A brown trout spawning site on the River Hiz at Ickleford, Hertfordshire, has been improved with large wood features across a 1.5km stretch. The work is intended to speed water flows and create areas of “shaggy cover” for fish.
The Environment Agency funded the project, which took more than two weeks. Volunteers from the River Hiz Conservation Group received practical restoration training; the wildlife trust said they would help maintain and monitor the improved stretch.
The River Hiz is one of about 260 chalk rivers worldwide. Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust says only 14% of rivers in England have good ecological status, with very few naturally unmodified rivers remaining.
