Posted on November 04, 2022
In this blog post, WTT Director Shaun Leonard shares his views on a recent speech made by the outgoing Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, Sir James Bevan.
Posted on October 21, 2022
'This has been an opportunity which has informed and educated me greatly about the natural world, both between and beyond the banks' says Freddy of his time working with WTT
Posted on October 07, 2022
Back in June 2020, Jonny Grey was excited to introduce TROUT, a project funded via the Biodiversity Enhancement Programme of Yorkshire Water – Tackling Resilience on Underperforming Tributaries. Now, with several years of data collected, what has TROUT achieved?
Posted on October 04, 2022
Six weeks on and Freddy Weaver is not only still alive but willing to tell us a tale or two from deepest Yorkshire
Posted on August 16, 2022
WTT Director Shaun Leonard and Conservation Officer Andy Thomas share their thoughts on the impact of the drought on trout populations
The recent hot weather, hard on the heels of exceptionally dry weather, has resulted in many of our rivers, streams and natural lakes suffering very badly. For many areas and particularly in the chalk streams which usually have stable flows and cool water temperatures, last winter’s lower than average rainfall has been compounded by a bone-dry spring and summer, with the double whammy of record high temperatures. Many of the rivers of the UK and Ireland, if they’re still flowing, will currently have water close to 200C, tough conditions for any fish but especially for cool water trout, salmon and grayling.
Posted on July 11, 2022
Over the next three months, Freddy Weaver will be undertaking a placement with the Wild Trout Trust in Yorkshire and working alongside Professor Jonny Grey. Here, he tells us a little about how that came to be and how his first week went.
Posted on May 13, 2022
The Arctic charr holds some good titles to its name. It is the world’s most northerly distributed freshwater fish with a range extending from Ellesmere Island in Northern Canada (82°N) to high altitude lakes in the UK and central Europe. It is also commonly referred to as the world’s most diverse vertebrate and across its range, the Arctic charr is found to be highly polymorphic, often represented by several discrete ecotypes within a single lake.
We've given the blog over to Ellie Ward, a PhD student at Durham University, to tell us more about these enigmatic fish.....
Posted on April 05, 2022
At a recent virtual conference hosted by Colne & Calder Rivers Trust, our Prof In Practice, Jonny Grey, crossed paths with Sam Townsend, a final year undergraduate in Geography at the University of Huddersfield. His interests revolve around aquatic macroinvertebrates and Natural Flood Management, which may well strike a chord with many of our members too. So, we’ve opened the WTT blog to Sam as our earliest Early Career Researcher to date.
Posted on March 21, 2022
“No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy”
…paraphrased from Helmuth von Moltke, 1900
Since beginning to play with the Mayfly in the Classroom (MIC) idea in 2008, many instances of “contact” between the concept, associated apparatus and its users have occurred. Arising feedback from schools (teachers & pupils) as well as delivery partners (Rivers Trusts & Friends-of groups) is continually used to shape and tweak the resources and methods.
Posted on March 09, 2022
A part of Jonny Grey's role as a Professor in Practice is to forge links with the academic community and facilitate research projects. It was serendipitous timing last year when Lizzie Thomas contacted WTT, asking if we had any data relating to our numerous restorations - Jonny's 'TROUT project, Tackling Resilience On Underperforming Tributaries, was just beginning to bear fruit. Lizzie is a Zoology graduate from the University of Southampton and has just completed her MSc research in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation at Imperial College, London. She was particularly interested in understanding the effects of habitat restoration on salmonids given their ecological and economic value and, here, summarises the findings from her thesis.
Posted on February 23, 2022
Update May 2023
The water industry has today (18 May) announced its intention, pending Ofwat approval, to invest £10bn in updating England’s sewage plumbing.
Posted on December 20, 2021
David Marriott marks the end of an era in Bakewell, with the closure of the Bakewell Fly Shop on Christmas Eve.
We are in the heart of the Peak District. A warm July evening, the sun setting on the mellow limestone walls of an old cobbled courtyard. Fly fishing friends are foregathered in expectation of an eagerly awaited annual event - the emergence of the Sage of Bakewell on the occasion of his birthday. There is an anticipatory murmur as the appointed hour approaches.
Posted on November 24, 2021
Many fly anglers will have known Vic Foot, erstwhile and legendary keeper on the River Test at Testwood and Nursling, who sadly died last week, at 93 years of age. Vic was instrumental in bringing through many of today’s riverkeepers, including great WTT friend, Donny Donovan, who’s written these touching words about his friend, THE LEGENDARY MR FOOT.
Posted on November 17, 2021
A guest blog post from Lennard Powell of the Afan Valley Angling and Conservation Club, South Wales.
As I sit writing this, I recall my early days as a boy fishing the River Afan which join the sea at Port Talbot in South Wales. I did not give my surroundings much thought then: the trees, the birds and the other wildlife. The lack of fish in the river wasn’t uppermost in my mind or even, on occasions, how black or orange the water was, depending on what the pollutant was on that particular day, either coal dust or mine water. I was totally absorbed in the pursuit of the trout that I was going to catch and have my mother cook for my tea.
Posted on October 19, 2021
Did you know that when an emerging mayfly pushes through the surface-film of water to hatch, it's demonstrating a physical feat equivalent to a human breaking through a kitchen table-top?
Having kids and teachers witness this feat - and exactly HOW they do it (along with the strange transformation from "dun" to "spinner") in any of our upwing riverflies are key experiences within "Mayfly in the Classroom" - now available in full-colour guidebook form.