Trout in the Town:

Take a bow Groundwork West Midlands (particularly Richard, Francesca & Chris) - myself and Tim Jacklin from team Wild Trout Trust really enjoyed working with you and the great volunteers from the National Citizens Service. Together we turned what was one of possibly the straightest of any straightened sections of brook into a section with quite a lot more variety. This is what the section looked like in winter: Though, in high summer, almost none of the water was actually visible when the 360 digger arrived on site ahead of the volunteers (I wanted a day to sculpt the basic shape of the brook before Tim, Francesca, Chris and the volunteers came on site for days 2 and 3). So, once we found the wet bit of the river, operator David and me could start to collaborate in remodelling the stream. I'm always in awe of how much control these folks have with a machine and bucket - and we soon got into a great working and communication routine. It is fantastic to see the phys...

You probably know the basic story now (e.g. This Yorkshire Post article ), but whether you do or you don't, it is worth reflecting that this whole project was given the go-ahead because it tackled a number of critical problems. A big one was the flood risk posed by blockages in the original culvert - but Sheffield CC went beyond that and created an "amphitheatre" shaped park that actually created even more flood-water storage than an open channel would. They didn't stop there though, and with the help of multiple partners (including us at the Wild Trout Trust, the Environment Agency and also community volunteers from SPRITE as well as local offices such as the prestigious Jaywing advertising agency), a valuable urban green-space was created. This video explains all that (and also has a lush clip of a rising trout that made my day when I filmed it): Here's the really exciting thing for me though, as well as the aesthetic amenity value of the formal planting ...