News

Please note the following changes to the published catalogue:

Lot 30. Woodcock shooting for 2 guns on the Holkham Estate with Lord Coke. The date has been set as 29 January 2015, not 2014 as stated in the catalogue. There is no flexibility around this date.

Lot 118. Fishing on the Lambourn with Gilly Bate and Denise Ashton. The date has been set for 9 July 2014.

Lot 2  An exquisite Japanese gyotaku art work of two ayu or sweetfish. The dimensions are 53cm x 46cm (21x 18inches

Lot 35 Rawson and Perrin cane rod and reel. New photo of reel added. 

Lot 54 Eight flies for the Large Dark Olive hatch. Photos added.  

Late lots, not included in early versions of the catalogue. Click on the lot number to be taken to the details.

Lot 255 1 day for 1 gun, driven 100 bird pheasant shoot, Leicestershire. Start price £250.

Lot 256 1 day for 1 rod, Northumberland and North Yorkshire  rivers , accompanied by WTT Chairman Edward Twiddy. Start price £50.

Lot 257 1 day for 1 rod, River Derwent, Derbyshire. Guided by Stuart Crofts on 9 September 2014. Start price £75.

Lot 258 1 day for 1 rod, River Guash, Lincs.  Accompanied by a club member. Start price £50.

Lot 259 2 days for 2 rods, Lake Loughanure, Co Donegal. Guide and boat included. Start price £90

Lot 260 1 day for 1 rod, River Darent, Kent. Accompanied by Keith Wallington. Start price £75.

The Environment Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee held a special hearing on 26 February 2014 on the flooding which has rocked parts of Britain this winter. The RSPB’s Rob Cunningham and the Angling Trust’s Martin Salter answered questions from the committee on behalf of the Blueprint for Water coalition. They emphasised how land management practices, such as farming, should be modified to reduce the run off of soil and water and how floodwater needs to be better stored higher up the catchment to reduce the risk of flooding further downstream.WTT supplied case studies, based on our work in the field, of apparently unconsented river dredging and the ecological harm and the displaced consequences of such works (e.g. downstream bank erosion). Some of these case studies also appeared in a report published by CIWEM - Floods and Dredging, a Reality Check (see the report here) - that suggested solely relying on dredging can even make some communities more vulnerable to the risk of flooding.

Other relevant news items regarding flooding and dredging on the WTT website:

Video on the unintended consequences of dredgingFlooding and Dredging: the WTT viewNational media comment on the floods: click here and here 

Signal crayfish are an invasive non native species that are known to carry ‘crayfish plague’ that is fatal to our native white clawed crayfish. They also tunnel into banks and cause considerable erosion on some rivers. It is thought that the number, diversity and species richness of invertebrates is lower in rivers with signal crayfish. Now recent research has shown that intensive removal of signal crayfish results in increased numbers and species richness of invertebrates.

See the recent research article here

More information on signal crayfish is available  on the Non Native Species Secretariat website here.

The Annan District Salmon Fishery Board and the River Annan Trust have posted a proposal with Scottish Government to introduce mandatory catch and release on net and rod-caught sea trout in the Annan District. Very little is known about the sea trout populations in the Solway though catch data indicate they are in steep decline. In this context, mandatory catch & release seems an appropriate conservation measure whilst that picture is made clearer and other work is ongoing to improve life for sea trout (e.g. habitat work in rivers). 

WTT members might like to offer support for the ADSFB and Annan Trust proposals by writing to Valarie Lusk, Marine Scotland - Performance, Aquaculture & Recreational Fisheries Division, Salmon and Recreational Fisheries Team, Scottish Government Area 1B-North, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ.

For more information on the sea trout lifecycle, click here

At the beginning of September, Andy Thomas and Tim Jacklin spent a week in Ireland carrying out four practical habitat improvement demonstration days in the Foyle catchment. Organised in partnership with the Loughs Agency, the events provided an opportunity for angling club members and staff from various government agencies to get hands-on experience of a number of habitat improvement techniques and to share ideas and knowledge.

For further details and videos, click here.

