News

Salford Friendly Anglers have won the Fred J Taylor award for exceptional work in protecting or improving water habitats. The club were nominated by the Wild Trout Trust for its clean-up work on the Irwell, a recovering industrial river that flows through Manchester and Salford.

Salford Friendly Anglers are part of the 'Trout in the Town' programme - for more details click here 

Shaun Leonard, Director, Wild Trout Trust said: "The Wild Trout Trust is simply delighted that the work of all at Salford Friendly Anglers be recognised with the Fred J Taylor Award. They are a truly inspirational bunch making a very real difference to the once trashed but now recovering rivers of Greater Manchester. Well done, SFA!"The Award honours Fred J Taylor, MBE, angler and writer, who died in 2008. Previous recipients include Peter Rolfe for his work studying and conserving crucian carp, and the Avon Roach Project, winners in 2011.  Formed in 1817, Salford Friendly Anglers are by some margin the oldest fishing club in England. However, while the club may be old their attitudes to fishing and the environment are not! Water quality on the Irwell is now good enough to support fish, but the risk of pollution from the 300+ Combined Sewer Outfalls (CSOs) is ever-present. SFA has logged and prioritised all of these outlets and volunteers from the club are using the Riverfly Partnership’s Anglers River Monitoring Initiative to keep track of water quality so that problems can be picked up quickly. Club members are active in lobbying everyone from Government Ministers downwards to keep the Irwell high on the agenda and this summer volunteers have been planting water crowfoot as part of their ‘greening the river’ project, creating fish refuges and floating islands on inner city fishing venues, and are restocking lakes which have been devastated by pollution.  Remarkably, membership of the club is completely free. Their overall philosophy is to make fishing open and accessible and to encourage anglers to be aware of and active in improving the environment by taking part in river clean-ups and habitat creation.  Mike Duddy from SFA said: "We’re delighted to win such a prestigious award. A love of fishing and the environment has united anglers from Greater Manchester to lobby our local agencies and water utility to prioritise the continuing clean-up of the River Irwell. Our club’s activities and hard work to promote the rejuvenation of the river has been the catalyst for a shift change in public regard of the river from public health hazard and open sewer to a new view that it has the potential to add something to people’s lives and is an interesting place to spend time and observe nature. Salmon were last recorded in the Irwell in 1854 and we’re working hard to ensure that it’s not another 150 years before they make a return." Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of Angling Trust and Fish Legal said: "The Angling Trust is keen to highlight the magnificent work that anglers around the country do to clear up litter, restore damaged habitats and prevent pollution. There is no better example of this than the work of Salford Friendly Anglers and their club volunteers."

Applications are invited for the 2014 Wild Trout Trust  - Thames Water Conservation Awards.

The Conservation Awards recognise and encourage excellence in the management and conservation of wild trout habitat, celebrating the efforts, skills and ingenuity of projects carried out both by professionals and by grass roots voluntary organisations. The awards are generously sponsored by Thames Water. 

There are two categories, Professional and Amateur. Trophies and commemorative certificates will be presented to the winner and runner-up of each category

The Grayling Society makes a direct contribution to the conservation and sustainability of the grayling, its habitat and fisheries. For some years the Society has, each year, allocated a sum of money to be made available to suitable projects which will directly benefit the conservation of grayling anywhere in the world.

Such projects could range from part-financing habitat improvement works, through initiatives such as the promotion of catch-and-release of grayling, to increasing access to grayling anglers on the riverbank.

If you would like to apply for a grant,  go to this page on the Grayling Society website :

Dr. Ben Rushbrook of the Hants & IOW Wildlife Trust reports that a dead signal crayfish has been found close to the River Arle, a tributary of the Itchen, raising concerns that there is a population of live signals at the top of the Itchen.The upper Itchen is home to one of the few remaining populations of our native white clawed crayfish, whose numbers have plummeted as a result of 'crayfish plague'  - a disease carried by signal crayfish. Signal crayfish are also very destructive of the wider river ecology and habitat, so it is important to prevent them becoming established on the Itchen.

