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...

So, following a couple of weeks out of the country, here are some quick updates on what is going on at Trout in the Town. We are arranging a second half-day visit to the River Cray to finalise a technical report to give our advice on the most effective restoration measures for this great little chalk river. The report will be made available (as an AV report) on the WTT website ( http://www.wildtrout.org/ ) by the end of October. Similarly, a follow up report on the Trout in the Town visit to the beautiful (but frequently water-starved) Glazert Water, Lennoxtown will also be finalised and is planned to be made available on the WTT website as well. Ironically, when Trout in the Town visited; the river catchment was under prolonged, freak, torrential rainfall (picture). As ever with Trout in the Town, we are always exploring ways to reach out into local communities. We have got what we believe will be an exciting and completely new classroom initiative (more details to follow when technic...

This little chap was seen hanging out in the town centre recently. Updates will follow regarding the recent tour of sites and potential projects in the coming weeks

I've just spent two days being given the first hand low down/backstage tour of around 8km of urban chalkstream. As a result I thought I'd post photos and a very superficial account of Thames21 Head River Keeper Ashe Hurst's patch. Ashe and his team of volunteers have a continuous rolling clear up and maintenance programme that have taken his river from ASBO to pillar of the community over the six years of work since 2002. Ashe knows everyone on his patch, is a qualified angling coach and manages volunteer river keepers in regular education as well as youngsters on probation. Ashe enforces maintenance of unmowed buffer strips next to the river, an ongoing programme to eliminate invasive vegetation, installation (at strategic spots) and regular stripping of litter booms as well as established refuse collection points/skip hire. The result is that sections of river previously qualifying for "wet landfill" status are now diverse wildlife corridors. I'm sure Ashe w...

Trout in the Town will be visiting the following places over a two-week stint to find out how and where we can be most effective in delivering urban restoration in local communities: River Ise (Kettering) River Glazert (Glasgow) River Cray (London) Driffield Beck (Driffield centre) River Erewash (Nottinghamshire) In addition, support and visits will be made to existing projects on The Wandle, Colne and Goyt. Watch this space for developments and updates and email me with news of your own local projects on pgaskell@wildtrout.org