Inspiring and helping everyone to protect wild trout and their habitat

About the Wild Trout Trust

We are a conservation charity working across the UK and Ireland to help anyone interested in making a better world for our rivers, lakes and their wildlife, including wild trout. Flourishing wild trout populations are a sign of the health of our waterways and the land around them. 

Our expert staff work with landowners, local communities, fishing clubs, rivers trusts and government agencies providing practical advice and hands-on habitat improvement projects.

Our team spends over 1000 days a year on or in rivers. We use that experience to highlight issues like pollution and abstraction directly with governments and regulators and to support our partners in their lobbying and campaigning.

News

News

Blog

Blog

Duncan Philpott describes his MSc research project which he aligned to WTT habitat work carried out by Research and Conservation Officer, Professor Jon Grey. Duncan is now living in Sweden and working on research connected with trout health.&nbs...

Did You Know...

Catch and release by anglers is an important management tool that prevents over exploitation of fragile wild brown trout fisheries. ’’...a good game fish is too valuable to be caught only once.’’ – Lee Wulf.

Our Work

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.

Wild Trout Trust Movie

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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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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.

Andy With Digger Comp

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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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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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:

Impacts Of Weirs Diagram

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. 

Wild Trout Trust Team 2020

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.

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.