// BLOG
A positive couple of weeks
June 13, 2011
Well I’ve not posted since the Bank Holiday weekend down to the usual excuses I’m afraid. But the work seems to have paid off – as you’ll soon see.
The bank holiday weekend was a particularly wet affair, a friend an I went “wild” camping and fishing in the highlands. Unfortunately constant rain and 40 mph winds at 400m above sea level forced a retreat on the 2nd day as we had no dry clothes and no heating…. I have “character building” ringing in my ears.
Tuesday the 31st was the usual start of week, clearing emails, organising paper work and binging philip up to date with projects. We had a few tweaks to make at Easington so I had to nip out to site with Stephen, and we’ve now sorted that.
Wednesday I took Richard Wood from the EA on a whistle stop tour of some of the key sites on the Ribble, Richard is the project manager for the Ribble Pilot Scheme, and was keen to get to know us and the catchment in greater detail.
Thursday was a slightly less intense day as we ventured our with Paul Proctor and Rod Calbrade to visit some of our passport scheme beats ahead of an article coming up in trout and salmon. We visited stok beck, where Paul caught several wild brownies to 7 inches and then the both of us managed to lose fish capable of taking line of the reel… typical! We also visited Bottoms beck. Watching Paul fish was incredible, a true “hunter of fish”. His ability to spot fish and stalk into place was incredible. What Paul couldn’t believe was that wherever you thought there might be a fish, there was a fish! The habitat and water quality is so good up there that fish can recruit and survive incredibly well, although fish are only 6 or 7 inch on average, the pleasure comes from being in a truley wild place fishing for beautiful wild fish. And the pleasure comes not from the fish but the one cast that manages to avoid branches and roots and hits the water!
Friday we finalised our tender documents for our big fish pass project on the Calder and Brun, and sent them out. I have never seen so much paper, but unfortunately that’s how it goes running big projects.
Monday Gareth and Katie started with us, and so we had a tour of the upper Ribble, I showed them key areas of concern, and of excitement that I hope they will get to know well over the coming months. Monday night I then caught the train down to London ahead of the Invasive species seminar hosted by the Association of Rivers Trusts. This was a 3rd sector affair, with representative not just from Rivers Trusts, but Water companies, Wildlife trusts, volunteer organisations and Angling organisations. It was a successful day, and the key message was Prevention, Prevention, Prevention. Plans are in place for trying to set up eradication and control measures for some species already here, but we must prevent more. One key “bad guy” of the day was the Dikerogammarus. This little critter can do some servious harm, videos were shown of them eating fish eggs and other inverts. We must all work together to stop it’s spread, and the easy reminder is Check - Clean - Dry. With this employed by people (and I mean all people not just anglers!) moving from catchment to catchment, we can stop the spread of so many invasives.
Wednesday morning I was back in the office and Gareth Katie, and I took a tour of the Calder. It was a wet affair to say the least, but we saw some great sites and got the enthusiam going!
Thursday Gareth and I set about organising this years electro fishing program, it took the best part of the day, and we’re not done, but it’s key. This year we hope to use this as an opportunity to engage with farmers on a better scale and demonstrate how we can clearly work with them for the benefit of the catchment. The best news though was the confirmation of approval of our fish pass design for the Calder and Brun, there are some amendments to make, but these can be done easily, the main thing was getting this approval, without it we would have had real problems delivering in the time scale set out by the grant.
Friday we were out doing a topo survey for easements on Chipping Brook, we came up with some solutions, but found ourselves scuppered on others. This needs somemore work. In the afternoon I prepared for an invertebrate training day with Settle Anglers. This is not part of the Riverfly partnership scheme, but a preparation day that we hope will give them confidence when we get them on the next course. The training day was a massive success, and was well attended and enjoyed by all. We saw plenty of inverts, and discussed both inverts and other issues facing our rivers.
