Fantastic opportunity, supported by both landowner & tenant, to re-instate spawning gravels to a valley bottom tributary that has historically been dredged and its gravel bed removed. Dredging of these streams has had the affect of making it increasingly difficult for fish such as salmon and trout to find suitable spawning areas. Unless, they can lay their eggs, the number of future fish / generations will be very limited. It is important to note that valley bottom streams are far less vulnerable to major flood events washing out their insitu gravels. This prevents the fish eggs from being washed out. In addition, smaller streams, particularly those with good habitat (cover) are far less vulnerable to predation and therefore provide excellent juvenile nurseries.
The gravel was to re-introduced at the points where there is a natural change of slope i.e. where fish would choose to spawn. Thirteen sections, 5 - 10m in length, were seeded with mixed river gravel substrate during the summer of 2015. In addition, the stream was fenced off from stock, again to promote marginal vegetation, prevent poaching (bank collapse) and to increase the natural cover for the juvenile fish.
