Gloucestershire Coln restoration

Coln open day participants and wild trout

A stretch of the River Coln in Gloucestershire has been transformed from a previously straight, uniform section of water into a meandering river with ideal habitat for fish. Work included adding gravel to the river bed where trout can spawn, creating a series of pools and turning an old mill race into a fish pass, allowing trout to swim upstream past a weir.

The restoration was showcased at a recent open day hosted by educational charity The Ernest Cook Trust with Vaughan Lewis of the Cotswold Rivers Trust, the Environment Agency, the Wild Trout Trust and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. The day was supported by the Wild Trout Trust, with WTT Conservation officer and habitat restoration expert Andy Thomas on hand to explain the habitat restoration techniques used by the WTT (click here for more information on habitat restoration for wild trout). 

Ernest Cook Trust Press release