News

Ahead of Invasive Species Week 2023, the Environment Agency and Angling Trust (AT) have once again announced £75,000 of funding, through the Angling Improvement Fund, for angling clubs to tackle invasive non-native plant and invertebrate species (INNS) which threaten the health of their fisheries.

Amazing news: we’ve just heard from the World Fish Migration Foundation that our Snake Lane fish passage project has made it to the top 5 contenders for the Dam Removal Europe Award 2022, which has just opened for a public vote.

The money raised in our Spring Auction is crucial to what we do – it’s our single most important fundraising event of the year. We run the auction with one (very busy) member of staff and one (also very busy) volunteer. All our auction lots are given to us for free, and because we run our own auction website, 100% of the money, apart from any credit card fees, goes to support our work.

A report from Natural England has been published with an assessment of the wild beaver population of the River Avon (Somerset / Bristol) and its tributaries.

The report estimates that around 50 beavers (excluding kits) are living wild in the catchment and their territories currently occupy between 4-11% of the available bankside in the watercourses.They say: 'Few management issues were noted, probably because the population is in the early establishment phase'.

For lots more information about beavers and their impact, go to the Beaver Resource Hub on this website. 

The Chalk Streams First coalition (CSF) of eNGOs*, led by the gargantuan efforts of WTT founder and V-P, Charles Rangeley-Wilson OBE, has responded to various water company management plans with a proposal to give our magical chalk streams first use of the water in their aquifers, rather than the current model of abusive abstraction in the headwaters. 

The idea comes from the exhaustive work of expert hydrologist, John Lawson, commissioned by the Wild Trout Trust, Rivers Trust and Angling Trust, to investigate shifting points of abstraction towards the lower end of catchments. John’s work demonstrates that abstraction in the headwaters is robbing rivers across entire regions of critical flow, without which the streams simply cannot function naturally. 

Vitally, we do not propose the Chalk Streams First model as the only solution to England’s increasing water supply crisis, but as part of a multi-dimensional response to the crisis, including more reservoirs; however, it is a solution that could be implemented (we argue) by 2030, well ahead of the other options.

There will be a conference on dam removal at the Old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester, 18 & 19 May 2023. WTT’s Tim Jacklin will be speaking about his Snake Lane project on the River Ecclesbourne and also about Jonny Grey’s project to remove Scotton Weir on the River Nidd. The conference is organised by Dam Removal Europe and bookings can be made on their website.

The application window is open from 6th February 2023, closing on 13th March 2023.

The Rivers & Wetlands Community Days programme is back for 2023, funding practical action by local people to make things better for their rivers and wetlands, now and into the future. Funded by Thames Water and run by a group including also the Angling Trust, Environment Agency, Institute of Fisheries Management and Wild Trout Trust, we’re looking to support projects big and small, from a couple of practical days with volunteers, through to larger-scale improvement work for rivers and wetlands.

We welcome applications from local, non-Governmental community groups working in the Thames Water catchment, including rivers and wildlife trusts, flood groups, countryside/catchment partnerships, angling clubs and conservation volunteers.