Trout in the Town:

Picking up from my previous post of the in-channel habitat creation - here are just a few photos to give an impression of the site's previous states. This gives a bit more of an idea of how little of the river was allowed to see the open air until pretty recently. Sheffield City Council have been steadily working to expose this buried watercourse... View downstream from the road bridge note the balcony/gantry on the right in the foreground Same view immediately after the in-channel habitat-works (note balcony/gantry on right of frame in foreground Starting to remove the brick-arch culverting At the downstream end of the removed brick culvert - a series of steel RSJs can now be seen spanning the river. These previously supported the concrete floor of a factory that was built on top of the river Here is a picture of all the RJSs (complete with poetic graffiti) The same view after the in-channel works and removal of RSJs So, a great deal of credi...

There will be more pictures and video to come to document this bold project by Sheffield City Council to uncover a section of stream that used to live beneath a factory floor. They are in the process of creating a "pocket park" that will provide new flood-water storage (when the rivers are in spate) and an improved public park amenity (when the rivers are calm). The pocket park itself will be excavated out from the current high ground level (and a major construction project is underway at the moment to achieve this). The Wild Trout Trust were brought in to design in-channel features and riverbed morphology that would maxmise the improvements for the ecology of the stream - including for the prospects of a small and fragmented native population of wild brown trout. The site after uncovering the stream - but before the in-channel works Part way through the Pocket Park Construction - new gabion walls and flood defenses Channel with boulder clusters, log deflector-consoli...

Stand out quote that encapsulates that we know a lot more about the mechanisms of damage to river ecosystems and their wild fish populations than even in Frank Sawyer's day. Its up to us to make sure we act on that knowledge. April Vokey's Journey from Vantage Point Media House on Vimeo .