News

The WTT website is continually growing and updated almost daily.

Our aim is for this site is for it to be the online authority on wild brown trout & wild brown trout conservation. The first of a series of pages that are being constructed is the Ferox page, describing the biology of this huge predatory trout. The page has been reviewed by experts, as all of our pages will be, and can be viewed by clicking here

Rivers: Working for Wild Trout A film about improving wild trout habitat in rivers now available! 

Just released ! A 70 minute film feature that follows WTT Vice President and journalist Jon Beer as he visits three very different rivers in England in the company of Wild Trout Trust Conservation Officers Andy Thomas, Tim Jacklin and Paul Gaskell.The film graphically illustrates the challenges of managing river habitat for wild trout, with examples of good and poor habitat and practical demonstrations of habitat improvement. Additional sections of film cover key topics in greater depth, as appendices and expert forums. The rivers featured are the River Meon in Hampshire, Rivers Dove and Manifold in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and the River Don as it flows through the centre of Sheffield.To purchase a copy of the DVD (£10), click here.

Watch the highlights below:   

Tim Jacklin has recently completed a major river restoration project at Glandford Mill on the River Glaven in North Norfolk. 

The project involved creating a new meandering river channel through the bed of a former mill pond. The second phase of the project will install a fish and eel pass at the mill sluice, enabling trout, sea trout and eels to access the newly-created habitat upstream of the Mill and beyond.

This work was funded by the Environment Agency as part of the East Anglian Sea Trout Project.  The new river channel was designed by Professor Richard Hey and the works carried out by West Dereham Plant Ltd.

The video below shows a time lapse film of the creation of the new channel. 

This event is being delivered in partnership with the Arun and Rother Connections Partnership (ARC) and theSouth Downs National Park Authority on 6 December at Pulborough Village Hall RH20 2BF - there are 2 sessions to choose from, either 2pm to 5pm (afternoon tea provided), or 6pm to 9pm (light supper provided).

Click here to download full details

The European Anglers Alliance in collaboration with the European Fishing Tackle Trade Association have released a new video to inform people about the impacts of small hydro schemes.

Click here to see the video. 

The study, titled 'Impact of parasites on salmon recruitment in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean' used groups of tagged fish, 1 group treated with parasiticides and another group without to investigate the effects of parasites on survival. 

The results provide experimental evidence that parasites, even in a large marine ecosystem,  can have large impacts on fish recruitment, fisheries and conservation.

As the crustaceans were probably acquired during early marine migration in areas that host large aquaculture populations of domesticated salmon, which elevate local abundances of parasites; there is strong reason to believe that cage salmon aquaculture is affecting the mortality of wild salmon populations. The authors concluded that parasites may account for between 18 to 55% of adult salmon in the Northeast Atlantic.

On Tuesday 23 October, the WTT ran a 'Habitat Masterclass' to train local volunteers in the art of chalkstream river  restoration  on the River Chess. The day involved improving a stretch of overwide and shallow river with very little habitat for adult trout. A wide range of partners attended from the Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust to the Chiltern Chalkstreams project. Click the link below for the full story:

WTT River Chess day

The WTT featured prominently in this Octobers EA South East Fisheries & biodiversity newsletter.

Featured snippets are EA fish surveys on the WTT/GWCT habitat improvements on the Candover brook, WTT enhancement on the upper Stour and the WTT's recent edition of the survival guide. For further information please see the following link:

The Enviroment agency has published it's Regulatory position statement on eel passage. The paper sets out the EA's powers under the Eels regulations to achieve eel passage targets. The EA can do this by compelling responsible persons to ensure eel passage at obstructions & ensure that water intakes are screened to protect eels. The full paper can be seen bly clicking the link below:

EA safe passage for eel statement

Closed containment aquaculture could prove less harmful to migratory salmonids that the cage based aquaculture that is practiced in places such as the West coast of Scotland. This could have the potential to help sea trout stocks recover.

For more information on the AST's visit, see the following link:

Atlantic Salmon Trust

A number of animal species predate wild trout - mammals (e.g. otter, mink), birds (e.g. cormorants, sawbill ducks) and other fish (e.g. pike, larger trout). Predation is just one of a complex of factors impacting on wild trout populations; for many populations the effects of unsympathetic land use, poor in-river habitat, low water quality and water quantity and poor river management regimes will be of greater significance.

WTT recognises that predation can be problematical for fish populations and for fishery interests. Since the 1970’s, there has been an increase in the inland over-wintering population of cormorants and an increase in the geographical range of goosanders, though there is evidence in 2012 that cormorant numbers have stabilised or even slightly decreased.

Two Rivers Trusts are offering job opportunities:

There's a job on the Wandle in London - click here for further information

and another post with the South East Wales Trust - click here for further information