative tea party inSpring 2015 at Godington House

in Kent remembered Paul Bates whosadly, died last autumn.

Paul was an avid, determined andtenacious champion for his river, theGreat Stour in Kent. As WTTConservation Officer, Andy Thomas,often notes “every river and every clubcould do with a Paul Bates.”

In 2011, following a WTT AdvisoryVisit, work started on a reach of theGreat Stour near Ashford, under theformidable pairing of Paul and Andy. Theriver had been hammered by landdrainage engineers and had in-filled withreeds, with very little recognisable aschalk stream habitat. In phases andthrough an extraordinary partnershipbetween Paul’s fishing club (theGodinton Piscators), the local (andexcellent) environment Agency fisheries

Andy Thomas points to a functioning stream in 2015,complete with Ranunculus and wild trout. Note the

telegraph pole top right of both shots.

team, the Godinton House PreservationTrust, WTT and with additional fundingfrom the Ninevah Trust and SITA Trust,the river began to regain life andfunction.

Paul’s commemorative party walkedthe river to see how it was doing 20months after the last phase of work –we were greeted at our first stop-offpoint by a passing trout and, at our laststop, a passing kingfisher. Good news.even better to see that the river islooking fabulous. Wild trout are beingseen and caught in the river; they arenow in the caring hands of Clive Pavelyand his chums in the GodintonPiscators. Paul must be chuffed to belooking down on his mended river…

The Great Stour in 2012,before plenty of TLC.

trout: spawninghabitat (withadjacent coverfor adult fishwaiting tospawn), juvenilecover and adultscour pool andoverhead coverhabitat.Following thissuccessful initialevent, there willbe more (andbigger) habitatworkscompleted to

the same ‘blueprint’ in the near future.This will be a great boon to theprospects of wild trout making their wayback into this urban tributary stream.

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UPDATE FROM TROUT IN THE TOWN – PAULGASKELL, PROGRAMME MANAGER

Challenges and Opportunities:Llanrwst and Lyme Brook

I went to visit Stuart Llewellyn andother members of Llanrwst AnglingClub recently in order to assesssections of the main river Conwy – aswell as a previously invaluable sea-troutspawning tributary, the Afon CaesPerson in Llanrwst itself. The hugelypositive impacts of works to fill inapproximately 200km (and counting) ofdrainage ditches on mignient moor andreturn a natural ‘sponge’ effect to thetop of the Conwy catchment werevisible in the clarity of the (rising!) waterfollowing rains. Such enlightenedprogress makes it even moreinexplicable that one of the mostimportant sea-trout spawning tributarieson the system has been trashed throughan entirely inappropriate flood-prevention scheme. The culvert that waspreviously responsible for one priorrecorded flooding event on the AfonCaes Person had already been tackledprior to the scheme’s construction.moreover, alternative schemes toprovide additional channel capacitycould have been implemented withoutneed to concrete over the naturalstream-bed. Not only has the spawninghabitat in this reach been lost – but theconcrete works have introducedadditional barriers to any migrating fishattempting to reach better habitatupstream. We await with interest theimpacts upon both erosion and actual(rather than perceived) flood risk arisingfrom the works.

In stark contrast, a fantastic jointeffort between the WTT, GroundworkWest midlands and other members ofthe Trent Catchment Partnership –including regional and local eA staffvolunteers – recently improved asection of the Lyme Brook. This smalltributary to the River Trent inNewcastle-under-Lyme in the heart ofthe Potteries region has the interestingdistinction of being artificiallystraightened so as to run through an oldland-fill site. The existing ‘substrate’ is avery interesting mix of sand, bricks,broken pottery and not a few refusesacks! It does, however, teem withshrimp and olive nymphs and trout are

Installing a marginal brash berm on Lyme Brook.

This photo – the Afon Caes Person being fitted in its concrete straightjacket, and above the finished job – ‘trashed through an entirely

inappropriate flood prevention scheme’.

present in the main river below theconfluence of the Lyme Brook and RiverTrent. Tim Jacklin and I demonstratedhabitat works’ techniques to a willinggroup of volunteers that were brilliantlyhosted and managed by Stephen Cookand Lynne morgan of Groundwork Westmidlands. The techniques, installedaccording to a project design preparedby the WTT, included woody debris anda gravel riffle installation as well asmarginal brash-berm creation. Thesecomplemented the previous workscompleted to our design in which amini-digger was used to re-profile thestraightened brook and createmeanders, berms and self-scouring poolhabitat. The end result is new provisionfor all three critical lifecycle stages of

CONSeRVATION NeWS

22

SAGE ROD MAKES HABITATON CORRIB’S STREAMS

Just what a Sage rod can do: paired deflectors in a Corrib feeder stream,funded with the help of WTT’s Rods for Conservation scheme.

