News

The 2024 Sportfish Spring Spectacular takes place online this weekend, Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 April, and all of us at WTT are looking forward to watching the premiere of a beautiful new film with our founder and Vice-President Charles Rangeley-Wilson as part of the festivities.

Shot and edited by Chalkstream Fly, The River Nar: A Chalkstream Restoration follows Charles’s three-year partnership project near Castle Acre in Norfolk involving local landowners (Holkham, West Acre and Narford estates) and Norfolk Rivers Trust - as well as Norfolk Rivers Drainage Board and Water Management Alliance, who co-funded the film with us.

Thanks to so many generous donors, bidders, members and supporters, our Spring Auction 2024 has been a huge success.

We are completely overwhelmed by your help in raising an amazing £89,259 by the time bidding closed last night – money that we’ll put to good use for wild trout and our rivers and lakes. Thank you so much.

We have 6 lots still available (as below). If you're interested, please email your bid(s) to Chrissy via office@wildtrout.org by 5pm on Tuesday 2 April and we will accept the highest bid received. In the event of identical bids, the first one received will take priority.

Kings College London have created a guide that provides comprehensive, practical advice on how to use legal tools to protect rivers. It is called 'Rights of Nature Toolkit: How to protect Rivers in England and Wales’.

The guide includes a very useful summary of relevant existing UK legislation, details of regulatory bodies and statutory liabilities, how to gather information and a (fictional) case study. Good to see WTT's Trout in the Town Urban River Toolkit mentioned as one of the resources too.

In very simple terms, we advise anyone who sees pollution in their river to report it as an incident to the Environment Agency in England, SEPA in Scotland and NIEA in Northern Ireland on 0800 80 70 60. The number for Wales (NRW) is 0300 065 3000. Take photos, ask for an incident number and ask for updates. Even if no action is taken at the time, getting the incident 'in the system' will help for any future action, legal or otherwise.

The lovely River Monnow saw some of WTT’s earliest river restoration projects, and key people like Patrick Lloyd at the Monnow Rivers Association (MRA) are still very closely connected with us.

In order to raise funds for important ongoing projects like eradicating Himalayan balsam and mink from the whole Monnow catchment, the MRA’s annual charity auction for 2024 is now running on the Fly Fishing Forums until 10pm on Sunday 10 March.

There are 54 lots available, such as fishing days on the Monnow and elsewhere, specially-tied flies and even festival tickets.

The Rivers Trust have published a comprehensive report on the State of Our Rivers in England, Wales Northern Ireland and Scotland.

It does not make for happy reading. Our rivers are not in a healthy state and the situation has not improved since the last report in 2021. 

The report is well presented, with summary data and lots of maps so that you can zoom in on an individual river or catchment. It includes (importantly) a 'Take Action' section.The report is a valuable resource with a plethora of data and analysis for use by any audience including, we would hope, journalists, campaign groups and policy makers. 

In November 2023, Fish Legal and the Pickering Fishing Association won their High Court case against the Government and the EA. The Court ruled that they had failed in their mandatory legal duties to review, update and put in place measures to restore rivers and other water bodies under the Water Framework Directive Regulations.

Check out the Fish Legal web news item for more detail on the case. 

Whilst the Costa Beck was the river in the case, the ruling has huge implications for all rivers in England, which is no doubt why the Government and the EA are taking the case to appeal.

We reported on the pesticides from pet flea treatments being found in our rivers back in 2020 and again in 2023.

Now more research by the University of Sussex and Imperial College London shows that pet owners using 'spot on' flea treatments risk contaminating their hands with fipronil and imidacloprid, two insecticides, for at least 28 days after the treatment has been applied. Hand washing by pet owners, as well as washing the pets and their bedding, results in pesticides getting into the sewage system.

These pesticides are present in English rivers in concentrations that exceed accepted safe limits for wildlife. This is despite the fact that these chemicals are deemed to be too toxic to be used in agriculture.

Richard Slocock, a founding father and great friend of WTT, has died, following a short illness. 

Richard managed fisheries in Dorset for over 40 years, joining forces with Charles Rangeley-Wilson in the mid-nineties to conceive WTT, then driving the Trust for many years, including as Chairman. 

All at WTT mourn Richard’s loss and send condolences to Sally and family. A full obituary for Richard will be published in WTT’s 2024 annual journal, Salmo Trutta, out to members in May.