EAST CHALK RIVERS TRUST Newsletter No 2 - April 2008 Educational Trustees New appointment Package Due to boundary changes within the At the AGM in January 2007 the Environment Agency we have reluctantly board elected Simon Johnson as its As part of a Leader+ grant, David Croft had to accept the resignation of Karen Tait Chairman. Simon originally worked has researched and produced an from the Trust Board. Karen has been a for the Environment Agency (EA) in Education Package for the Trust. useful contact with the EA and greatly Norfolk. He has worked as a private Since the Education Package was assisted in the provision of data for use in consultant before gaining his launched at the Agricultural Show drawing up our Catchment Overview. present post with the Wild Trout it has received great interest among local Trust (WTT) as Director. and regional schools and colleges. His experience in the aquatic Sample CD Rom copies have been environmental field will be of great provided and feedback has been benefit to the Trust in his new role requested. Contact the Trust if you are as Chairman. involved in education and a trial copy will be provided.

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Newsletter 02.pmd 1 08/07/2008, 11:12 Elmswell Beck A weir was removed from this small stream in January. The weir was becoming unsafe and was causing erosion to the banks of this stream and was a barrier to migrating fish. This work was undertaken in partnership with the EA providing plant and machinery. The East Yorkshire Chalk Rivers Trust (EYCRT) reinstated the bank and created important habitat from much of the woody debris found on site.

Cinderella Chalk Stream Projects Kings Mill The Wild Trout Trust sponsored a visit to a Public use of this popular local footpath alongside the Elmswell Beck is causing section of where the East concern and the gross erosion of the bank is resulting in soil entering the stream. Yorkshire Chalk Rivers Trust had identified The Trust gave a presentation to the Driffield Town Council discussing the various habitat problems. These were due to options for the repair and maintenance of the river bank. previous maintenance and stock grazing The Council are to investigate the possibility of claiming the land as the present that had caused over widening of the river. owner cannot be found. A report has been received from Vaughan Lewis of Windrush AEC Ltd. highlighting remedial action and suggesting various Water Forlorns long-term solutions to the problems. The Rivers Trust has decided to take up the We have also received a WTT report concerning this small stream that runs through recommendations in the report and is in Driffield town centre. The proposals are to enhance the natural features of the stream by the process of consultation with the the use of soft engineering techniques. Environment Agency (EA). The report has been presented to the Town Council and if accepted, the Trust will Natural (NE) is broadly in bid for the necessary funding and involve the local community in the improvements. support of the scheme and the fine detail is being discussed at the present moment. An application is being made for funding Foston Beck & of the scheme. Mires Beck This small chalk-fed stream rises in West Beck Newbald and flows south towards A proposal is being developed to set back before joining the at several areas of floodbank. Brough. Discussions are taking place between College are the Trust, EA, NE and the riparian owners continuing to work on this stream in a bid to create a wider flood channel. under the guidance of the Trust. This This will enable the creation of reed bed ongoing partnership is providing a and wet woodland along these major vast amount of field work opportunity chalk streams. for the Countryside Management A 200mtr. section of the Foston Beck students at this agricultural college. has been improved in partnership with the EA. This project involved the creation of a meandering channel and enhancement of 2007 Projects the bankside habitat.

Gypsey Race Driffield Show Another small winterbourne stream There is no angling interest on this rising near Kirkby Grindalythe and flows stream. However, it has the potential of & Wolds east to the resort of . providing an important aquatic interest The stream has been subject to a to this most northerly of Yorkshire chalk planning application by a major gas streams. Country Fair storage company. The public enquiry determined that several thousand The Trust once again attended the Show pounds should be put towards on the Driffield Showground. Also this improvements to the stream and year a display was undertaken at a new surrounding habitat in mitigation for the event at House. damage that may be caused by the A lot of interest was shown by the proposed works on this small stream. An public in the work of the Trust. electro-fishing survey has been carried out by the Environment Agency to determine the status of the fish population. Only sticklebacks, eels and minnows were found during the surveys.

