About Us

We are a conservation charity that focuses on practical work to improve habitat for trout across the UK and Ireland.  Although we have few staff, we have a big impact because we work with grass roots organisations  (fishing clubs, local community and conservation groups)  and landowners to give them the  inspiration, advice and  practical skills to improve and maintain their lake or river for the benefit of trout and all wildlife.

Most of our members, supporters and staff are fishermen, but we are not a fishing organisation. 

We simply love wild trout and the rivers they live in; the trout are an indicator that much in and around the river is well. We want to make sure that trout and all that they stand for are there for future generations.

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Photo: Jon Beer

Photo: Don Stazicker

A copy of our current strategy and business plan is available as a PDF document here.

We are run by a group of Trustees and a volunteer Executive Committee and a small staff who all work from home. 

Our funding come from many sources - our members and donors,the annual eBay auction, charitable trusts, corporate sponsors and support from the Environment Agency. Click here for our list of major funders.

See the Who's Who page for a full list of our team. 

We have around 2500 members  and supporters who help to raise the funds for us so we can deliver advice and habitat projects. Click to join and support us.

We often work in partnership with other organisations, including the Rivers Trusts, Wildlife Trusts, Government Agencies and many more. Our role in these partnerships is to provide expert advice and practical project delivery skills. To see examples of the kind of advice we give, click to see our Advisory Visit reports, and examples of our Projects.

Our approach to habitat and ecosystems is based on science and refined by experience of the practical application of habitat improvements.   We have considerable expertise on our own staff, and we are supported by a group of advisors who form our science 'knowledge network' . Our publications reflect this approach of combining sound science with practical and cost effective application to the real world. .

We do not generally engage directly in lobbying, but work closely with the Angling Trust and other angling and conservation organisations to ensure our views are represented on key issues such as abstraction, diffuse pollution and hydropower. 

Our Conservation Package  

Anyone can ask us for advice – it is free and open to everyone in the UK and Ireland with responsibility for a river or lake that does, or should, hold trout.

We have a package of services:

Advisory visits – one of our Conservation Officers will walk the river with you and assess the habitat, give you advice on management and potential work to improve the habitat. A report of the visit is provided as the basis for future plans. As a professional document, it will also assist the granting of necessary approvals from the Environment Agency . All the Advisory Visit reports we have carried out are identified on a map and the reports are available to download as PDF documents with a login. Anyone can apply to login to see these reports. There is no charge.

Project Proposals are more specific reports that identify practical work in the channel and on the banks at a ‘reach’ scale.  The report will identify project objectives, techniques, materials and a budget and may advise on sources of funding and any consents or permissions required.

Practical Visits are designed to train people in the tools and techniques needed to complete a habitat improvement project or to carry out habitat management. These are hands-on, waders-on, hard-working days, led by one or more of our Conservation Officers.

‘How to’ guides. To support this package, we have created a series of habitat manuals and demonstration videos  that  describe and illustrate the advice and techniques we use.

Projects.  We carry out a large number of 'reach' scale habitat improvement projects with local fishing clubs or community groups. See our Projects pages for examples of these.

We also run a number of undertakings with a wider scope than a single river. These include two regional sea trout projects: Anglian Rivers Sea Trout and South Coast Sea Trout projects. Both of these projects are aimed at improving  spawning and juvenile habitat and fish passage issues. This work complements the wider-scale European-led initiative that focus on the marine phase of the sea  trout lifecycle.

Trout in the Town is an umbrella project whereby the WTT supports local conservation groups and fishing clubs in their efforts to improve and care for rivers in urban areas, with the support of local communities.

Addressing the wider issues affecting wild trout and the health of river ecosystems is clearly vital. These include abstraction, pollution, climate change and hydropower.  Although our focus is on practical work at a grass roots level, we do work very closely with organisations that are more directly focused  upon influencing government policy, including the Angling Trust, Rivers Trust, Atlantic Salmon Trust and Salmon and Trout Association. We contribute directly to their campaigns, using both our scientific credentials and our practical experience.