The   Tweed Foundation   is holding a seminar on brown trout on March 26th, 2014 at 7.00pm at the Ednam House Hotel, Bridge Street, Kelso. All are welcome and entry is free.  For more information click   here  .

WTT has supported and endorses the independent CIWEM report "Floods & Dredging - a reality check". We've supplied case studies for the report's authors based on our work in the field and the report makes specific reference to one of our videos showing the issues around river dredging: (click here to view) 

We've been concerned that the clamour to dredge our rivers has had no basis on evidence or in science but  has the potential to undo years of work in securing the adoption of effective and sustainable  approaches to protecting communities from flooding. The report asserts that there may be situations where careful dredging can contribute to flood alleviation but also that there are many case studies and evidential reports that show clearly that dredging can often make flooding worse not better by accelerating the movement of water through the system. And of course, dredging can also lead to a number of other deleterious consequences such as severe bank erosion and ecological harm. 

WTT's focus, together with its many partners in government agencies, sister NGOs and community volunteer groups, has always been to improve habitat in rivers and lakes for wild trout and all the other organisms (including humans) that benefit from that improved habitat. In many cases, we are trying to undo the harm caused by channel modification, including dredging. We believe it is vital that we do not take retrograde steps in our management of the environment.

Sad news coming out of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust that Dr. Anton Ibbotson is retiring.Anton has made a huge contribution to fisheries research, perhaps most especially in grayling ecology and he will be much missed.Anton's departure means that GWCT  are searching for a new Head of Research at their Trout & Salmon Research Centre at East Stoke, Dorset.Anyone interested in this important role should contact Dylan Roberts at droberts@gwct.org.uk. Closing date for applications is 31 March 2014.

This River Bain project took a straightened section of chalk stream in the Lincolnshire Wolds and created a natural by pass channel around a former mill to improve natural habitat and biodiversity.This was a partnership project led by the Lincolnshire Chalk Streams Project  (LCSP). Funding was provided by LCSP partners Lincolnshire County Council, Anglian Water, Environment Agency, Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service and Natural England.

Advice and recommendations were provided by the Wild Trout Trust and the channel was designed by Professor Richard Hey.

For full details of the project, including a video are on the 'Projects' section of this website - click here to go to the River Bain page.

Some intelligent comment from Charles Clover on the floods and dredging are contained here in Martin Salter's (Angling Trust) blog. Click here to read the blog. 

The WTT's  view on dredging and the floods can be found here,  along with links to our video 'The unintended consequences of dredging'

This is a really superb short video from New Zealand. 'Damsels in Distress' from Sharptail Media 

Click this link to view http://vimeo.com/85147880

Click here for our report and accounts for the financial year 2012/13.The annual report gives a summary of our aims and objectives, and an overview of our achievements in 2012-13.

If you have any questions, please contact  Denise Ashton on dashton@wildtrout.org  or  Shaun Leonard (Director) on director@wildtrout.org

We recognise the immense distress and loss that flooding is causing to households and business across the country and especially southern England. However, we also believe that a return to wholesale dredging of our rivers is not the way forward. In particular, the terrible flooding in the Somerset Levels should not drive policy and practice for river management across the UK as they are unique landscapes with a long history of man made water courses.We are spending millions and millions as a nation trying to put right the harm caused by past decades of dredging our rivers. In many cases, problems from flooding are the result of truly extraordinary weather and mismanagement at a catchment scale - intensive land use high in the catchment that delivers lots of water super-quickly to the rivers, then straightened rivers that deliver that water super-quickly to the floodplain where houses and businesses are inappropriately sited. 

So, the solution needs to be at a catchment scale. Let's not wholesale (re) wreck our rivers and spoil them all over again for the whole of society. Thought provoking piece from RSPB :  http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/martinharper.aspx.

WTT is working with a number of conservation organisations that share concerns over the dredging issue and are contributing to the discussion based on our own practical experience as well as published research.

It’s good to see some enlightened views being expressed in the national media about the causes of flooding and how to manage catchments to reduce the risk and impact of flooding:

This is from the BBC: 

Back-to-nature flood schemes need government leadership:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25752320