Saturday was the Prince Albert Angling Society open day near Ribchester. We had a fantastic stand, well located and thanks to the trustees, and supporters who made it a great day for us. We took a kick sample from the river near the car park that amazed all (including myself I must admit!) how diverse and abundant the inverts were, we were only lacking the Ephemera may fly from the list of key indicators, which is rare even in our cleanest becks. The attendance of the entire event was mind boggling, and shows how big a group anglers are. We would like to thank PAAS for allowing us to attend and for there usual support. We were able to talk and listen to a lot of anglers.
Feeling the strain…
May 31, 2011
It’s been nearly 5 weeks since I have posted, for this I apologise – my excuse is work load. So much has happened over that period I am sure I will forget plenty, but will try to bring things up to date. Our project list is ever growing, and as and when I see opportunities for more I struggle to say no, but I challenge anyone to when they can see what good can be done.
Our Calder projects are moving ever forward. We have applied for planning permission, land drainage consent, and National Fish pass panel approval. Each process is sufficiently different to require lots of work but similar enough to drive someone made through repetition. But these processes are in place for good reason, especially in high risk sites such as the confluence of the Calder and Brun. We hope to go out to tender in the next week or two, and so I will be busy finalising contracts and documents for the next few days.
On Boyces brook we have finalised the design for the works and submitted them for land drainage consent. We have had a quote which is a little over budget, but I hope that with some work we can bring this down to a suitable level.
We have also begun finalising our designs and feasibility study for the other work on the Brun, but are awaiting news from our Heritage Lottery Grant application before the final stages are completed. Catherine has been busy liaising with the grant application officer, answering queries and keeping the application on track (fingers crossed everyone!)
Last week we made a start on our latest habitat scheme on Easington, we managed to get most of the fencing in using volunteers. Thursday was a god awful day and we were soaked to the bone, I felt guilty as I took the Friday off and thought I was abandoning the those involved, however it turns out they had a beautiful day and got on well. Thank you to all involved, this was out first scheme using volunteers for this type of work, and the farmer was duly impressed by the quality of work. This is one of several EA funded projects, but the partnership went beyond finance, as Mark Rudd from the EA came to help out on Thursday, which was much appreciated, as his long arms came in useful for picking stones out of the bottom of holes!!
Land drainage consents, were what was taking up so much time over the last few weeks as I had to get them submitted before the end of May to allow the 2 month decision process to be completed in time for us to actually get in and do the work. Stock beck gravel and large woody debris addition has been submitted, however before we can do any work on that we are awaiting the results of a grant application. Barrow brook weir removal has been submitted and we hope that this will be approved and work can commence ASAP.
Gayle and Cam beck is progressing, with modelling work on grip blocking priority areas complete, and now it is a stakeholder consultation period, and working with farmers to finalise consent to get in and do the works. This project really excites me and I can’t wait to get started.
We have another fencing scheme on a tributary of the Hodder and the Hodder itself at Burholme bridge that we hope to get started this month. The success of easington has proved how well on the smaller fencing scheme this technique can work, and we hope to role it out more. It’s a fantastic scheme that gets people involved, giving a sense of ownership, and also provides great value for money and opportunities for learning what our work is about. If anyone is interested in getting involved, please get in touch with Catherine in the office on 01200 444452 or admin@ribbletrust.com . The scheme also gives people the opportunity to learn new skills, and those interested in practical conservation work should take every opportunity to get involved.
Mark Rudd and myself are due to go out this week and start finalising our plans for the fish easement work on Chipping brook. The scheme is very similar to the work we have done previously, but needs Land Drainage consent, and stakeholder involvement, which is likely to take a bit of time.
We have also developed another project on the Hodder at Newton that involves large woody debris. We hope this will encourage otters, king fishers and invertebrates to thrive in an area where impounded gravel as led to a very uniform habitat. We have secured some funding through the fishing club, but are waiting on a grant bid before we go any further.
Speaking of grant bids, last week we were encourage to put ideas forward for funding through the EA’s WFD pilot basin scheme fund. We submitted 5 and 2 have gone through to the final assessment phase, these cover more large woody debris projects, but also investigative and feasibility study work on the river Darwen – so fingers crossed again.
