The Meon Valley Partnership and Wild Trout Trust joined forces with local landowner, Danny Bower, to carry out habitat improvement work on the River Meon at Midlington for the benefit of brown trout and river wildlife.

The project is designed to improve the habitat on 800 metres of damaged river and is funded from local rod licence sales through the Environment Agency, from funds from South Downs Joint Committee and from the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.

The work has created much needed variations in river depth and flow patterns which will result in improved habitat for a variety of chalkstream plants, invertebrates, fish (including brown trout) and birds such as kingfishers. The scheme was designed and project-managed by the Wild Trout Trust (WTT) with valuable input from one of the country’s leading river ecologists, Dr Nigel Holmes.

Andy Thomas, WTT Conservation Officer and project manager said “This project is a great example of how simple and cost-effective enhancements can be achieved on our chalk rivers which will result in some fantastic improvements for wildlife. Working with the Meon Valley Partnership has enabled us to finance the work and provide the level of monitoring required to measure the effect of the changes as the new habitats settle down.”

Landowner Danny Bower commented “It’s great to see the river getting back into good condition and I’m looking forward to seeing the future benefits for wildlife. I would recommend that other landowners explore the contributions that they can make to improving and conserving habitat in the Meon valley.”

The Meon Valley Partnership was formed in 2007 to give the River Meon and its valley a focal group for conservation.  The partners include the Environment Agency, the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Hampshire County Council, Natural England, the South Downs Joint Committee and Winchester City Council.  The partnership works with local people and businesses, other organisations and specialist groups to maintain and enhance the natural and cultural heritage of this nationally important chalk river.  This is done through advising on land and river management, undertaking research, education, influencing others and supporting sustainable activities within the river valley. To find out more about the partnership, please contact the Partnership Officer, Cat Robinson, on 01489 774448 or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . For more information on the Meon Valley Partnership see their website.