Here at Urbantrout, it’s no secret that the River Wandle is very close to our hearts (in fact it’s right across the road from where we’re tapping out this blog post in the depths of south London).
So it’s been quite a buzz to hear that the Wandle Trust’s work on the Carshalton arm of the river has just won the urban project category of the River Restoration Centre’s UK River Prize 2016… putting this little south London stream up against heavy hitters like the Derwent, Eden and Kent for the full national award (and the Nigel Holmes trophy) at the end of this month.
While we’re waiting for the final results, here’s a flashback to all the different elements involved over many years to deliver the upper Wandle project so far…
- Understanding abstraction, low flows and the upper Wandle’s unique water recirculation system as part of the whole river’s community catchment plan for future resilience against climate change and other pressures
- Reintroducing native trout as part of the Wandle Trust’s pioneering Trout in the Classroom programme (now relaunched as Project Kingfisher)
- Learning and disseminating new skills at the Wild Trout Trust’s second Urban Conclave
- Improving fish passage by notching and then fully removing a redundant pan weir
- Working with volunteers on channel narrowing, reintroducing gravel, installing cover logs and building dragons’ teeth
- Eradicating invasive non-native species: Himalayan balsam and giant hogweed
- Tree works and planting
- Installing and monitoring silt traps, mycofilters and other urban diffuse pollution and SUDS solutions
- Plus a whole project-in-its-own-right second phase with contractors above and below the historic Butter Hill mill, improving fish passage and recreating natural chalkstream channels in the old mill impoundment and wheel pit
Thanks to all these works, as the RESTORE database reports, the number of wild-spawned juvenile trout in this stretch has already leapt from 3 or 4 to 67 in a single year, and it’s also thought that the Carshalton arm of the Wandle will be the first urban heavily modified water body in the UK to reach ‘good ecological potential’ (GEP) for the purposes of the EU’s Water Framework Directive.
Whether or not the big prize comes the Wandle’s way… we reckon the river’s already a winner.
(Image: South East Rivers Trust)
