All this week, the Environment Agency have been busy at School Weir.
As reported on Sunday on the District Council social media pages, 🚜 From tomorrow (Monday)…
From tomorrow (Monday), the Environment Agency will begin removing a large bank of river stone from just below the big weir in The Byes at Sidmouth.
Instead of this material going to landfill, it will be carefully placed on the beach. Because it’s river material, it may look a little muddy at first, but after a few tides it will blend in with the beach as normal.
Thank you for your patience while this important work is carried out.
And as reported by Ed Dolphin on Monday on the Sid Valley Biodiversity Group pages:
Busy week for the river, the Environment Agency is clearing the gravel bank at the foot of school weir in the Byes to keep the flood defences working properly. Very sensibly they clear out any fish that are sitting in the pool at the foot of the weir, especially any trout or salmon (yes we do get them sometimes). This is done by electro fishing, a pulse is sent through the water that stuns the fish. They are caught and then released unharmed the other side of a net across the river to keep them safely out of the way until the work is finished.
Ed has placed a nice little video of the EA’s work, plus a couple of photos of fish caught and safely released behind the net. He adds a little more:
There were only three sizeable brown trout, a few smaller ones and minnows I think, more details later. The local annual net lift will be scheduled for later in the autumn when hopefully the river mouth will have been open long enough to have migrating trout.
There have indeed been trout on the Sid.
As for giving migrating fish a helping hand up the Sid, the regular ‘fish rescues’ in the autumn have resumed – and we should be looking forward to the next one in a couple of months’ time.