Over the last couple of months, Conserving Coniston & Crake have been lucky enough to have the help of the Wild Trout Trust to carry out walkover surveys on a number of becks in the catchment.

Walkover surveys are an important way to assess and understand the ecological condition of rivers, becks and gills. By walking down from the source, making notes about habitat (trees, plants, gravels), surrounding land use and potential issues which may be impacting upon the waterbody (poaching, pipes, barriers etc), it is possible to build up a picture of how healthy the beck is and how well it functions. Conserving Coniston & Crake are using this information to help decide where and how changes could be made to help improve water quality, habitat and biodiversity within the catchment.

The Wild Trout Trust are experienced in carrying out advisory visits for this purpose, and have kindly been helping us out, including running a walkover training day for volunteers at the end May, which was very successful.

Thanks to Gareth at the Wild Trout Trust for all his help!