Strines LWD - Status report 14-Oct-2008

Tim Jacklin, WTT, reports:

I walked the Strines section to check on how the introduced LWD had weathered the recent high water.  It was still there (phew!) despite the flows shown in the attached pic taken by Paul Gaskell a couple of weeks ago.  It was interesting to see the effects of the LWD even after a relatively short space of time; the structures have pulled the anchor cable taut and swung into positions alongside the bank, and there has been an accumulation of finer sediment between the LWD and the bank.  On the willow on the riffle there is some bed scour taking place (see other pic) and areas of clean gravel below it, which is great.  On the structures in the ‘glide’ sections there doesn’t appear to have been as much bed scour as I had hoped (e.g. the most downstream structure).  I think there is still some settling in to be done on some structures as some side branches shear off and the main trunk can reach the river bed.

In terms of having the desired effect on river morphology, I am thinking more and more that the structures need to be BIG.  This presents practical problems in felling trees of that size, and it would be much easier to retain LWD of that calibre as it falls in.  This will require DNMAC to  look out for this, and for EA Fisheries/Biodiversity to influence Ops Delivery to retain rather than remove.

Felling larger trees isn’t impossible, but it would need a tree surgeon to be able to climb and reduce the tree to a height that could then be dropped into position without causing wholesale damage to other trees, opposite banks, etc. 

Hague Bar LWD 14-Oct-2008

EA Ops Delivery team and WTT Conservation Officer Tim Jacklin have today installed more  Large Woody Debris into the upper Goyt. 

Tim J says: "We completed the LWD introduction at Hague Bar today.   It all went well and we introduced five structures, including some larger trees than at Strines. "

Grid Ref SJ858855

Co-op shopping trolleys Sep-2008

Goyt Co-op shopping trolleys Sep 2008

Surveying what rubbish there is dumped in the river in New Mills in preparation for an autumn clean-up I saw a shopping trolley and bike frame lodged under the the bottom of the Millenium Walkway - fairly difficult to access and probably requiring a block-and-tackle winch or a boat ideally to remove.

During the same week I was at Strines and saw two more rusting trolleys deeply embedded in gravel well-clear of the normal river level, and a third in the river. Then downstream of Station Road bridge alongside the new housing development a further two trolleys.

Since they all had once belonged to the New Mills Co-operative store I have been in touch with the company and we are hoping that the Co-op will assist us in their removal.

Please click the photo to view the gallery of photos.

Strines LWD 22-Sep-2008

Goyt - Strines - LWD Sep 2008

On Monday 22-Sep-2008 the EA Ops Delivery team and WTT Projects officer Tim Jacklin installed the first Large Woody Debris into the upper Goyt. Please click the photo to view the gallery of photos taken that day.

Members of DNMAC please note that the club has committed to assisting the EA to monitor the security of the large debris in the river: if you think any of the debris is likely to break free please get in touch with me.

Grid Ref SJ075864

Project update 26-Aug-2008

Following an objection regarding Land drainage consent, a shortened form of the Large Woody Debris designed by the Wild Trout Trust will now be installed. This means hinging most of the willows identified and some sycamore where they can be safely secured to see how they perform when the river is in spate. The consent is valid for three years and includes both the Strines and Hague Bar stretches of the river.

The revised date for work to start week is commencing September 15th. The work is to be done by EA Ops Delivery, with technical supervision from Tim Jacklyn (Wild Trout Trust).

Inspections will be made by the EA over the winter to assess the stability of the woody debris. An assessment of the woody debris habitat will also be carried out in the spring by the WTT to determine the viability of the habitat and consider what level of further habitat works is required for the fishery.

Invertebrate monitoring at Strines 29-Jul-2008

Several DNMAC members joined Paul Gaskell, WTT Trout in the Town officer, at Strines to conduct an initial "before" sample of invertebrates prior to the river habitat improvements. Paul has recommended that we sample weekly at Strines throughout August to build-up this picture.

DNMAC member Ian Horrocks has volunteered to take the lead on invertebrate monitoring.

Project update 28-Jul-2008

The Environment Agency has confirmed that their own Operations Delivery team will carry-out the physical works supervised by experts from WTT. The start date agreed between all parties is Tuesday 26-Aug-2008. The advantage of this arrangement is EA Ops Delivery becomes skilled at river habitat improvement works.

Unfortunately EA Ops Delivery is not insured for DNMAC members to assist with the physical works.

We hope that a national angling journalist may be able to cover the works.

Invertebrate monitoring workshop 21-Jun-2008

Ten DNMAC members attended a workshop run by eminent angler and Caddis expert Stuart Crofts, assisted by Paul Gaskell (now WTT Trout in the Town officer). We learnt the technique of riffle sampling and were introduced to the bugs, grubs and small fishes which inhabit the bed of our river. The attendees paid for this course themselves.