WTT’s Rods for Conservationscheme offers a (very!) limited

number of fabulous Sage rods toclubs that they can raffle to raisefunds for habitat improvement work.Here’s a great story of what can be

done with the proceeds, from PhilipComber of the Lough Corrib AnglingFederation.

many thanks from the Lough CorribAngling Federation for the Sage rodWTT provided us as first prize in our

SAGE ROD MAKES HABITATON CORRIB’S STREAMS

winter raffle. In total, we raised just over€2,000 for our Cairde Loch Coiribe(Friends of Lough Corrib) developmentaccount.

These monies will go towards ourongoing stream developmentprogramme which is run in conjunctionwith the Clydagh Foundation, whoprovide us with matching funds so the€2,000 raised in the draw will beconverted to €4,000 for works on theground.

The majority of the monies will bespent purchasing materials such asspawning gravel, armour rock, treetransplants and fencing for anenhancement project. The developmentprogramme has been running with theClydagh Foundation for the last fouryears and to date over €80,000 hasbeen spent on enhancement works inthe Corrib catchment.

We are seeing some impressivereturns on our investment with manynew spawning sites being identified onan annual basis after work has beencarried out. We hope that this projectwill run long into the future to help usmaintain Lough Corrib as one of theprimary wild brown trout lakes ineurope.

CONSeRVATION uPDATeS

23

IT JUST GETS BETTER & BETTER – THE 2015WTT 3 FLY CHALLENGE FUNDRAISER ATMEON SPRINGS TROUT FISHERY RAISES £3770

CA sunny Saturday in June sawthe sixth, annual WTT 3 Fly

Challenge fundraiser run at thesplendid Meon Springs Trout Fisheryin Hampshire, in memory of avidMeon fisher, Pasco James. 31 anglersfished the event, raising an incredible£3770 for WTT and over £500 forthe injured servicemen’s charity,Fishing for Forces.

The competition allows anglers tofish with three flies – a Kite’s Imperial, abuzzer and a GHe nymph – with differ-ent point scores awarded for fish sizeand each pattern. This year, the fisherycontained some ‘bonus’ fish: browntrout and golden rainbows.

WTT is hugely indebted to Neilmundy, a WTT volunteer who yet againbrilliantly organised the day, with gener-ous support from Waitrose and the JohnLewis Partnership Fly Fishing Club. Thefishery at meon Springs looked stunningand produced excellent fish and facili-ties, including a great lunch (details ofthe fishery at http://meonsprings.com/).Phil marr, the silversmith, created beauti-ful commemorative silver salvers asprizes and Pasco’s mum, Harriet Poland,presented the prizes at the day’s end.

This year saw a new competitionwinner, 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, next years 3 FlyChallenge fundraiser will be on Saturday18 June 2016 – if you’d like details, keepin touch with Neil mundy at nc-mundy@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 fundraiser in his honour andused the monies for habitat work onthe meon.

Chris Hodge (centre), winner of the 2015 WTT 3 Fly Challenge,flanked to his right by event organiser, Neil Mundy and to his left,Harriet Poland. Chris’s winning horde included a superb Sage One

rod, a Phil Marr silver salver and a commemorative tankard.

Bill Howell, founder of Fishing for Forces and great WTTsupporter, fishing his heart out at Meon Springs. Bill willhave better days on the bank…(photo Mike Edwards)

CONSeRVATION uPDATeS

Snowbee FishingShirt£39.99 + £3.20 p&psizes m, L, XL, XXL

meRCHANDISe

All WTT merchandise can beordered via the Shop on our

website at http://www.wildtrout.org/;by sending your order and cheque tothe WTT Office; or by debit/credit

card over the phone – call the WTTOffice on 023 9257 0985. All postageprices are for the UK, please enquirefor 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

ChairmanEdward Twiddy Trust 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.org, 07876 525457 Andy Thomas

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

athomas@wildtrout.org, 07876 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.org,07881 248789

Research & Conservation OfficerJon Grey

The Northjgrey@wildtrout.org,

07969 337808Newsletter

Shaun Leonard, Christina Bryantand Richard Handley

Sponsorship & Communications Denise Ashton

dashton@wildtrout.org, 07802 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&pGuide to the British Stonefly•(Plecoptera) families – £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 and mugsCar stickers – £1.50Pin badges – £3.75Cloth badges – £4.50mugs – £9 + £3.20 p&p

Fold-out chartFreshwatername trail (aguide to animalsfound instreams andponds)£3 + £1.50 p&p

Fulling MillEvening RiseFly Selection£9 + £3.20p&p

Trout cushions£12 + £3.20p&p

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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