A story has appeared in the latest edition of Trout & Salmon that has some potentially profound implications for our river fisheries. Get this; Natural England appears to be hostile to bankside fencing on rivers, which as many of you will be aware, has been employed to improve riverine habitat for trout, salmon and sea trout. Such fencing reduces erosion caused by grazing livestock, leading to more stable river flows and less siltation. The fencing also increases the amount of cover and terrestrial food supplies for juvenile fish.

I’m delighted to see that the Angling Trust is getting involved in the fencing issue. It’s exactly the kind of issue that I’d want them to engage with on my/our behalf.

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cumbriafishingfestival.co.uk

Not seen the TandS yet, have you got a link to any info on it?

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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

No. T&S arrived in the shops 2 days ago. The article is on page 15.

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cumbriafishingfestival.co.uk

Hi', David. Maybe Natural England members are incapable of climbing over the access stiles that are usually erected when the fencing contractors go to work. As an angler who values his breathable waders, my only gripe regarding the erection of exclusion zone fences is that in our area, the protected banks grow jungles of nettles, thistles and other nasties that either puncture the material or hide stray bits of barbed wire that do even worse damage. Maybe the NE members find it difficult to see the denizens of the river banks when they are fenced off. Someone might tell them that the fences were put their partly to encourage plant growth to provide safety corridors for those very creatures. TC

Many angling clubs now get "buffer strips" erected on thier pieces of river. Now, how many of those buffer strips are properly managed? How many people on here have ever worked in these buffer strips from getting full of nettles thistles, giant hogweed etc... Yes, buffer strips are a very good wildlife corridor, but need hours of work to maintain them, belive me i know.

Having read the article; Natural England do not appear to have a policy on this and it gives no reasons for their wish to have those particular fences taken down. More detail is needed before any sensible comment can be made.

What has to be remembered is, like them or loathe them, if you get a felling licence from the Forestry Commission (Government department, within Natural England) to coppice the bankside trees then you have to ensure that the coppiced stool survives and this means protecting it from grazing, which, to all intense and purposes means a fence on the upland tribs where I work because of the numbers of sheep and cattle.

Now, I would like to see Natural England square that circle!

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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