Trout in the Town:

One project that I was very remiss in not feeding back on recently is the great work that the folks on the River Erewash are doing. They have some encouraging shots (e.g. above) of potential spawning habitat from a recent river walk on their project blog (linked on the right). These are a great bunch of guys with a fantastic "can do" attitude and the WTT is delighted to be able to offer support. Although the Erewash doesn't fit neatly into a formal "Trout in the Town" project, the WTT's flexibility means that we can offer technical and practical assistance as and when required. However, at the end of the day; it is all the hard work and dedication of the Erewash restoration group that will bring about change and improvements. This is a great reminder that for all projects with any WTT involvement, the credit for making everything happens lies with the volunteers who stand up and are counted on behalf of their local streams. Well done guys, and I eagerly look...

Right now we are looking into whether a Trout in the Town project could be started on the River Don in Sheffield. Its early days yet and feasibility is still being investigated. I had a look today at the top of the section that could be considered. Although there is a lot of coloured flood water in the river today, the riffle/pool sequence of the river is still evident and suggests that there could be good habitat to work with. Both clips taken from the same point - one facing upstream and one downstream

A concept that Trout in the Town wants to work on, produce printed educational material for and take into schools is "Mayfly in Classrooms". Through this, students would learn about and witness the lifecycle of iconic invertebrates as well as experiencing real-life hatches on their very own local "outdoor classrooms". Crucially, the accompanying educational material would include accounts of how each and every facet of the aquatic AND riparian (terrestrial) habitats are interdependent. Aquatic invertebrates lend themselves to education about aquatic conservation very readily. Their biology perfectly illustrates requirements for good aquatic habitat. They also play a pivotal role in linking aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity. These less well known aspects of their biology would (for most people) include the crucial subsidies that aquatic invertebrates make to terrestrial predators once they metamorphose and take to the air. In this way, calorific energy that has ar...