Derbyshire Wye (Haddon Estate) ‘Going Wild’ Project

The project has initiated a series of habitat improvement measures including fencing 5kms of the River Wye from livestock to prevent damage to banks and impacts on trout and grayling habitats.

Outputs from the project include:

• Fencing 5kms of the rivers Wye and Lathkill
• Provision of 12 livestock watering areas
• Provision of 2 deep substrate egg boxes
• Marketing of the day ticket wild trout fishing opportunities available on the Haddon Estate.

The River Wye and Lathkill in Derbyshire are nationally and internationally renowned trout fisheries, and day ticket access is available on waters owned by the Haddon Estate. Traditionally the fishery has been stocked with hatchery-reared trout and anglers have been allowed to take a ‘bag-limit’ of fish. The Haddon Estate have decided to change the way the fishery is managed to promote the sustainable exploitation of the prolific wild trout stocks in the river. This involves the cessation of stocking with hatchery-reared fish, compulsory catch-and-release and the management of the river habitat to promote the production of wild trout. The latter also has significant benefit for biodiversity, for example for water voles, which are also the subject of a catchment-wide mink trapping project to protect them.

The project meets many of the objectives of the Environment Agency’s national Trout and Grayling Strategy for the conservation of wild stocks by protecting and improving their habitat, and promoting the availability of high quality wild trout fishing on a day ticket.

This Project is a partnership between the Haddon Estate, The Wild Trout Trust and the Environment Agency.

The Haddon Estate are carrying out the works, including obtaining the relevant consents, supervision of contractors, direct works by river keepers and subsequent maintenance of the project outputs.

Water-Lines - Newsletters from Haddon Estate Fishery
Issue 1 - Spring 2004
Issue 2 - Summer 2004

Restored spawning gravels and Large Woody Debris – Haddon Estate