Angling and the Environment

 

 

The river Wensum is one of the most important rivers in Europe. It is a chalk stream – of which the majority are found in England – is an SSSI and an SAC, one of a very few chalk rivers to have both classifications.  

A large cased caddis, one of many found in the river. Creatures such as these form a large part of the diet of trout and other fish and rely upon good water quality for their existence

 

River Maintenance

The Fishery’s members manage and maintain the river under its control, including carrying out an annual weed cut, cleaning potential spawning gravels at the end of the fishing season and carrying out regular river improvement projects to help improve the riverine habitat for the wild brown trout and to help maintain and increase the stock of wild fish in this part of the Wensum. Over the years many trees have been planted on the river banks to provide shade on some of the open stretches of river.

Banks have been carefully restored to provide water vole habitat and trees have been planted along the open stretches to create shade and flow variation
A selection of Mayfly nymphs and other indicator species revealed during a recent river fly survey
 
Riverfly Census

The Fishery has been working with Salmon & Trout Conservation UK since 2015 on its national Riverfly Census which samples the invertebrates at six sites on the river between Bintry Mill upstream to Doughton bridge. Riverflies and other invertebrates are excellent indicators of the underlying ecological condition of the river.

 

Careful management and an ongoing habitat improvement programme have resulted in a thriving wild trout population, as well as numerous bank voles and otters.

 

Kick sampling during a Salmon & Trout Conservation river fly survey. The different species of nymphs and invertebrates and their numbers are used in the S &TC’s reports on the state of our rivers