Remeandered river
Posted: 25 Apr 2023, 08:49
How 'rewiggling' Swindale Beck brought its fish back
By Victoria Gill and Sophie Woodcock BBC News Climate and science team
"Nature needs chaos, it needs randomness," says Lee Schofield from the RSPB.
He is sitting on the bank of Swindale Beck, a stretch of river the flows into Haweswater Reservoir in Cumbria - one of England's largest lakes. The chaos - and the nature - has returned to this site after being missing for two centuries.
This is because, about 200 years ago, the community of Swindale embarked on an ambitious project to straighten this section of the beck, with the aim of speeding the flow of water through the valley and increasing the amount of farmland surrounding it.
That had unintended consequences. The faster-flowing water was too swift for fish like salmon and trout to spawn. And the river carried more sediment downstream, making it murkier.
So back in 2016, the RSPB and its partners - including the water company that owns the land - embarked on a remeandering or "rewiggling" project.
After studying the valley to locate the original path carved out by the river, the charity enlisted a team of diggers to recreate that curvy channel. It is now about 180m (200 yards) longer than the straight line that had been in the valley bottom for two centuries.
The transformation, says Lee, was almost immediate.
"About three months after the diggers left - we had salmon and trout spawning in the river again," he recalls.
The re-established, meandering curves have slowed down the flow of water, which creates aquatic habitat at each bend.
"We now have vegetation in the river, where young fish can shelter," explained Lee. "There are gravel banks, deep pools and riffles - shallow, turbulent parts of the river where the water draws in oxygen. It all benefits the whole food chain.
"It's like a living thing moving through the valley now, while the old, straightened river was just like a sad canal." ....
By Victoria Gill and Sophie Woodcock BBC News Climate and science team
"Nature needs chaos, it needs randomness," says Lee Schofield from the RSPB.
He is sitting on the bank of Swindale Beck, a stretch of river the flows into Haweswater Reservoir in Cumbria - one of England's largest lakes. The chaos - and the nature - has returned to this site after being missing for two centuries.
This is because, about 200 years ago, the community of Swindale embarked on an ambitious project to straighten this section of the beck, with the aim of speeding the flow of water through the valley and increasing the amount of farmland surrounding it.
That had unintended consequences. The faster-flowing water was too swift for fish like salmon and trout to spawn. And the river carried more sediment downstream, making it murkier.
So back in 2016, the RSPB and its partners - including the water company that owns the land - embarked on a remeandering or "rewiggling" project.
After studying the valley to locate the original path carved out by the river, the charity enlisted a team of diggers to recreate that curvy channel. It is now about 180m (200 yards) longer than the straight line that had been in the valley bottom for two centuries.
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"About three months after the diggers left - we had salmon and trout spawning in the river again," he recalls.
The re-established, meandering curves have slowed down the flow of water, which creates aquatic habitat at each bend.
"We now have vegetation in the river, where young fish can shelter," explained Lee. "There are gravel banks, deep pools and riffles - shallow, turbulent parts of the river where the water draws in oxygen. It all benefits the whole food chain.
"It's like a living thing moving through the valley now, while the old, straightened river was just like a sad canal." ....