WTT Blog

The Wild Trout Trust’s new TWIST (Transforming Waterways In Somerset Towns) project is an idea that aims to improve the health of urban rivers and streams in Cheddar, Wookey, Wookey Hole, Wells, Shepton Mallet and Croscombe.

Historically, most of the rivers which drain the hills around Somerset have been exploited for their water – first by mills, and then by towns which grew up around them. But far too often, these urban developments have left their rivers polluted, covered in concrete, broken up by weirs, and speeding water down to pinch points where flooding is even more of a problem.

Continuing to process our flow of application responses (Thank you!) to our invitation to take part, we can now add some fantastic projects from the North of England to the list of officially accredited chapters.

This initiative was launched as part of the Urban River Conclave in Stalybridge (pictured above).

An update from Trout in the Town Programme Managers Theo Pike and Paul Gaskell :

After inviting urban river groups all over the country to apply for official accreditation with Trout in the Town  we’ve been receiving a steady flow of applications for this exciting new endorsement.

This article first appeared in the WTT Autumn 2018 newsletter, but as it is spawning time again we thought it was worth repeating!

A couple of new things for this year: An excellent podcast by Andrew Griffiths called 'The Trout and the Heron'. Just eight minutes of wonderful description, recorded beside a river at spawning time.

Paul Gaskell, WTT's Trout in the Town Programme Manager for the north, gives an update on a partnership project on the River Trent, including 're-wiggling' the river at Staffordshire University.

Some timely advice on how to avoid catching out of season trout from WTT Volunteer, Kris Kent.

Kris works for Fishing Breaks, is a professional guide, an Advocate for Keep Fish Wet, a life member and long term supporter of the Wild Trout Trust.

Updated April 2021 with the Panorama programme, update on the Philip Dunne bill, details of the evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee and a report by Salmon and Trout Conservation.

Updated January 2021 with the Defra task for announcement on sewage.

if you attended our Urban Conclave in Stalybridge last September, and saw the launch of WTT’s Trout in the Town Urban River Toolkit, you might remember that we also announced a new nationwide accreditation scheme for all our urban river groups.

Like so much else this year, this initiative has been held up by the Covid-19 pandemic, but we’ve now sent out accreditation forms to urban river projects all over the country.

Back in March, Jonny Grey wrote a blog about the low-cost baffle solutions to ease fish passage on Bradford Beck. These interventions over several weirs were a part of a wider scheme to improve the environment within and alongside the beck. He's been back to survey the fish populations now...