A Win for Widdale: Restoring a North Yorkshire Beck

In the rolling landscape of the Yorkshire Dales, individual valleys can feel like their own hidden pockets of nature. Such is the case for Swineley Farm – a 500-acre plot that contains 1.5km of a small River Ure tributary called Widdale Beck. But when we have the chance to take a wider view, our collective wisdom can be a game changer for the health of embattled ecosystems.

For us, the story of Swineley began just over the hill. Between 2021 and 2022, the Woodland Trust purchased 1,387 acres of the neighbouring valley from several farming landowners. The Trust’s plans were ambitious: create a thriving mosaic of habitats, including one of the largest native woodlands in England. A key part of this plan was the valley’s own River Ure tributary, Snaizeholme Beck.

Historic forest clearances had left the valley exposed to the elements, and livestock grazing had kept it that way. As a result, the river was deprived of crucial shade and valuable wildlife habitat. Further investigation revealed that it had actually been moved from its original course, resulting in an overly straight and incised channel that was disconnected from its floodplain.

All of these factors combined to create a river that was rather unwelcoming for many wildlife species. While it was achieving Good Ecological Status, for example, surveys showed a concerning lack of fish. Notably, there were very few young trout for what should have been an ideal spawning area, which suggested that the conditions were not allowing the population to grow.

Thanks to support from the Woodland Trust, and funding from the Environment Agency, Jonny Grey from our team has been improving the health of Snaizeholme Beck since 2023. We’ve restored paleochannels, taken out old revetments, and reconnected the river with its floodplain. Perhaps most adventurous was our placement of 26 trees – complete with rootballs – into the river channel to boost its habitat diversity.

These efforts have undeniably paid off. Between 2024 and 2025, we saw four times more young trout during our surveys, on average; a positive sign that their numbers are recovering. Our success proved that this kind of project could make a difference to this kind of river. So when we were approached by the new owners of a similar watercourse just one valley over, we were ready for the challenge.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Widdale Beck has a history that mirrors that of its sister river. The section at Swineley Farm had been heavily straightened, shifting it closer to the edge of the floodplain. To stop it moving back, boulder revetments had been added. Pipes were artificially draining the landscape, and in some places the remains of drystone walls had crumbled into the channel.

Looking past these issues, however, the river clearly had incredible potential. It was home to freshwater limpets, endangered white-clawed crayfish, and various riverfly species – all suggestive of good water quality. With the right conditions, native vegetation could easily become re-established on the riverbanks. The river also had suitable gravels for fish spawning, although they were mixed in with cobbles and boulders, and as such were going unused.

This potential was very exciting to the new custodians of Swineley, a landscape restoration and natural capital business called Oxygen Conservation. With the goal of delivering positive environmental and social impact, they invited Jonny to produce a report outlining his recommendations for Widdale Beck. He envisioned a river that was unshackled from the constraints placed on it by historic modifications. This would mean pulling out pipes, dismantling revetments, redistributing stones from old drystone walls, and returning parts of the channel to a more sinuous course.

But the pivotal technique, like in Snaizeholme Beck, would be the replication of natural tree fall. For millennia, trees have fallen into rivers after being destabilised by age, disease, soil erosion, and weather conditions. This natural process is a huge boon to the ecosystems, providing cover and adding diversity to the channel’s width, depth, and sinuosity. Perhaps most importantly, the trees direct the water’s flow in a way that creates piles of gravel that are ideal for fish spawning. Brown trout are just some of the many animals that benefit from these habitat enhancements.

As with the Woodland Trust, we were lucky to have such an enthusiastic partner in Oxygen Conservation. They had already peppered the valley with native trees, installed fencing to keep livestock from trampling the riverbanks, and blocked small channels that were draining water from the blanket bog into the river. Despite their site being half the size of Snaizeholme, they were keen to take a bold approach. We knew that 26 trees could be transformative – what could a few more do?

In the end, the project was more impactful than we could have hoped for. Jonny implemented all of his recommendations, with one exception: with Oxygen’s support, and funding from Defra and the Environment Agency, he was able to add an incredible 48 trees (with rootballs intact) to the main river channel, and also to place 18 root plates from smaller trees into a side tributary. We sourced these from the surrounding area, and employed a trusted local contractor when heavy machinery was needed, completing the work in September of last year.

“Swineley presents a perfect opportunity to undertake transformative restoration at scale,” Jonny said of the project. ​“I have to thank Oxygen and the adjoining landowner, for sharing in the vision to make the site wetter but better! What we have done across the site will benefit not only the aquatic insects, crustaceans and fish, but also wading birds like lapwing, common sandpiper and snipe.”

Dan Johnson, Head of Environment at Oxygen Conservation, added: ​“This river restoration marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Estate and for Widdale Beck itself. Working in partnership with the Wild Trout Trust, we set out to listen to the river and allow natural processes to guide the design, using light-touch, nature-based interventions to reintroduce complexity and life to a system shaped by decades of intervention.”

“Since Oxygen Conservation took on stewardship of the Estate, the potential for landscape-scale recovery has been clear: to gently undo the legacy of historic management and create space for rivers and the wildlife they support. This project is the first step in a long-term journey, grounded in collaboration, shared expertise, and a commitment to careful monitoring, as we work to build resilient habitats for species such as wild brown trout and the endangered white-clawed crayfish, and to leave the river healthier for generations to come.”

This project is a fantastic example of how collaboration is key when it comes to river conservation. Huge thanks to our project partners, and to Defra and the Environment Agency for providing funding support. If you own or manage a river, and want to learn how it could be improved for nature, we’d love to hear from you.