The other big news is that we have appointed our new Fisheries Scientist, Garth Jones, who is due to start on the 6th of June. Since my promotion last year I have found it near impossible to move the trust forward and increase of projects, whilst keeping on top of the task relating to the fisheries scientist role. With the Summer survey season fast approaching it was decided that the fish survey data was essential to our work so a new fisheries scientist was needed. It’s important not to forget that in addition to fish data that we gather information on invasives, otters, habitat, and barriers to migration during these surveys that really build a picture of where and what work is needed on our catchment. I hope that all who have been involved in the trust will give Gareth a warm welcome and help him as much as I was helped when I started.
As well as Gareth, we have appointed Richard Atton on a casual work basis, as our Volunteer Coordinator. Richard knowledge of conservation and practical conservation techniques is incredible, and we are pleased that he has joined our team, even if it is on a casual basis. Richard led the work on Easington and will lead other similar activities for the trust as and when we get the projects.
And that’s not all! We have Katie Gunning and Adam Walmsley joining us for the summer. Katie is in a post funded by United utilities to assess the outcomes of the Brennand and Whitendale abstraction alleviation scheme. The research project is a joint venture between the EA and the trust, and we will be working very closely to find out just how much better the fish populations will be following the installation of the minimum hands off flow on these abstracted reaches. The position will involve fish surveys on the Brennand and Whitendale, although I’m sure she will do a few around the catchment. Adam’s position is purely voluntary and is looking at the possible implications of changing flows associated to climate change on salmon, and where they spawn.
On Saturday the 21st we ran an otter survey training day that 10 of our invertebrate samplers attended. The aim of the scheme is whenever the samplers go out to do a kick sample they spend 10 to 15 minutes looking the vacinity of their kick sample site for otter spraints and tracks. This information will be shared with the EA, but also allow us to look at the current range of otters in our catchments. I’m particularly keen to see what comes back on the Calder, as we know there are some there, but how many is anyones guess. We hope to run another couple of these days. The training will be limited for the time being to our kick samplers only, but this may change over the summer, so keep an eye on the website.
We also hope to hold an invertebrate kick sampling training day with the Riverfly Partnership in September. If you are interested, please get in touch with Catherine in the office.
Finally our passport scheme is up and running again, and we have secured two new beats (with a third in the pipe line). One beat is a new stretch on stock beck, and the other is Bottoms beck. This is a beck that flows into Stock reservoir. Our fishing starts at some impassable water falls and runs 2km upstream. The fishing is challenging, but the rewards fantastic, the stretch is not stocked, and has because of the water falls no fish from the reservoir, but there are wild brown trout up to 10 inches having been caught during electro fishing surveys – and not forgetting some of the most incredible surroundings our catchment has to offer. However don’t turn up with anything longer than an 8ft rod, and I would recommend in the 7ft category is you have it!
I think you’ll agree that we’ve been fairly busy! I’ve no doubt missed a few bits out but I need to leave something for the Newsletter!
True top down catchment restoration
April 21, 2011
What a week it’s been! trying to cram in as much before the Easter break as possible.
Monday I did an interview with Martin James for his Radio Lancashire fishing program, and then walked a section of the Ribble with him to discuss various issues and pressures and how we might get to grips with some serious habitat improvement. In the afternoon it was Planning aapplication form filling for the Calder/Brun Fish passes.
Tuesday I met with the EA to discuss some remedial work that we needed to do, and then it was back to the office to get the planning application finished… then start on the land drainage consent! Some much work goes into these that it’s upsetting to see that for all the work is a envelope! But I was really picked up when we got the news that our Gayle and Cam beck project bid has been successful and that we have secured 80% of the funding!
This is an unbelievable opportunity to trial a mixture of restoring flows (grip blocking) improving in channel habitat (large woody debris) and improving riparian habitat (fencing and tree planting), but better still it’s on the formative becks of the Ribble – a true top down approach! This I hope will be a successful trial, that will lead us into applying for further funding to complete the project.
