Native crayfish make comeback in Lincolnshire and Chinese jellyfish turns up in Cheshire canal (continue)

Happy dace for River Tyne fish survey: Work to assess release regime from Kielder reservoir

The Environment Agency joined forces with expert anglers for the second year running to carry out an important survey to assess the numbers of dace. The Environment Agency joined forces with expert anglers for the second year running to carry out an important survey to assess the numbers of a highly prized fish in Northumberland. Surveys for dace, the main species of coarse fish in the River Tyne, much valued by anglers, took place on the North Tyne tributary as part of a wider programme to monitor any impact of the revised releases of water from Kielder Reservoir. Environment Agency specialists teamed up with 17 expert anglers from the Tyne Anglers Alliance and other fishing clubs – with anglers from as far afield as Yorkshire and the Scottish Borders making the trip – to fish around a dozen locations between Kielder and Watersmeet. The aim was to both update and enhance our existing information on dace populations. There were some great results – including a whopping 27lb catch at Wark and an 18lb bag from Redesmouth. Click here to read more 

Native crayfish make a comeback in Lincolnshire

The first transfer in the county of white-clawed crayfish has been hailed a success as the protected species is now breeding in its new location.  This baby white-clawed crayfish was found during surveying of the chalk stream, showing the species is now breeding in its new home. A threatened species of crayfish is making a comeback in Lincolnshire thanks to efforts by the Environment Agency and local conservation groups. Last July, 600 white-clawed crayfish were moved from locations in the River Witham – where they’re at risk of being wiped out by invasive signal crayfish – to new remote locations including a chalk stream in the Lincolnshire Wolds.  Now, surveys show the transfer – the first in the county – has been successful, and the crayfish have started to breed.  Native white-clawed crayfish have been in decline since non-native American signal crayfish escaped into UK waters in the 1970s. These larger, invasive crayfish outcompete native species for food and habitat and carry a disease fatal to the UK species.  But working with partners such as the Lincolnshire Chalk Streams Project (LCSP) and the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, the Environment Agency is seeking to secure their future by relocating them to areas free of the invaders in a scheme known as the ‘ark project.’ Click here to read more

Warm weather brings freshwater Chinese jellyfish to Cheshire canal

Guardian: Tiny jellyfish species normally found in the Yangtze basin in China sighted in British canal. First came the wasps, exotic sharks and marauding seagulls. Now the long hot summer has revealed another initially alarm-inducing animal in British waters – or more precisely, in the Middlewich branch of the Shropshire Union Canal.  Freshwater jellyfish normally native to the Yangtze basin in China have been spotted swimming in the waters near Bridge 23 of the canal between Middlewich and Winsford, according to the Canal & River Trust.  The jellyfish, Craspedacusta sowerbii, is transparent, the size of a 10p coin, and completely harmless to humans. It is a rare sighting but periodically turns up in waterways, including some of the charity’s 2,000 miles of canals, when water temperatures exceed 20C.