Walked along the river teme (not tame) in sandwell today. Appears to be a clean river, lots of rununculous, gravel beds, riffles pools, eddies, not so much as a stickleback, not a fish in sight. The river seems so rich, I can't understand why are no fish, it's a perfect small trout river in a city.

sorry mate you have to be a bit more specific,sandwell west midlands?
only know one river in between great barr and wednesbury thats the tame,please forgive my ignorance,however I don't pretend to be exactly local and I am aware that there are a few streams to the west and north west of the sandwell country park that I dont know

__________________
an interesting mix of apathy and panic

Clive M

I agree with Foosandtrout; I only know of one river in the Sandwell area, and that's the Tame. As I work next to the Tame near Coleshill, and it appears to be equally devoid of any sort of fish life, I did a bit of research, and found a sad tale of the decline and loss of a once thriving river environment.
The factual elements of this post are sourced from a study done by the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment ( CSERGE ), undertaken by the university of East Anglia and University College London.
The River Tame rises near Darlaston in the West Midlands, and flows through the urban conurbation of the black country and Birmingham, joining the Cole and the Blythe near Coleshill, then into the Trent, and on into the North Sea.
Once described as a "small, high quality stream", supporting stocks of trout and salmon, ( the last salmon in the river was reported in 1876 ), a combination of industrial and environmental pollution led to the river being classified as 'environmentally dead' in 1945, and able to support only highly pollution tolerant species such as snails, worms and leeches, plus limited aquatic plant life.
Contamination from old mines, tips and industrial sites put abnormally high levels of nickel, copper and zinc into the river; also, the local roads and sewers drained into the river, the high contentration of solids giving it a characteristic 'milky' appearance during floods, which in turn led to sedimentation that smothered plant and aquatic life at normal river levels.
And here's the rub; responsibility for cleaning up the river would naturally lie with those who originally polluted it. But as the factories and foundries responsible have long since passed into history, the financial burden would fall upon the local councils; i.e taxpayers. And even in these more environmentally-aware times, I think you would have a hard task convincing council tax payers to commit millions of pounds towards restoring what to most midlanders is a mucky stream at the end of thier road.
So, Proffdenton, there you have it.
A river that on appearance at least seems to be an ideal environment for fish. But unless there is a drastic change, I can see no possibility of a post entitled " my River Tame brownie " on the forum in the forseeable future.

And I think that's bl**dy tragic...

I think that's a bl**dy good piece of work

__________________
an interesting mix of apathy and panic

Clive M

There is some sign of better times ahead. The Tame is in a much better state now, certainly below Lea Marston as it has at that point passed through several pools designed to take out contaminated sediment. Decline in heavy industry in the area amongst other things is slowly improving water quality, and there is an ongoing programme of river clearance/clean-up and modelling.

The EA make references in a couple of documents, one of which is the new Flood Plan for the Tame to formulating schemes to promote the current fish stocks (perch, roach and apparently now the water is suitable for chub) and to introduce further species. This includes the creation of fish holding features, and fish passes. The proposal clearly states the intention to make the Tame of interest from a leisure perspective to the riverside angler.

Hopefully these plans will come to fruition.

__________________
Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine,
No blood of living insect stain my line;
Let me, less cruel, cast feather'd hook,
With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook,
Silent along the mazy margin stray,
And with fur-wrought fly delude the prey

there is an upserge I believe in the WTT trout in the town thingy it would be great if we get something going along those lines

__________________
an interesting mix of apathy and panic

Clive M

although do the recent "influx" in the south birmingham area need an alternative food source to the allotments and canada geese?

__________________
an interesting mix of apathy and panic

Clive M

Hi guys

Hope proffdenton comes back to clarify

River Tame in the Birmingham conurbation at Sandwell Park would appear to have very high ammonia levels.

River Teme at Sandwell Town......is good for some fair size Barbel.

Both rivers are noted for pollution events

__________________
Two things to have in life - A good bed and a good pair of boots -and if you aren't in one you should be in t'other

[QUOTE=sedgeking;443488]Hi guys

Hope proffdenton comes back to clarify



River Teme at Sandwell Town......is good for some fair size Barbel.

well done mate! you've double sixed me there!!!

__________________
an interesting mix of apathy and panic

Clive M