News

The Angling Trust’s Angling Improvement Fund (AIF) 2024 has just reopened for funding bids – this time themed around offering up to £5,000 to support individual angling clubs’ efforts to tackle invasive non-native species (INNS) on their fisheries, or £10,000 for wider catchment projects.

You can find all the details HERE.

Before you submit your application, you’ll need to consult one of the AT’s Environment Officers. Your local WTT Conservation Officer can also help by carrying out a survey of the INNS on your river fishery. All WTT staff contact details are HERE on the Contact Us page of this website.

Yorkshire-based fishing guide Phillippa Hake kindly donated a lot for our Spring Auction 2023 – and it was bought by one of our members who generously decided to make it available to a lady who’d enjoy learning more about the skills and techniques of fly-fishing on rivers for wild trout and grayling (see our original announcement HERE).

After asking for nominations, we held a draw using a random number generator, and the prize was won by Ann-Marie Edwards, who met Phillippa on a tributary of the River Calder a few days ago. Phillippa took some photos, and sent us this lovely story of their day…

‘We planned to arrive in the river mid-morning, once the chilly early autumn temperatures had warmed up and we’d be more likely to bump into some rising fish. And we did! As soon as we’d made the short walk from the car to the river bank, there was no doubt that it would be a dry fly day, with fish rising to a steady hatch of olives and midges from the very first pool.

Our friends at the Institute of Fisheries Management are looking for a new Chief Executive Officer, working part-time. 

Further details can be found HERE.

Beavers are spreading across mainland Britain. WTT's view, and plenty of background information on beavers and their interaction with the environment, including trout, is in our Beaver Resource Hub HERE.

WTT has been working with Beaver Trust, Atlantic Salmon Trust, Devon Wildlife Trust and Westcountry Rivers Trust to help people better understand the potential interactions between beavers and salmonids and develop resources to protect and preserve fish populations. 

We’re developing an assessment tool for people to try to assess whether a given beaver dam poses a risk to vital fish migration, and then whether some form of practical intervention (dam notching or even removal) is legal and appropriate. More information HERE.

UPDATE: Due to a recently-announced protest in central London on Saturday 26 October, the March for Clean Water has now been rescheduled to Sunday 3 November. All the latest details are available HERE.

River Action UK has just announced a major new march and rally in London on Saturday 26 October – with a clear call to politicians to ‘Stop the Poisoning of Britain’s Waters’.

Timed to mark almost 100 days since the start of the UK’s new Labour government, the March for Clean Water is intended to bring together a wide coalition of groups and communities to #floodthestreets of London, and show the depth of public concern about the state of our rivers, lakes and coastal waters.

Join the Wild Trout Trust (WTT) as a Communications & Marketing Manager, with the responsibility and opportunity to develop, manage and implement the WTT’s communications and marketing activity.

Salary in the region of £35,000 per annum, depending on experience, but negotiable based on hours of work. Ideally full-time but part-time considered. 9% pension contribution and 25 days holiday if full time (or pro rata). Initial twelve-month contract but success in the post will ensure its extension.

Some of your responsibilities will include:

• Strategy, Planning & Implementation - contribute to WTT’s overall strategy by developing and implementing WTT’s Communications & Marketing Strategy and Plan.
• Membership - working with the Trust & Data Manager and other WTT colleagues, develop communications and marketing activities to attract, retain and engage WTT members.
• Fundraising & Revenue Generation - working with external fundraising specialists, develop marketing materials to inspire more support from legacies, major donors (including corporates) and grant makers. Working with other WTT colleagues, spread word on key fundraising events to attract greater support and participation (e.g. annual auction, annual raffle) and develop new initiatives and marketing activities to further increase fundraising and revenue generation.
• Event Management – developing and managing key WTT events such as national and local ‘Get Togethers’ and annual Conservation Awards.
• Provide creative, innovative, timely and measurable communications and marketing solutions consistent with WTT’s Strategy and Plan, focused on trout and river conservation and WTT’s work.
• With colleagues, create and deliver a suite of communications and marketing activity through WTT’s own channels (e.g. website, blog, WTT social media) and external media (e.g. press, radio, TV, podcasts).
• And much more!

Watershed Investigations have recently launched a new resource for citizen scientists and everyone else who’s interested in pressures on the UK’s water quality and environmental health in general.

The fascinating new online Watershed Pollution Map has apparently been compiled from more than 120 official datasets, including river and bathing water health, historic landfill sites, sewage dumping, intensive farming, heavy industry, political constituencies and many more.

The Watershed Pollution Map is HERE, and there’s a video showing how to use it HERE.

A brilliant opportunity to join the Wild Trout Trust (WTT) as a Conservation Officer, giving practical advice and help in the management and improvement of river habitat, particularly in southern England.

Salary in the region of £30,000 p.a. but negotiable, based on experience and hours of work. Ideally full-time but also negotiable. 9% pension contribution. 5 weeks holiday if full time (or pro rata). Initial twelve-month contract but success in the post will ensure its extension.

Martin Salter, Head of Policy at the Angling Trust, and (importantly) former MP for Reading West, has written this excellent blog post for RiverAction. 

The title parodies Bill Clinton's famous phrase 'it's the economy, stupid' and is very clear about the challenges facing the incoming Government and what needs to be done. Martin's subject matter covers sewage, of course, but more importantly the underlying systemic issues around water pricing, regulation, investment and water security.

Typically of Martin, it is robust, forthright and grounded in common sense and experience. Along with RiverAction, the Angling Trust and other campaigners, he will be making sure that the message gets through in Westminster, and WTT will be supporting them in every possible way.  

All of us in the WTT family are profoundly saddened at the death of Kris Kent.

Kris started his volunteering life with WTT in typical, unsung fashion, breezing into the kitchen at one of our Annual Get-Togethers to help wash up and tidy (Chrissy says she will always remember him in Marigolds at events like these!)

He became a stalwart on the WTT stand in the halcyon days of the Game Fair, his giant frame meaning that we had no need of step ladders to assemble the displays. For many years, he was also our (voluntary) lead as we dipped our toes into social media, and he won our Bernard Venables Award in 2013 for all this help in spreading the word about wild trout.

Wild Trout Trust members should now be receiving this year’s issue of our annual journal, and we hope you enjoy it as much as ever!

Salmo Trutta 2024 goes large on the physical structure and function of our waterways, and we’re particularly grateful to David Sear for contributing our lead article on this subject: why restoring our rivers’ physical habitat is so important.

We also owe a huge debt of gratitude to many other big names who’ve contributed thoughtful words and spectacular wild trouty images: Steffan Jones (for our amazing front cover shot), Paul Procter, Richard Noble, Sir Andrew Baird, Gösta Serlachius, Malachy Tallack, Jamie Stevens, Andrew King, Dylan Roberts, Eoin O’Gorman, Simon Tilbury and Craig Ballenger, as well as our very own Jonny Grey, Denise Ashton, Theo Pike, and ace designer Rebecca Hawtrey who’s laid it all out so stylishly.