Any anglers seeing what they believe to be signals on the Itchen and its tributaries please report the sighting to Ben at Ben.Rushbrook@hiwwt.org.uk - an accompanying photograph would help to verify any sighting.

This news further underlines the need for anglers to remember biosecurity - check, clean & dry your kit!

It’s been a busy spring and early summer for the WTT. A quick roundup of where we have been working so far this year and plans coming up:

River Habitat workshops (training volunteers and professionals as well as carrying out in river habitat work):

River Roden, ShropshireTorver Beck, CumbriaLumley Park Burn, County DurhamBlackwater, EssexColne, HertfordshireMisbourn, BuckinghamshireBulborne, Hertfordshire.

A day on the River Darent, Kent, donated by Darent Valley Trout Fishers, won by Mr A. Mair

A day on the River Lambourn, Berkshire, donated by Mr and Mrs Pocock,  won by Mr C. Davis

A day fishing the lake and River Wye at West Wycombe Park near High Wycombe, donated by Sir Edward Dashwood, won by  Mr N. Longman

Volunteers for the River Don Trout in the Town project   (SPRITE) have successfully replaced invasive Himalayan balsam on a section of river bank with a range of native wild flowers and grasses. For photos and video, see Paul Gaskell’s blog post here

The SPRITE team are now on the trail of Giant Hogweed – a very nasty invasive plant that causes a rash that becomes worse when exposed to the sun. See blog post by Ian Rotherham here.

For more information on invasive non native plants, click here or buy this book, written by Theo Pike, the inspiration behind the Wild Trout Trust's Trout in the Town programme.  

Moray Firth Trout Initiative Summer Newsletter is full of practical information and updates on projects in Scotland, some you could be involved with so it's well worth a read. Click here

A Forests, Fisheries and Water workshop was held in March 2013 to bring together representatives from the forestry, fisheries and water sectors to discuss topics relevant to these groups.

The presentations from the workshop back in March and links to documents and guidance are now available on the NRW website through this link

 http://naturalresourceswales.gov.uk/our-work/policy-advice-guidance/water-policy/forests-fisheries-and-water-workshop/?lang=en

The local Environment Agency Fisheries and Biodiversity team have been working with the Wild Trout Trust to enhance wild brown trout habitat on the upper reaches of the Itchen since 2011. Details of  the project, including a video, can be found on the Upper Itchen project page. Click  here to go to the page.

This extract  from an EA monitoring report shows results from those projects. It's not hard science, but it is interesting that fencing and LWD can change the river from wide open, flat and exposed to pinched-in and hairy and suddenly more trout appear/survive.

Read the extract from the report here

Last weekend saw the fifth, annual WTT 3 Fly Fundraiser run at the splendid Meon Springs Trout Fishery in Hampshire, in memory of avid Meon fisher, Pasco James. A record 35 anglers fished the event, including for the first time, four lady fishers, with the event raising an incredible £3835.

To read the full story, and details of next year's event, please click here

The Wild Trout Trust Annual Get Together was held near Cheshunt in Buckinghamshire on 7/8 June 2014, and was a very successful and enjoyable event.

The meeting is an informal opportunity to catch up on the work of the WTT in the previous year, and the WTT Director’s talk on this topic was recorded on video ( see below). 

Shaun brings to life the dry figures from an annual report  of what actually is achieved in rivers and communities by the Wild Trout Trust team.

Flooding And Climate Change: Building Resilience Against Extreme Events

Dr George Heritage, AECOM

Newcastle University

The River Meon through the pretty village of East Meon, has flowed through a concrete-lined channel for several decades - a biologically sterile environment with few plants, insects or birds. 

Working with villagers, the Parish Council, the Environment Agency and South Downs National Park, WTT Conservation Officers Andy Thomas and Mike Blackmore have added some much needed natrual habitat to a 40m length of the river.

A meandering stream has been defined by two lines of stones bonded to the concrete bed of the river with berms created by the addition of 25 tonnes of stone; these berms have been planted up with a range of local chalkstream plant species.