There is an absolute mountain of preparation, consultation, and planning to be done, but an opportunity like this comes along very rarely and with that in mind I think we can conquer that mountain and deliver a fantastic outcome for the Ribble!
Wednesday we had various meeting in relation to some research work this summer, a habitat scheme and then planning out the Cam and Gayle beck project. A long day that didn’t seem like a lot happened but it certainly did!
Today has been just as busy, trying to secure the last of the money for Gayle and Cam, proceeding other projects, visiting easington habitat scheme to deal with a broken pump on a cattle trough, and a lot more, but I’m just so excited about Gayle and Cam that I got on with some planning work!
We’ve also organised for our kick sample volunteers an opportunity to be trained in otters surveys, we have 10 places at the first course that will be run by the EA, which is given on a first come first served basis, in May. This will really help us to build up our knowledge of the current distribution of otters on the Ribble Catchment.
Keep tuned for updates, and have a good easter break!
Pilots and the trust
April 18, 2011
Well I imagine that people will be asking what does piloting have to do with a rivers trust, but it’s not that kind of Pilot! Over that last couple of weeks there have been some important announcements from the government about rivers and river improvements. There has now been recognition that the way to really protect and improve our rivers is through the “catchment” based approach. This has lead to the government and the EA choosing 10 “pilot” catchments to adopt this approach. The aim seems to be to try and find a successful process of restoring an entire catchment. The Ribble has been selected as one of these pilot catchments. We hope that this will lead to increased focus in restoring the entire Ribble catchment. As one would expect, this is what our trust (hence the name!) has been working on for 13 years, and it’s that fact that has meant that the pilot scheme is to incorporate working with the Rivers Trusts to deliver the outcome of a restored catchment. To that end myself and the Chairman spent most of Monday last week discussing with the EA the way in which we see this happening. One of the outcomes was that there is no one single process that needs to implemented, but actually a fine tuning of existing processes to deliver our joint goals.
Tuesday I was on site with MArk Rudd the EA fisheries technical officer for the Hodder at Chipping to look at the Chipping brook fish passage project. It was a useful morning and several ways forward were identified to address the 3 barrier to migration.
Wednesday I met with the council from Manchester Anglers at the Village hall in Horton-in-Ribblesdale. This was a sit down to go through our proposals for the work we plan to do on Gayle and Cam Beck, and to answer any question that may arise, I learnt an awful lot and came away with several positive points to incorporate into our plan. In the afternoon I was preparing the brief for our CAD (computer aided design) drafters to draw the fish easement on “Brun 3″ the small weir in Thompson Park. Wednesday also saw the announcement of significant amounts for funding from the Government to aid in restoring England’s rivers such that they adhere to the WFD. This was an amazing announcement and we hope that this will see lots of improvements across the catchment. Later that day I was then instructed to begin the planning process for the 3rd phase of river improvements. This fits in well because at the moment I am finalising our trust “Business Plan”. This is different from the usual business plan that is about how to make more money, it’s about how we plan to restore the Ribble catchment, and all the processes and resources required.
Thursday I had to get the planning application for the Brun/Calder Fish passes done, and liaise with the EA on several possible issues surrounding flooding. So between myself and our designers we had to do some water level monitoring. The good news was that according to our modelling the fish passes should actually reduce the risk of flooding in these areas.
Friday we held some phone interviews for the temporary fisheries research position that is looking into the impacts of the abstraction and how this will change with the reduced abstraction on the Brennand and Whitendale. We have had any amazing amount of applicants and I am still sifting the applicants that came through last thing on Friday!
And we’re off…
April 8, 2011
Well after promising to do my blog regularly on a Monday morning I failed. As a result I thought perhaps a Friday would be better as generally it is less manic than first thing on a Monday morning! So I set about writing up the last two weeks at the trust on Friday afternoon and before publishing it I pressed the save button, only to see everything vanish. So I set about re-writing in only to see it vanish again and then again. Anyway it turns out I missed the message that told me the website needed a software update, and all the problems were linked to that.
