River Tawd & Chantry Bridge (Calder) Projects Win Trout in the Town Accreditation

Congratulations are due to two newly-accredited Trout in the Town chapters — Friends of Tawd Valley and Calder Chantry Bridge.

First of all, we welcome a brand new group coming together to secure a better future for the ecology in their local section of the River Calder around a 14^th-Century Chapel, giving its name to the historic Chantry Bridge. Following an Advisory Visit and as a testament to the group’s existing efforts to control invasive plant species, create better habitat and keep watch over a large outfall discharging the the river, the group has been awarded their TinTT First Contact Certification.

Moving over to Skelmersdale, West Lancashire and the Tawd Valley. This is a lovely little stream which has held trout in the past. Unfortunately it is another one of our trout streams in England which periodically suffers from poor water quality. While the habitat is, in many places, excellent — there are intermittent inputs of toxic substances from a complex upstream situation featuring multiple potential industrial and agricultural sources. The difficulty in tracking down each of the significant polluting inputs is amplified by the extensive culvert which buries the upstream watercourse and hides the location of many potential problems.

As an established and formally-constituted group, the Friends of Tawd Valley are an obvious candidate for the Bronze Level Accreditation — and this situation has been ratified following an Advisory Visit and formal application. I look forward to working with both new chapters to help improve and protect the prospects for these invaluable, urban havens for river-corridor wildlife.

Paul

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