Case Study - Rivers - Four Copses, Wiltshire

Project: Four Copses (phase 1)
Project Location: Great Wishford, Wiltshire
River System: River Wylye SSSI

Client:
Wilton Fishing Club

Date of Installation: 1998

Project Brief

Restore a heavily engineered channel to favourable condition.
The main drive was the need to: i) improve wild trout populations for the resdent fly fishing club and ii) improve bankside access for anglers.
The scheme enabled a variety of additional habitat initiatives to be bolted onto the clubs primary objectives

Solution

Working in partnership with water wardens Ronnie Butler and Jeremy Waters, the uniformly engineered reach was re-sectioned using locally-sourced logs, brushwood and on-site spoil.

'Judicious' narrowing stimulated natural adjustments to the river bed, resulting in a bio-diverse, multi-staged channel following a series of winter flood events.

The re-distribution of sediment and gravels has promoted successful trout spawning and created a variety of localised niches for key species of flora and fauna.

Awards

The 1998 'Famous Grouse' award for wild trout conservation

Section showing a typical channel profile following the first series of flood events.

"English Nature has worked with Cain Bio-Engineering on a number of projects over the last six years. In these projects we have noted the attention paid to the river's ecology,.....and the consistently high quality of design and workmanship."

D.J English Nature (now Natural England) Devises

5 years later - Downstream view of restoration site to Paskins corner