River Erewash Foundation

Sick and tired of the litter and tipping that was dragging down the appearance of his local river, local resident Mick Martin started a group to adopt and improve the River Erewash. Mick’s love of angling (see his Blog)  inspired a dream of seeing thriving wild trout populations returning to his local river – previously degraded by poor water quality.
A gradual improvement in water quality has been indicated by the good growth of Ranunculus weed (in place of the more organic pollution tolerant Potamogeton spp.) in many reaches. Furthermore, grayling introduced as yearlings have now survived and grown for more than two winters – something that would be impossible in polluted sections of river.
In fact, as their website says:
“Our Foundation is moving swiftly along the riverbanks carrying out work parties at Toton, Long Eaton, Stapleford and Trowell, improving habitats for our fish, birds, otters, kingfishers, bats, watervoles and many other abundant wildlife species thriving along our river corridor”.

Along with the odd trout caught in the main river, the small tributaries of the Erewash are known to hold small trout populations. It is hoped that a programme of habitat works and ongoing improvements to water quality will see the river’s trout go from strength to strength.

The River Erewash foundation was quick to become affiliated as a branch of the Trout in the Town project and also work closely with an impressive list of partners that includes, but is not limited to:

Broxtowe Borough Council, Erewash Borough Council, The Wild Trout Trust, Environment Agency,The Grayling Society, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and Friends of Toton Fields. The WTT has supported the foundation through provision of two Advisory Visit reports on different sections of the river alongside an extensive project proposal for in-river works. We are continuing to support the foundation throughout a lengthy consenting process by working with the Environment Agency to identify and mitigate against potential flood risks in a densely populated river corridor.
We have also provided a “rods for conservation” donation of a Sage rod  as a raffle prize to help raise funds – an initiative that has been generously supported by Sage. A small Wild Trout Trust bursary also enabled match-funding to be won by the River Erewash Foundation to purchase an adapted petrol leaf blower. Following training by the WTT’s Tim Jacklin (see photo below), the foundation can now undertake seasonal silt removal on small patches of potential spawning gravels.