Sometime during the winter of 1969-70, the Telegraph’s columnist ‘Peter Simple’ walked the length of south London’s River Wandle and recorded his experience in the paper’s Way of the World column. At that time, the Wandle was enduring some of its darkest days, officially classified as an open sewer. But unlike so many of Peter Simple’s […]
Archive for the tag 'London'
January 21 2013
Urbantrout sidecasts: Monday 21 January
From Seattle to Atlanta via Boston, Denver and Salt Lake City, a new study by the United States Geological Survey examines the varying effects of urbanisation on different stream and river ecosystems … while the UK’s Environment Agency commits to massive £3.5 million deculverting of the River Roch in Rochdale’s historic centre (extra BBC footage […]
December 20 2012
Urban river funding plans for Burnley and south London: Why we’re crossing everything for 2013…
For many rivers trusts and river restoration groups across the UK, the last working week before Christmas has been a blur of deadlines: final drafts of reports on projects successfully completed, budgets and planning for work running up to the end of the financial year, and plans and applications for projects somewhere out there in […]
December 15 2012
Urbantrout sidecasts: Saturday 15 December
Urban fishing bonus: starlings throw shapes in the winter sky over Taunton’s Obridge viaduct (above, via the Daily Mail) Discover tenkara: Paul Gaskell, John Pearson and Stuart Crofts host a have-a-go day for Sheffield’s SPRITE volunteers The Wandle Trust wins £1m+ funding for Water Framework Directive-related urban river restoration across south London City centre salmon […]
December 3 2012
Pic of the day: The river in winter
Fishing a city river in winter can show you both what you’re really made of. In this case it’s collapsing sheet steel undercuts versus 110% hardcore, as Adrian Grose-Hodge sizes up a sub-zero stretch of the Wandle near Plough Lane in south London… (Photo: Sam Newson)
October 24 2012
Urban river restoration: LWD on the Chess
Urban fly-fishers familiar with the River Chess above Scotsbridge Mill in Rickmansworth will know it can prove a spooky stretch to fish successfully. Historically canalised and perched above its floodplain to provide constant power for corn- and paper-milling, this lovely little outer-London chalkstream is now a popular circuit for local dog walkers (whilst tackling up […]
October 18 2012
Urbantrout sidecasts: Thursday 18 October
Gravel cleaning, cake and urban fishing: just another World Rivers Day in south London Even more London stuff: the Wandle’s first finished rock ramp fish pass, Thames 21’s Cleaner Thames Challenge, and the Wandle Trust’s call for education volunteers Love your river: hosted by Thames Water and the River Chess Association, double Olympic rowing gold […]
September 20 2012
Urbantrout sidecasts: Thursday 20 September
Trout in (maybe slightly less Dirty, market-towny sorts of) Places: Urban fly-fishing breaks cover in this week’s Shooting Times magazine What’s Environment Agency NW planning for Manchester’s River Medlock? We’ll investigate and let you know! Digging up the river: after the Wandle’s latest pollution incident, fish passage work continues as planned… … while Peter Lapsley […]
August 23 2012
Breaking news: Sewage hits the Wandle
South London’s River Wandle has had a tough year so far: first a spill of red diesel into its headwaters at Croydon, next a persistent discharge of cooking oil and fat into the back carriers at Morden Hall Park… … and now a spate of sewage from Thames Water’s Beddington sewage treatment works, triggered by […]
August 21 2012
Urbantrout sidecasts: Tuesday 21 August
The one with the HB Games: Olympic-themed Wandle Trust volunteers get stuck into this year’s crop of Himalayan balsam Salford Friendly Anglers call for scale samples after a likely sea trout comes to net on the Roch … whilst the slightly oddball diversions of their clubhouse get rave reviews from the Telegraph Second-time TRIBUTE: via the Fly Forums, […]
