News

We are very sorry to hear that Martijn Antheunisse, CEO of the Wessex Chalk Stream and Rivers Trust, will be leaving the Trust to return to the Netherlands with his family. His skills and enthusiasm will be sorely missed.

The Trust is recruiting a new CEO. Details are here: https://www.wcsrt.org.uk/CEO_vacancy

Closing date 3 March, interviews will take place w/c 16 March.

Following a consultation and an Inquiry, new fishery bylaws affecting salmon and sea trout fishing in Wales came into force on 1 January 2020. 

National Resources Wales have issued this press release (extract below). More information is available on the NRW website . 

'New byelaws which will help protect increasingly vulnerable and threatened stocks of salmon and sea trout in rivers wholly in Wales are in place for the 2020 season.

We are delighted to announce two new Vice Presidents for the Wild Trout Trust: Edward Twiddy and Stuart Crofts.

Thank you to everyone that took part in this year’s Annual Draw and to all the donors enabling us to raise a fantastic £5848.

1stprize kindly donated by Sage won by ticket no. 5468 - MG of North Yorkshire

2ndprize kindly donated by the Peacock at Rowsley & Haddon Fisheries won by ticket no. 6018 - SN of Cambridgeshire

It’s a year when we….tramped the river banks from Ireland to East Anglia, Cornwall to Scotland giving advice; demolished yet more weirs, delivered a great bunch of habitat projects from the Aire to the Upper Test, and continued to monitor a few for evidence of change; forged new partnerships and worked with loads of volunteers; revamped our journal; had a tremendous Auction and Annual Get Together; said ‘farewell’ to Mike and Ed and 'welcome' to Bruno and Nick; mourned the loss of some very good friends, fretted over the drought in the South East, the floods in South Yorkshire and low sea trout stocks in Wales; stood up for trout and rivers facing no water, pollution, habitat destruction and netters; celebrated some tremendous winners at the Conservation Awards; launched the Urban Guidelines at a gathering of Trout in the Townies; and enjoyed members fishing weekends on the Wye and the Kennet. 

Phew!

Many thnaks for all your support thruogh the year. Looking forward to more of the same and better in 2020.

We are sad to hear that David Bellamy has died, age 86. He was a Wild Trout Trust Vice President and a hugely popular TV presenter and conservationist. He inspired a generation of conservationists with his distinctive presentation and enthusiasm and will be much missed.

Our condolences go to his family.

The ‘Challenges and Choices Consulation’ from the Environment Agency is open now and will close on 24 April 2020. It covers England and includes the Severn and Northumbrian river basins.

The EA say: ‘We are seeking your views on the challenges our waters face and the choices and changes we all need to make to help tackle those challenges.By responding to this consultation you will be helping to shape the management of the water environment.’

The questions are wide-ranging and are set in the context of climate change and the biodiversity crisis. There are 9 sections described as ‘challenges’ and they include water levels and flow, chemicals, physical modification, invasive non-natives, and pollution from plastics, mines, agriculture and rural areas, urban areas and transport and waste-water treatment.

We would like to say ‘thank you’ to Hans Thomsen who, with the help of the Charfield Angling Association has sold fishing tackle to the value of £716.28 on eBay and donated the proceeds to the Wild Trout Trust.

The donation is very much appreciated and will be spent on practical work to improve river habitat.

Selling tackle on eBay, either for a fixed price or by auction, is straightforward and the funds raised can be automatically passed in whole or in part to the Wild Trout Trust. Instructions can be found here: https://pages.ebay.co.uk/ebayforcharity/sell.html

WTT team members have raised £1275 for Movember, a charity which addresses men’s health issues including suicide and prostrate cancer. 5 members of the team grew moustaches during November (and most shaved them off on 1 December!). With the recent death of our much loved Vice President, Malcolm Greenhalgh, and with the agreement of his family, our chaps posed for photos in a Malcolm look-alike pose. None of their whiskers are as luxuriant as his, and the greyness was faked with flour and, in once case, tile grout, but we hope it was an fitting and affectionate tribute to Malcolm nonetheless.

Click the thumbnails below to see the team's whiskers in all their glory.

WTT Trout in the Town Programme Manager Paul Gaskell was recently interviewed by WTT Vice President Matthew Wright on Talk Radio about the flooding on the River Don. There is a wide-ranging discussion about managing catchments to help reduce flood peaks and the challenge of communicating and acting on science based responses to flooding when many people are suffering the devastating consequences of flooding.

Move to 20 mins 30 ish in the 14:00 to 14:30 slot on link below:

https://talkradio.co.uk/radio/listen-again/1573563600#