Subsequently the DNMAC committee has agreed to fund the purchase of the equipment we need to conduct routine sampling.

Project kickoff meeting 21-May-2008

Scientists from the Environment Agency and the Wild Trout Trust met to determine the precise improvements to be done to the DNMAC Goyt. The meeting was a great success.

Following the meeting Dr Tim Jacklin, WTT, produced a detailed design for the Strines, Hague Bar, Mousley Bottom and Knathole sections.

... work to begin at Strines in 2008

Our project has secured funding from the EA for work to begin at Strines in 2008. The application was an internal bid along the lines of:

 . remove tunnel vegetation i.e. trees which stop light reaching the stream bed preventing weed growth

 . install LWD into the stream

These were recommendations of WTT Advisory Visit report Sep 2007.

We hope that WTT will be able to help manage this project; an initial meeting between EA, WTT and DNMAC is planned for mid/late May.

There will be plenty of behind the scenes work needed before any visible work can commence e.g.

 . agreement of landowners

 . approval of flood management authority (EA)

 . collection of electro-fishing and invertebrate data (EA).

Watch this space ...

Working group meeting 22-Apr-2008

Breck, Max, Patrick and I met last night - this time on the river bank in our waders and with our trout rods. Max and Patrick caught fish; I was a boy (not sure about Breck)

Proposed work at Strines (action Andrew)

1) arrange initial meeting / site visit between DNMAC, WTT and EA
On Monday afternoon I spoke with WTT. They propose a meeting for late May. I am awaiting confirmation of meeting date...

I think at this meeting it will be useful if we can set some expectations of the improvements the project should deliver.

2) identify affected landowners on the Strines section

- start Grid ref: SJ975864

- finish Grid Ref: SJ979861

Trout in the Town (action Patrick)

1) Letter of introduction to local businesses.

Invertebrate monitoring

To try to get to the bottom of what data about invertebrate life we might be able to collect for the EA, I spoke this afternoon with:

 . EA Ecological Appraisal team leader, NW (South) Area, David Goodwin
 . EA Riverfly Partnership contact Graham Lightfoot
 . Riverfly Partnership founder Cyril Bennett

The Riverfly Partnership methodology (to quote founder Cyril Bennett) is "targeted at spotting pollution incidents quickly and in a form acceptable to EA". It is not a tool for monitoring the improvement in a river's health.

David Goodwin concludes there is *NO* invertebrate data we anglers can collect which will be in any way useful to EA. If they don't already have data for the relevant sections of river, the EA Ecological Appraisal Team will survey before any habitat improvement commences.

We may in future wish to join the Riverfly Partnership to ensure the ongoing health and well-being of our river. We have two water treatment works and a sewage treatment works upstream on the Goyt, plus other industries on the Goyt and the Sett. Fish are very mobile and in a pollution incident will travel miles to avoid the pollutant; invertebrates are much less mobile so a significant indicator species.

EA funding for Riverfly Partnership this year dependent on them getting into 8 new areas: our area, NW South, is a virgin territory so Graham Lightfoot and Cyril Bennett quite keen for us to become involved. That's one for later I think...

Thanks Andrew!

I wanted just to congratulate everyone on a fantastic 1st working party. It was great to see what a few dedicated people and a couple of hours hard work can do. I was amazed at the amount of rubbish we pulled of the banks, on a relatively short stretch of river. I am not sure how many tonnes that skip held but it was full!
I also wanted to thank Andrew for all his hard work over the last few months. A true leader, he has managed to inspire us to get off our bums, and put something back! Without his efforts and environmental outlook this project would never have started, so thanks Andrew and well done mate!

Working-party Saturday 29-Mar-2008

At tonight's DNMAC meeting the committee approved the working-party and any member who attends will qualify for a £5 reduction in their re-joining fee next year.

Derbyshire CC Countryside Service has very kindly offered to us the use of their skip, their wheel-barrows and tea/coffee facilities at Mousley Bottom: thanks to Will Griffin and Paul Finn.

The various landowners are happy for us to access their land for the tidy-up:

 - New Mills TC

 - Derbyshire CC

 - Swizzels Matlow

The plan is to meet at Station Road for 10 am on Saturday 29-Mar-2008.

Please wear stout boots and bring suitable gloves if you have them. There is no plan to enter the river as Trout will have spawned and Grayling are in the process of or about to - we will have another working-party to tidy the river-bed during the high-Summer when the river is at its lowest level and there are no redds to disturb.

Brown trout make you smile!

Just thought I would post a picture of what the clean up is all about.....making brown trout happy....which make us happy!

Proposed working-party - River-walk 15-Mar-2008

On Saturday 15-Mar-2008 Patrick, Max, Breck and Andrew met to plan a working-party on the river. Starting at Waterside Road, Hague Bar and walking up as far as Station Road, New Mills. At the start of the walk, Hague Bar Meadows, and on through Mousley Bottom we found the expected plastic bags in trees following the winter flood, but there were only a few items of larger rubbish: a bicycle, a car tyre. Unfortunately once we got to Station Road we found much more of the larger stuff: piles of car tyres, road works signage, wooden pallets, et cetera.

