Inspiring and helping everyone to protect wild trout and their habitat

About the Wild Trout Trust

We’re a conservation charity working across Britain and Ireland to help anyone interested in making a better world for our rivers, lakes and their wildlife, including our native trout. Flourishing wild trout populations are a sign of the health of our waterways and the land around them. Our team of expert Conservation Officers work with landowners, local communities, fishing clubs, rivers trusts and government agencies to offer practical advice and hands-on habitat improvement projects.

Applications are invited for the Wild Trout Trust Conservation Awards

Have you, your club or organisation been doing good work for wild trout? We would love to hear from you! All details including application forms are here.

Practical Action

Our focus is on practical action to improve habitat for trout and all wildlife. We do this by delivering habitat improvement projects, often in partnership with landowners and other organisations, by giving advice and providing training through Practical Visits and River Habitat Workshops. Any individual or organisation caring for a wild trout population, anywhere in the UK or Ireland, can contact us for practical help, advice and support.

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Did You Know...

Farmed trout are selectively bred for different characteristics to wild fish: for example, they spawn earlier and put on weight faster. Farmed trout are heavily domesticated, one result being that they have a reduced reaction to predation, making them more vulnerable than wild fish to predators (including anglers!).

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Wild Trout Trust Movie

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News

Bernard Venables Award Winner 2019 / Oct 17, 2019

We present the Bernard Venables Award to recognise those who, voluntarily, have given epic service to wild trout conservation and to WTT and whose vital work, perhaps unusual, sometimes outstanding, often goes unrecognised.The 2019 winner is Paul Jen...

Winners of the Conservation Awards 2019 / Oct 17, 2019

River Darent at Eynsford gets a make-over / Oct 14, 2019

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Blog

Lost Youth / Oct 13, 2019

As the tail end of Hurricane Lorenzo was flinging rain against my window, I finally had chance to reflect on the electrofishing data I had collected during 2019. Many of the projects I have instigated since joining WTT in Yorkshire have included an e...

How did the fish cross the road? / Oct 08, 2019

Can stable isotopes reveal an impact of small scale river restorations? / Aug 05, 2019

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About Trout

Our native trout, Salmo trutta, is a wonderfully diverse and adaptable species. Trout are a clear indicator of whether or not a river or lake is a healthy environment. If trout can thrive, then so will other wildlife. Learn all about trout and their relatives, grayling and arctic charr, by clicking the links below:

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Join Us Today!

Membership costs less than a pint of beer each month and as well as supporting our work, you benefit from:

Joining a like-minded group striving for wild trout conservation and keen on wild trout fishing
WTT’s excellent annual journal, Salmo trutta and information-packed newsletters
Members-only trout and grayling fishing events on exclusive beats
Meeting friends and fishing chums at our annual get-together
Working with us voluntarily and practically to improve habitat in our rivers

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Projects

Our ‘in river’ projects range in scale from a hundred metres to a kilometre or more, and may involve a small army of (wet and muddy) volunteers or a large excavator, expertly guided by one of our team. We use techniques that we know work, based on evidence and experience, and are proud to be chosen to manage the delivery of many partnership projects.

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Advice

Any individual or organisation caring for a wild trout population, anywhere in the UK or Ireland, can request an Advisory Visit. One of our Conservation Officers will walk your stretch of river with you, discuss how best to manage and improve the habitat and write a report of their findings and recommendations.

Advisory visit reports are available on this website plotted on a map and as a list.

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Trout in the Town

Urban rivers are a fantastic resource for communities – not as rubbish dumps but as places of beauty, calm and wonder. That’s why we work with communities to help bring trout and other wildlife to urban rivers.

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Reference materials

We have a large library of information on this website, including ‘how to’ videos, academic articles and topic summaries such as predation, why trees are important to rivers, and stocking with farmed trout.

You can download our guides to habitat management as PDF files, or buy them from the shop. Also available in the shop is the excellent Wild Trout Survival Guide, our must-read book about wild trout conservation and management and a 70 minute DVD called Rivers: Working for Wild Trout.

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About Us

We have a small staff who work from home and who are passionate about rivers and wildlife and love their jobs! We are helped by armies of volunteers who get stuck in to projects and help us with social media, events and the auction. The auction is our key fundraising event, held on eBay every March with over 300 lots (mainly fishing) donated by our supporters. The Conservation Awards are held annually to recognise and celebrate excellence in river habitat projects.

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Support Us

With a focus on practical advice and project work, a small and expert team and very low overheads, we use our funds wisely to deliver real improvements to river habitat for the benefit of trout and all wildlife.

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