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Newsletter 02.pmd 2 08/07/2008, 11:12 Partnership Projects VIEW FROM THE The Trust is working with the East Riding Fisheries Consultative Association to develop fish havens on the lower River RIVERBANK Hull at . Designs have been drawn up and riparian owners are being contacted by this angler-led group. The last year has certainly been a out. New temporary homes and patches We have again worked with the Bishop challenging one as far as wildlife goes. As of high ground would have been found Burton College in assisting their Fishery I write this, memories of the devastating and it is only now that they return to their Management students in gaining valuable floods come back to me. Thousands of old haunts. experience with practical field work acres of rural land was inundated for as Numbers of water voles do appear to projects. long as six weeks in some areas. The have taken a downturn and more effects on wildlife will have been immense, worryingly, we have had reports of but it is only now that we can start to look American mink turning up in areas where at those effects. they weren’t present before the floods. Just as we moved into the New Year The huge lake that formed in June last we had a second bout of flooding, which year will have provided an ideal went largely unreported, but much of the opportunity for them to simply swim into wildlife will have taken a second battering new areas preying on native wildlife as just as we were moving towards another they arrived. Mink are particularly bad breeding season. news as they will slowly decimate The wildlife of the riverbank has a numbers of water voles, waterfowl and remarkable way of recovering after such ground nesting birds as well as taking events, but it is likely to take two or three large numbers of fish from the waterways. breeding seasons to return to some sort of The year ahead is a testing time for the ‘normality’. Early signs for species like the animals along our riverbanks, but with water vole and kingfisher are that they are time and more settled, ‘normal’ summer still paddling around our waterways or weather combined with continued support whizzing along the bank top in search of from positive management by landowners favourite nesting and feeding areas. Many we will hopefully continue to see ratty and kingfisher nest holes were lost and his friends as they go about their daily similarly many water vole burrows flooded business. Jon Traill - Trustee - June 2008

Students from Bishop Burton College recently carrying out fishery work on an East Yorkshire chalk stream BAP Steering Group for Chalk Rivers – Flooded out !! West Beck flooded for a second time in January 2008 after the 2007 Meeting June 2007 floods. A presentation was made to the Biodiversity Action Plan Steering Group at their Winchester meeting. The Group is The water vole was one of many made up of a wide area of expertise within species affected by the flooding the country concerned with the events over the last year. management of chalk rivers. The EYCRT represents the most northerly system of chalk rivers in Britain at this forum.

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Newsletter 02.pmd 3 08/07/2008, 11:13 Riverfly Monitoring Partnership

Following a recent workshop given by the Natural History Museum, a group of interested fly fishermen have been formed into a monitoring group. The group will cover many of the chalk streams and rivers in the area. The monthly monitoring programme is being developed by the Trust and the EA’s Ecological Appraisal Officer. The group will be able to identify any water quality problems as they arise and have a contact with the EA to enable a rapid response. The group collecting live samples Examining and identifying the samples Driffield’s brown trout population to benefit from weir transformation

The population of brown trout in Water material was used to narrow the stream to Forlorns in Driffield has received a boost create a bed suitable for the establishment thanks to the hard work of the East of marginal plants.” Yorkshire Chalk Rivers Trust and students “The resulting faster flow past this from Bishop Burton College. section would then remove the silt The fish, whose natural spawning deposits and improve habitat.” grounds are located just upstream from The back of the new weir was built the weir near the Exchange Street Bridge, higher than the rest and as the water flows were prevented from reaching the though the high, narrow channel that has grounds by the original construction, been created, a scour forms, which keeps which was too high and too deep for them the gravel immediately downstream of the to swim over. weir free of silt and other deposits. Alan Mullinger, Director of the Trust This allows the fish not only to spawn was approached by the owner of the there if they wish, but also to build up stretch of water containing the weir. momentum to navigate the new weir. Alan said: “The riparian owner of this Within minutes of the work being small section of Water Forlorns contacted completed, trout were seen moving the trust as he was interested in improving through the new weir on their way the aesthetic appeal of the stream. upstream and according to the Trust, this “He had installed the original rock weir migration has continued, with large some years ago and wanted the advice of numbers of fish successfully moving the Trust on further improving the stream. through the system to the spawning “We advised him that the weir in its gravels. original form was acting as an obstruction Paul Coulson said: “The fish were to the spawning migration of the resident jumping as soon as we’d finished, which brown trout population. It was also them on a number of other projects, to gave the team enormous satisfaction, and causing siltation of the gravel on the help them out with the redevelopment. the fact that the work was totally stream bed.” Lecturer Paul Coulson was only too sustainable, with nothing left behind and The weir was causing a restriction in pleased to help. nothing taken away, is great. the speed and volume of flow, which “I didn’t hesitate in accepting Alan’s “Hopefully this new system will enable meant that silt deposits were building up offer of work. My students are always keen Driffield’s population of brown trout to above the weir. Trout were attempting to to develop their practical skills so I took grow.” spawn, but as they prefer clean gravel of a six students along to see what we could www.bishopburton.ac.uk certain size in which to lay eggs, do,” said Paul. www.eastyorkshirechalkriverstrust.org successful spawning would not have been “Work on the site involved moving the possible. existing weir and converting it into a The Trust called on the fisheries suitable form that would allow trout to management department of Bishop access the upper section of the stream Burton College, who had and improve the flow diversity.” worked with Alan Mullinger explained further: “The rocks were reformed into an upstream- pointing ‘V’ and any spare

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Newsletter 02.pmd 4 08/07/2008, 11:13