We will propose a working-party for Saturday 29-Mar at the next DNMAC meeting: short notice but we need to get this tidy-up done before the temperature rises and those Olives start to emerge!

Project scoping working group

Tuesday 19-Feb Patrick F, Breck R and Andrew P met at Royal Oak; apologies from Max (something about his wife having a baby :-).

Patrick had drafted a project scope document which we reviewed. Patrick will continue to work on this and will distribute to members of the working group for further review. We will then ask the DNMAC committee to approve the project scope.

EA will add detailed breakdown of works to enable the project to be costed.

WTT selects Goyt for "Trout in the Town' initiative

On Tuesday 12-Feb-2008 I spoke with Simon Johnson, WTT Director (the first time we had been in touch since the AV Sep-2007). I explained where we are stuck: how do we identify precisely which and how many trees to remove, and where and how much LWD to install. If we need it, WTT can provide bursary funding to get us through this stage of the project to arrive at a detailed design.

Simon told me some good news: along with the River  Wandle in London, and the Rivers Colne in Lancashire and Yorkshire, WTT has selected the Goyt at New Mills as a candidate for their "Trout in the Town" initiative. WTT/Trout in the Town has received funding for a full-time Projects officer for two years, and the post should be effective by May/Jun-2008; the purpose of this role is to help clubs who have had an AV and who need to move through the design, partnership, funding and implementation to deliver successful habitat improvements. Simon assures me WTT will be knocking on our door in the summer...

Trout in the Town seems big news within WTT but there is hardly any information available on the WTT website, http://www.wildtrout.org, or more broadly on t'internet.

Trout in the Town: a plan for improving urban rivers and involving local communities with their future, and the future of struggling wild trout populations in them.

EA meeting 15-Feb-2008

I met with the EA fisheries technical specialist for North West (South) area, Kevin Nash. Kevin is quite new in this post, but having moved from another fisheries role in the area, is already familiar with the two consultant's reports on the Goyt (APEM and WTT). Kevin brought detailed maps of the river produced by APEM which identify specific habitat such as riffles and glides; spawning and juvenile areas; et cetera, but also problems such as Tunnel Vegetation. 

We agreed that the failed funding bid is not a setback (had the bid succeeded it would have been a bonus) and we will jointly develop a proposal for the Goyt at Strines. DNMAC working group will draft the proposal, then EA will access expertise within the region (there have been no similar river habitat projects within the area) to arrive at a detailed design which can be be put out to tender. (If this expertise is not forthcoming DNMAC can apply to WTT for bursary funding.)

I feel very positive that Kevin has been assigned to help us.

River Fly Partnership

I have looked into the costings for the "RiverInvertebrate Monitoring For Anglers". A one day course, held by the river fly partnership.
The workshops are designed for up to 12 delegates from one angling club. The course covers an introduction to monitoring, targeting species, (Up winged flies, Caddis or sedge, Stoneflies and shrimp), feild work and establishing a monitoring programme.
The cost for the one day workshop is £1000, that does not include venue costs and AV equipment. That cost has to be found by the angling club or sponsor.
There doesn't seem to be a monitoring course for an individual to attend, although I only had chance for a quick scan of the site.

DNMAC Goyt meeting - 11-Feb-2008

approx 20 DNMAC members met at the Royal Oak.

Andrew Parker reported back on the 5 points raised at the Jan-2008 DNMAC committee meeting, and on the EA proposal to fell trees/introduce LWD at Strines.

We discussed the next steps:

1) Start recording things
- EA log books (pending - we have requested 50 when they are available)
- www.riverflies.org - Stuart Taylor offered to investigate invertibrate monitoring
- EA electro-fishing - the information we have suggests the EA does not record above Strines

2) Investigate possible source of funding
? How much will the work proposed at Strines cost ?
! Patrick Field suggested that we must first identify the project scope !

3) involvement with local environmental groups
WTT recommendation

It was concluded that we should

1) form a working group to define the pilot project scope: Max Ainscough, Breck Robertson, Patrick Field and Andrew Parker

2) contact WTT for design guidance

3) plan a working party to collect rubbish, perhaps in Jul/Aug 2008 when there are no fish spawning and the river level is at the lowest - Reg Dearden to liaise with New Mills Town Council

4) plan a working party to take steps to eradicate Himalyan Balsam - Reg Dearden

Inaugural DNMAC Goyt meeting - 17-Dec-2007

26 members attended the meeting at the Royal Oak. A fantastic response. My thanks to all who attended.

Wild Trout Trust (WTT) Advisory Visit (AV) 10-Sep-2007