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A little bit of tidying up.

Stephen Walker

Senior Member & Supporter
Destruction of habitat on my river today.Normally shallow and clear,every bit of cover is safe haven from predators.Not from today.
You can’t compare summer conditions to winter,but here’s a before and after on the river today .
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Disgraceful
Stephen can you check with EA if permission given. Sending them the photo
The Guy that did this on the Lugg is in deep trouble.
Unfortunately Graham it is the EA doing the work.We have very few trees on this stretch,and not many fish either,but they are stunning when lucky enough to catch one.Just about all my fish have come from under some sort of cover.To say I’m gutted is an understatement .
 
Why the hell are they doing this ? For what purpose ? :mad:
Flood defence; allegedly.

Ive said it before on here; as our climate changes and rainfall gets concentrated into bigger ‘drops’ so our flood peaks will rise (further fuelled by excess urbanisation) and our current flood defence system becomes unfit for purpose.

We (U.K. plc) can’t afford the bill for widespread higher defences - so the short term ‘solution’ is to clear channels to facilitate the fastest possible dispersion of water.

When I sat on Thames RFERAC (up till about 2010) EA flood defence had to Liaise with local anglers and the EA Conservation and Fisheries departments before they did any clearance work. Now it seems Flood Defence call the shots……

And it’s going to get worse.
 
What a F kn mess they have made of that once beautiful looking little stretch of water.

Now it just looks like a bloody fenland drain. They should throw the key away. 🤬
 
What a F kn mess they have made of that once beautiful looking little stretch of water.

Now it just looks like a bloody fenland drain. They should throw the key away. 🤬
The weed cutter came through twice this year,taking out all the streamer weed.I could catch in the weed with a pva mesh bag of pellet,and the hook nicked into the bag,never lost a fish to the weed.So the fish found refuge under the willows,now I suspect that all the willows will disappear.The silver fish have been decimated by cormorants,now the barbel and chub are at risk.
Someone tell me what happens now?
 
EA Flood prevention, one department preaches natural flood prevention, the other does this. With their limited funding you would think it could be better spent. John Price did similar to his land on the Lugg to stop flooding the local village. Natural England and the EA took him to court yet if the EA has done this its all OK ,what a joke.
 
Looks like we’re back to the bad old days of the 60s & 70s when this kind of ‘improvement’ was the norm. 😡🤬😡


Dave
 
Heart-breaking.

And probably unlikely to make any meaningful contribution to flood defence, possibly the opposite by exacerbating peak flows downstream.

Definitely the EA Stephen?
Yes Joe.I asked them if the EA would be repairing the track after all the damage they’ve done,I couldn’t get my car near for fear of getting stuck,and had to walk.The reply I got was, We have
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put some stone down for our benefit,but it’s the landowners responsibility to sort it out.
 
This has happened on a river that I’ve looked at a few times, not to this scale, but similar habitat destruction. If it was closer I would be tempted to replant it myself.

 
This has happened on a river that I’ve looked at a few times, not to this scale, but similar habitat destruction. If it was closer I would be tempted to replant it myself.

A quite well known angler(I had put his name originally but don’t want to incriminate him😊)has suggested the same thing Darren.Cut willow twigs and push them in every 20 yards.He reckons that in five years they will have grown enough to give cover for the fish.My reply was that in five years I’ll be coming up to 75 and not fit enough to be fishing those steep banks.😄 But I’ll do it for the younger members.
 
I strongly caution against planting anything non-native and not of British provenance. Hybrids and non-natives will not only look out of place, they also risk damaging the gene pool of the native willows. And plants of non-British provenance also pose a risk to native trees by bringing over diseases and pathogens from overseas.

Just take cuttings from native willows growing locally. A lot cheaper as well!
 
Yes Joe.I asked them if the EA would be repairing the track after all the damage they’ve done,I couldn’t get my car near for fear of getting stuck,and had to walk.The reply I got was, We haveView attachment 21827 put some stone down for our benefit,but it’s the landowners responsibility to sort it out.
I can understand their rationale for removing weed and silt in the channel, although I disagree with it entirely.

What I don't understand is what the thinking is behind removing the willows? It seems almost spiteful.
 
Last month ALL the willows were taken down on a long stretch of the Upper Thames I fish. I can't get over the fact it was the chairman of the club who gave the order. I met him on the day the work started and he was really put out by my reaction as he was obviously expecting me to congratulate him. I was apoplectic when he said the desecration was for boat safety.

Since 2019, Lechlade, Buscot, Kelmscot, Grafton, Radcot, Clanfield, Tadpole Bridge, and Newbridge have had the trees removed or cut down with no replanting whatsoever. That's over 20 miles of river with little cover for the fish and even less for the angler.
 
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