Rivers and Wetlands Community Days Project Profile

Transcription

1 Rivers and Wetlands Community Days Project Profile Title: Restoring River Windrush Riverbanks Date of application: February 2016 Contact name/organisation: Richard Spyvee, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust (lead) Amount awarded: 4,124 Total project worth (in kind and cash): 6,266 What funding is/was for: Rivers & Wetlands Community Day x 5 Catchment: Windrush National grid reference: Multiple (see below) Partners: EA, fishing syndicates (various) R&WCD Volunteers upgrading the hazel faggoting on the Sherborne Brook. Key Issues (what problems are/were you seeking to tackle?) Improve WFD Ecological Status Demonstrate management techniques to enhance watercourses for fish populations and macrophytes. Water Vole Conservation Raise awareness of the plight of this increasingly threatened native species and promote best practice for habitat management.

2 Background/Event Details (why is/was this project needed and what did you do?) Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust invited members of the public and local fisheries managers (and their rods) to attend a series of five river enhancement workshops in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire. The main aims of these Rivers and Wetland Community Days were to raise awareness of WFD issues and demonstrate techniques to enhance watercourses for people and wildlife, including wild trout fisheries. Objectives Workshop 1: Sherborne Brook at Sherborne Park Estate, Sherborne Reparation of channel narrowing structure (hazel faggoting). Workshop 2: Rivers Dikler & Windrush at Glebe Farm, Little Rissington Master class on flow deflectors, LWD & channel narrowing. Training in water vole and freshwater macro-invertebrate surveying. Workshop 3: River Dikler at Meadow Farm, Lower Slaughter Installation of LWD flow deflectors. Awareness-raising of invasive plants. Workshop 4: River Dikler at Hyde Mill, Stow-on-the-Wold Installation of LWD flow deflectors. Installation of kingfisher nesting box. Workshop 5: River Windrush at Slaughter Farm, Bourton-on-the-Water Demonstration site of multiple wildlife-friendly fishery enhancements. Berm creation and installation of channel narrowing structures. Outputs, outcomes and wider benefits (include ecological impact, length of river or area of wetland restored/enhanced) Workshop 1: Sherborne Brook at Sherborne Park Estate, Sherborne Upgrading of hazel faggoting along a 110m section of south bank of Sherborne Brook between SP (upstream) and SP (downstream). Control of bankside over-shading along a 150m section of the Sherborne Brook between SP (upstream) and SP (downstream). Workshop 2: Rivers Dikler & Windrush at Glebe Farm, Little Rissington Successful awareness-raising session with members of public and rods on flow deflectors, LWD & channel narrowing on a site (SP to SP179182) where an extensive 40-structure LWD installation programme had been completed by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust previously in March Event included practical session on LWD installation with new structures to compliment the aforementioned work. Photo showing some of the R&WCD Volunteers installing a LWD structure using hazel faggots:

3 Workshop 3: River Dikler at Meadow Farm, Lower Slaughter Installation of numerous upstream facing LWD deflectors along a 550m section of the River Dikler between SP (upstream) and SP (downstream). Photo of a brief respite from hard labour on the River Dikler: Workshop 4: River Dikler at Hyde Mill, Stow-on-the-Wold Control of bankside over-shading along 560m section of the River Dikler between SP (upstream) and SP (downstream).nb: Immediately upstream, and therefore complimentary to, the section worked on during Workshop 3. Work included the installation of numerous upstream facing LWD deflectors and a kingfisher nest box at SP Photo of a R&WCD Volunteer briefing at Hyde Mill (note pre-drilled LWD in trailer):

4 Workshop 5: River Windrush at Slaughter Farm, Bourton-on-the-Water Control of bankside over-shading along 395m section of the River Windrush between SP (upstream) and SP (downstream). Work included the installation of two narrowing berms using hazel faggots and locally-won material. Photo of R&WCD Volunteers installing a LWD structure to re-narrow the watercourse at Slaughter Farm:

5 Project appraisal (Pre/post monitoring, what went well and what less so? Has your project catalysed further work? If so, can you supply very brief details?) All five workshops were successful in raising awareness of the threats facing our watercourses in the 21 st Century. Furthermore, the practical elements of the workshops have delivered tangible long-term habitat gains for water voles and brown trout alike. Not only would a programme of similar workshops in 2017 compliment the efforts of our 2015 & 2016 events, but it would result in continued improvements to water vole and fish populations in our watercourses and would help to promote a wider public understanding of the conservation work carried out by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, our landowners and their associated fishing syndicates. Update on further work: Since the fifth workshop, we have undertaken an additional session at Slaughter Farm to build on the results of that workshop with the rods of Slaughter Farm s fishing syndicate plus a further 13 local volunteers. Date(s) completed: Workshop 1: Fri 1 st April Workshop 2: Fri 13 th May Workshop 3: Fri 5 th August Workshop 4: Fri 21 st October Workshop 5: Fri 11 th November Number of attendees: Workshop 1: 20 Workshop 2: 12 Workshop 3: 9 Workshop 4: 22 Workshop 5: 32 TOTAL: 95 Any feedback: Everybody has won Littleworth Wood* is an ever-improving delight, the rivers around are getting healthier, and Cotswold volunteers are getting lots of exercise! Workshop 1 attendee, A great job and most exciting. Thank you for all you have done. Glebe Farm, Just a note to thank you and the GWT team very much indeed for excellent work on the river; I hope it is good for water voles as well as fish. It provides a wonderful basis to make further progress over the winter. Slaughter Farm, *Source of the faggots used for this year s workshops.