I listened to the first run of this on Tuesday morning. DEFRA seem to be passing the buck to the EA, who feel the Rivers' Trusts have a big part to play. Those Rivers' Trust will, to a man, each feel Anglers have the ultimate responsibility and I agree.

Have a listen;
BBC iPlayer - Farming Today: Farming Today This Week

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http://141207.blogspot.com/
http://www.haddonestate.co.uk/rivers/rivers.php
http://www.thepeacockatrowsley.com/fishing.html

The work the GWCT do at Loddington is brilliant and well worth a look. If you are member, give them a ring to see if you can get on a guided our, it will open your eyes to a lot of problems and their cures. For those in a upland catchments then Pontbren is a massively important project.

Pontbren homepage

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"The sun was so delightfully warm, and the stone, which had been sitting in it for a long time, was so warm, too, that Pooh had almost decided to go on being Pooh in the middle of the stream for the rest of the morning."

www.monnow.org

Pontbren also has massive relevance to the future of flood risk management for the towns downstream of upland river headwaters.

The project found that - by planting the odd scattered deciduous hedge "shelter belt" for sheep - you can take between 5% (under the most severe floodwater levels) to around 29% (of more usual floodwater) levels off a flood peak simply by dramatically increasing the volume of rain that soaks into the ground - rather than sluicing straight into the river over compacted field surfaces.

The infiltration rates of rain water into a grazed field and a new woodland plantation increased 100 fold.

Here is the full report Centre for Ecology and Hydrology: Publications - Pontbren

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"The sun was so delightfully warm, and the stone, which had been sitting in it for a long time, was so warm, too, that Pooh had almost decided to go on being Pooh in the middle of the stream for the rest of the morning."

www.monnow.org

Very cool. Worth noting that the work I was referring to at the same site was looking simply at narrow belts of deciduous vegetation planted to shelter sheep from the wind (i.e. fields still used for grazing too).

This could be relevant to fields which will never be given over entirely to forestry - but instead might point toward how to have more sustainable versions of livestock grazing in upland catchments.

The percentage changes also (I believe if I remember correctly) refer to the actual "hydrograph" of the flow of water in the river (i.e. the result of the increased infiltration rates measured). In other words, it actually measured the response of the river that changed (between 5 and 29%) as a result of increasing the infiltration by 100% in relatively small patches of grazed field.

All good stuff

PG

It appears that overland travel of water, which picks up; silt, fertilizer and faecal matter, is stopped or considerably reduced by planting and restoring hedgerows along contours.

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"The sun was so delightfully warm, and the stone, which had been sitting in it for a long time, was so warm, too, that Pooh had almost decided to go on being Pooh in the middle of the stream for the rest of the morning."

www.monnow.org

Hurrah for hedges

This reminds me somewhat of the debate which raged in the 1990's over the merits of 'set aside' verses 'extensification' in the context of farmers being persuaded to leave parts of their land un-farmed, largely through financial incentives.

The CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England), if I remember correctly, favoured 'extensification', especially when practised adjacent to lowland rivers flowing through arable land. For example, instead of farmers typically ploughing fields right up to the edge of river banks, it was found that a substantial strip, or 'buffer' of unploughed, untended land, served as a natural filter of rainfall run-off into the river. Additionally, there was a marked reduction in the amount of bank erosion and even the concentrations of pesticide and chemical fertiliser residues entering the watercourse were also found to be reduced.

Furthermore, longer, continuous 'buffer strips' were highly effective at providing 'corridors' for all forms of wildlife, thereby enabling it to move freely and in relative safety over large distances. Of course, up until the Second World War, this system of land management would have largely happened by default.

Much of the damage that was inflicted on our rivers during the latter part of the 20th century could still be undone, if the will existed among our rulers.

An insightful post OW. I do think that the clock is begining to be turned back though, as we (re) learn what our fore fathers new all along. The tools are there, in the from of the Single Payment Scheme GAEC rules, ELS and HLS, Water Framework Directive, Catchment Sensitive Farming Initiatives and coupling to these instruments and funding streams (until Wednesday that possibly is) the likes of the WTT, Rivers Trusts and Associations such as mine that know the problems and problem areas within our catchments will ensure that our rivers a put into good shape.

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"The sun was so delightfully warm, and the stone, which had been sitting in it for a long time, was so warm, too, that Pooh had almost decided to go on being Pooh in the middle of the stream for the rest of the morning."

www.monnow.org

It seemed untill lately that the magic figure for all these improvements was 2015, which was a suitably urgent date to use to lever activity and commitment from all who needed encouraging.
Now to hear people talking of 2025 is a depressing boding for more procrastination, inactivity, and excuses.