The post-works visit of the Environment Agency has taken place. A number of monitoring and management issues as regards the completed works were discussed. One will be the placing of water level gauges at locations to be decided, and the measuring regime for these. Some depth measurements were indicated by “flagged” stakes before work started, but it would have been useful to have had a longer and more systematic study beforehand.

 

Physical changes will be noted, as will be changes in wildlife. We have as a “baseline” the distribution of water vole burrows and latrines along the whole length of river and the side stream, which was documented in a detailed report before the work started.  Similarly the type and distribution of aquatic plants such as water-crowfoot has been examined and recorded.

 

The biomass of fish has been recorded at intervals in the past by the Agency just upstream of Letheringsett Ford, so this provides another baseline for this section of river. The presence of brown trout above this area will be more qualitative but any change year on year noted.

 

A specialist survey for the white-clawed crayfish was carried out on the upper and upper middle reaches before any in-river work was started there, and this will also be periodically continued in the future for the section worked on and we hope the river as a whole.

 

A very important exercise will be the monitoring of the upper middle reach meadow where the spoil has been removed from the bank. In particular how the exposed soil regenerates with vegetation, and the succession pattern of the re-colonisation by plants and insects. There may also be some changes or additions to bird life, such as the presence and possible breeding of grey wagtails.

 

Finally of course, we study the physical integrity of the work carried out and take any remedial measures should these be necessary. We shall follow the rate of maturation of the protected bank, the development of extended (river narrowing) bank and the islands to permanent vegetation and solidity.

THE FOLLOW-THROUGH