Peter powell

The #CunliffeReview dropped today, proposing a major overhaul of water regulation in the UK.

But there's a glaring omission.
The review recommends new regional water system planning authorities, several in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, one in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.

But what about the Dee, which crosses the border?
👇

This is the Llynor.

It's one of the cleanest tributaries on the Dee.
No farmyards or sewage treatment works upstream.

And it's mostly forest, a big section being restored to ancient woodland.

But it has a major problem.

At Welsh Dee Trust, we believe this is a missed opportunity.

The River Dee and other transboundary rivers such as the Severn and Wye) need catchment-based planning.

This creates huge risks for misaligned decisions, poor coordination, and further environmental harm especially in a river already under pressure from abstraction.

The report includes 88 recommendations, but non mention cross-border river management.

The River Dee starts in Wales (where it's stored in reservoirs), then flows into England (where it's abstracted to supply cities like Liverpool).

Under the new plan, two different authorities could be undertaking planning for this system.

The #CunliffeReview dropped today, proposing a major overhaul of water regulation in the UK.

But there's a glaring omission.
The review recommends new regional water system planning authorities, several in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, one in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.

But what about the Dee, which crosses the border?
👇

Electrofishing the following year showed some success with 11 Young salmon above the road crossing.

Over the next couple of months we will be back to electrofish again

Fingers crossed we see yet another increase in Salmon numbers now they have had access for 2 breeding seasons

So
@WelshDeeTrust
we have brought in tonnes of large boulders.

Placing these strategically we have created a ramp that allows salmon and other fish to swim up and over the roads.

The cause?

Several forestry road crossings were probably stopping salmon migrating upstream.

The photo shows one of these crossings.

Although Salmon can jump 2 meters, they need deep water to get a run up. Downstream of these crossings was very shallow.

In the lower sections of the river, Salmon are spawning.

You can see a hen and cock fish spawning in the video below.

But when we electrofished higher upstream, we found 0 salmon in the tributary.

Even though the habitat looked perfect!

That's excellent. Do you know when the forestry road crossings were installed?

A great thread that shows the value of boots on the ground, a keen eye and being pro-active.

Cool thread

Electrofishing the following year showed some success with 11 Young salmon above the road crossing.

Over the next couple of months we will be back to electrofish again

Fingers crossed we see yet another increase in Salmon numbers now they have had access for 2 breeding seasons

So
@WelshDeeTrust
we have brought in tonnes of large boulders.

Placing these strategically we have created a ramp that allows salmon and other fish to swim up and over the roads.

The cause?

Several forestry road crossings were probably stopping salmon migrating upstream.

The photo shows one of these crossings.

Although Salmon can jump 2 meters, they need deep water to get a run up. Downstream of these crossings was very shallow.

In the lower sections of the river, Salmon are spawning.

You can see a hen and cock fish spawning in the video below.

But when we electrofished higher upstream, we found 0 salmon in the tributary.

Even though the habitat looked perfect!

This is the Llynor.

It's one of the cleanest tributaries on the Dee.
No farmyards or sewage treatment works upstream.

And it's mostly forest, a big section being restored to ancient woodland.

But it has a major problem.

I can't quite understand how the social values payment works or who is eligible?

The scheme will also include optional actions which receive additional funding.

It's these optional actions that will have the largest impact upon river and water quality.

First reaction is that the universal actions still feels paperwork heavy, rather than focus on outcomes. 😬

More detail on the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 sustainable farming scheme has been released.

This is the Welsh governments biggest investment in nature conservation and food production.

12 universal actions required to receive £70 a hectare.

How's this for nature friendly farming?

This is WelshDeeTrust site on the Cheshire plains.

The 3D buffer will help protect the watercourse from any pollutants in the field and also provide valuable habitat for 🐛🦋🪶🐦‍⬛🐀.

That's the plan for the landowner using long horns.

How's this for nature friendly farming?

This is WelshDeeTrust site on the Cheshire plains.

The 3D buffer will help protect the watercourse from any pollutants in the field and also provide valuable habitat for 🐛🦋🪶🐦‍⬛🐀.

A big thank you to @peterpowell.bsky.social and @welsh-dee-trust.bsky.social for leading a walk along the banks of the #RiverDee in #Chester for #ChesterHeritageFestival yesterday. We learnt a lot about the challenges facing the river, and what we could do to help.

Gravel is the unsung hero of healthy rivers.

I think it is (almost) as important for river wildlife as the water that flows over the top.

The sediments, pebbles rocks and stones are vital to healthy rivers but they are also under threat.

Read on to find out why 👇

He fired the black chairman of the joint chiefs for being woke and hired his brother.

hard to imagine anybody being recalled from their holiday fora pollution incident anymore.

Press cuttings with stamps from Chief Inspector of Fisheries

Dead Fish Broke His Holiday - Mr. King, #Dee Fisheries Manager, was recalled from his holiday on #Anglesey in August 1949 - @theguardian.com gem in @nationalarchives.gov.uk.web.brid.gy
#FishFriday #RiverDee #Wales #envhist @welsh-dee-trust.bsky.social
@peterpowell.bsky.social

It turned me straight off reading the whole article.

Such a statement in the 2nd paragraph, indicates the whole is likely to be a work of confirmation bias.
And what's the point of reading things based on confirmation bias?

Do they help any conservation actions?