Category: Conservation
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A Step Closer
in ConservationOpening up habitat is recognised as one of the fastest and best ways to improve fish stocks in rivers. Where migratory species are excluded from their natural habitat, the population obviously declines and their range is diminished. Ayrshire Rivers Trust supported by Scottish Government and other funders have been actively easing or encouraging barrier easement…
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Weir Issues
Dams and weirs on any river cause problems for salmon and trout migration. Not just adults but also smolts and juveniles that become held up behind them. Removing obstacles is acknowledged as one of the best ways to naturally increase fish populations. ART has long campaigned to see barriers removed or eased, where removal isn’t…
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Bogend Burn is in line for barrier easements
in ConservationAyrshire Rivers Trust have recently developed a novel new way to make and fit baffles at low cost. The concept has been proven and appears most suitable in small to medium sized culverts. ART are about to submit a CAR application to SEPA to ease two difficult barriers at the lower Bogend Burn in Catrine.…
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Trout spawning underway
in ConservationThe colder air and falling water temperatures have brought a few trout onto the redds for spawning and there were signs that a few had been successfully completed in different parts of the Ayr catchment. We had already watched a pair of smaller trout cutting a redd in the Hareshaw before the end of October…
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Catch Returns
Clubs and owners should remember that they must legally provide the Board and Marine Scotland with catch data from the season just closed. This should include all salmon and sea trout (including whiltling/finnock) caught on the Ayr system in 2018. As the river was Category 3 this year, no fish should have been killed but…
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Fish Rescue at Glenbuck
ART biologists rescued over 1000 fish from the very top of the River Ayr immediately downstream of Glenbuck Loch. The road is being straightened and contractors were asked to allow ART to remove any fish within the site before it was dewatered. A new temporary bypass channel was prepared and the river is being diverted…
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The Brown Trout season ends
Just a wee reminder that today is the last official day of the brown trout season wherever you are in the UK. Local rules may apply with club waters but none over rule the official closed period for brown trout angling. It reopens on the 15th March 2019.
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Willow Spiling on the Ayr
One year has passed since ART installed willow spiling on the River Ayr at the new Tarholm sewage outfall This technique was used after SEPA recommended a green engineering solution rather than a traditional hard engineering approach that would have included rock armour or rip rap. Scottish Water asked for ART’s advice and assistance and…
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News from Ayrshire Rivers Trust on the Dippol at Auchinleck
in ConservationIn 2016 and 2017, Ayrshire Rivers Trust stocked trout sourced from the Lugar into the Dippol Burn near Auchinleck. The original trout were lost around 40 years ago through a pollution incident and with 50′ falls downstream, the burn couldn’t repopulate naturally. ART did this under license from MSS and translocated an undisclosed number of…