But rather than wait till Friday next week I thought I would get it written up today! So due to the delays this post goes all the way back to the 28th of March, which seems a distant memory - certainly to me with all that we have going on! Philip was on a well deserved break so our Monday meeting was forgone and I got out and about to see how things were progressing at Cockden Bridge, but also to meet our Topographical Surveyor at the Brun/Calder Confluence. Howard from Site Survey Services was already there setting up and many thanks to him for getting both surveys done in one day, and then burning the midnight oil to get the surveys on to Auto CAD to allow our concept drawings to get drawn up.
In the afternoon I got on with my bits, and had a surprise and welcome vist from the Hanson Cement Plant Manager of the Ribblesdale quarries. We had been trying to meet for sometime to allow us to thank Hanson for their support, but also to see if there was any chance of some more space. The meeting was more successful than I could have hoped for with Hanson Cement offering a new dedicated building with all the office space and storage we could possibly need. So a great big thank you to them. It is activities like this that really keep the trust going, as we could not afford to rent office space.
Tuesday we met with Paul Bradley of PBA and Ian Fleming of Manchester Anglers to discuss out proposed projects in the upper catchment, and how we would like to work with them.
We then received our first successful list of project bids to the EA, so Stephen and I spent the afternoon outline the project timeline – it’s pretty scary if I’m honest! However I can say that we will definitely be doing projects on Chipping beck, Stock beck, Easington brook, Barrow brook and the Hodder.
Wednesday I was out kick sampling with the EA as part of our joint pollution prevention campaign. This was a slightly more pleasant day than the December outing where I had to break ice to do a kick sample in water temperatures of 1 degree celcius. The results were fantastic, on the beck that had been at the centre of the EA actions we saw and increase in both abundance and diversity, I hope to write this up and put the report on the website.
Thursday I worked on getting the information together for our big projects ahead of applying for the various consents (planning permission and Land Drainage Consent). In the afternoon I gave a short presentation, to the Liaison Panel that Hanson Cement has with local stakeholder, on our activities.
Friday I met with a volunteer who hopes to undertake our kick sample monitoring on Gayle and Cam beck, we undertook a brief kick sample to be sure that the methodology was agreed. We found a good diversity and moderate abundance (which was expected). In the afternoon I rushed over to the Brun/Calder confluence to meet on of the National Fish Pass Panel members to look at the site and go through how we had arrived at out concept drawings.
Monday of the week just gone Philip came in and we had a good session bringing him up to speed on our activities. I then set about preparing a final draft of the trust business plan to present to the trustees at our next meeting.
Tuesday morning was more business plan, and then a short stint on Radio Lancashire to promote both the Trust and angling. This is vital, as the success of our projects requires a wider buy in than the direct stakeholders. In the afternoon/evening I met with the EA to go through our projects in detail and determine the way forward.
Wednesday I met our contractors for the Don Fish pass on site to go through any snags, and there were none! The projects is completed, on time and in budget. The project provides a demonstration of how we can deliver “quick wins” at incredible value:
Thursday I had a morning meeting with the EA to go through some legal agreements relating to projects, and in the afternoon I met David Hinks from the RFCA. We plan to hold these meetings every quarter to keep each other abreast of activities and identify anywhere that we need to work closer.
Friday was a day of flow modelling for the fish pass feasibility study we are doing on the river Brun. A whole day staring at excel spreadsheets when the sun is shinning is a real punishment for anyone. But at least I think I’m done! Our projects are now all go and hopefully we will have another successful year of delivering real river improvements accross our catchment.
Environment Agency news- Environment Agency moves to stop rivers running dry
- Woman rescued as car is swept away by floods
- Environment Agency tracks alien invaders
- Unwanted Christmas trees provide festive flood defences
- Queens green energy scheme nears completion
- Case for change: Drought to be commonplace by 2050s
- New taskforce will tackle illegal waste sites that blight communities
- Environment Agency moves to manage scarce water supplies across Eastern England
- Survey reveals people would save pets over gadgets in a flood
- Communities to see the future of their changing coast