Conservation Corner

[John Bailey]

Ranunculus

I quite frequently receive emails that demand a reply in some depth, and I feel might be of interest to us all. These are generally conservation-focused, and the one I recently received from John Drewett is a case in point. John asked if I had any clue as to why the glorious weed that we all love, ranunculus, seems to be disappearing from so many of our rivers. What's not to like about ranunculus? All our river species adore it. It is a beautiful part of the UK summer riverine scene. It harbours endless amounts of food for our fish, and gives them shade and protection. And yes, it is disappearing fast.

All manner of expensive research has been done into this phenomenon, but could I suggest the reasons are easy and cheap to see? In fact, my great friend Tim Aldiss proved how to save ranunculus along his stretch of river by the simple use of some chicken wire and some stakes. Tim, like Mr Drewett, was shocked by the decline of his ranunculus stocks, and decided to fence off two living areas of weed that still had roots and looked like they could survive given protection. So, very easily, Tim gave them protection and the two ranunculus beds flourished.

But what did the ranunculus beds need protection from, you ask? CANOES and SWANS. Easy as that. Tim's stretch of Wensum, the river in point, has been bombarded by canoes these three years past, whilst the number of swans has grown to plague proportions. What weed that has not been grubbed up by paddlers has been eaten by flotillas of swans. The ranunculus has not stood a chance, simple as that. With swans and canoeists excluded by the chicken wire, the ranunculus recovered and flourished, good as new. This was a silver bullet solution, and the obvious answer to the two relatively new scourges our rivers face.

We are not just talking about the Wensum, of course. The number of canoes on the Wye has grown year on year, as has the wholly unchecked number of swans. On many a summer's day, it can be hard to fish because great clumps of ranunculus come drifting down river, uprooted upstream by man and bird. Canoe activities are unchecked and hugely destructive, and swan populations are no longer kept to reasonable proportions by river keepers. Until both these factors are discussed and dealt with, our ranunculus beds will continue to disappear.

Or, of course, we could adopt Tim's reasonable, sensible, relatively cheap solution to the problem. But I would not advise that. When the Environment Agency stumbled on what Tim was doing, rather than praising him, they immediately ordered him to take the fences down. Perhaps a simple solution is not what the scientists are looking for any more?

 

[mikench]

The EA are bureaucrats not scientists. If it's not seen as PC it's not allowed. Sadly ranunculus has little chance and little favour against swans and ? in the eyes of the public.

 

[John Aston]

There is another reason, I'd suggest , additionally rather than alternatively . Increasingly violent and frequent floods , probably exacerbated by upland drainage , causing run off to be faster . I know various locations in the north where ranunculus , once abundant, is now much depleted and sometimes totally absent- and this in areas where swans , if present at all , have not increased un number and where canoeing is , thankfully not as common as elsewhere .

I have seen , first hand , on other rivers, the damage which swans cause , but I am surprised that canoeing apparently causes such damage. Anglers often wade through the stuff without apparent effect , and it is a robust plant . Is it anecdotal evidence or has canoeing objectively been shown to cause such harm ? I am not in favour of unlawful canoeing , but anglers can sometimes be tempted to attribute blame to easy targets - so please excuse my raised eyebrow on causation . I am genuinely intrigued .

 

[ian g]

Floods certainly have removed a lot of weed on the middle Severn

 

[Keith M]

Has reduced flow and resultant thick silt had an influence on the lack of streamer weed as well? the river Lea now suffers from reduced flow because of abstraction and resultant thick silty bottoms along most of its length (although thankfully not all of it); as does the river Kennet which back in the 70s and 80s had nice gravelly bottoms and an abundance of streamer weed eg. see background in this picture which was taken next to the Kennet back in 1975 when the Kennet was full of streamer weed nearly all the way along its length; but the flow has now reduced through abstraction and the bottom has now silted up and the streamer weed has virtually disappeared in a lot of places.



Keith

 

[no-one in particular]

I looked up Ranunculus and it is apparently a plant that likes fast flowing water so any silting up, decrease in flows would not help it thrive.

 

[mikench]

As usual one mans wild flower is another’s pernicious weed.

Ranunculus: scourge of the Spey - Spey Fishery Board

I suppose it was inevitable, given the low water and warm summer experienced in 2013 followed by the generally stable river levels over winter that Ranunculus would bloom in the river this year. However many of the ghillies are reporting that it is the worst it has been. The lower river appears...

www.speyfisheryboard.com

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[no-one in particular]

The plant will survive were it wants to survive and were it doesn't some other plant will.

 

[108831]

Ranunculus on the H.Avon is extremely lush,with miles of unfishable water in the summer,the lower D.Stour however is chocabloc with grass like weed,which I suppose is a form of rush,this waves around and creates a similar unfishable effect....

 

[Mark Wintle]

Ranunculus on the H.Avon is extremely lush,with miles of unfishable water in the summer,the lower D.Stour however is chocabloc with grass like weed,which I suppose is a form of rush,this waves around and creates a similar unfishable effect....

The weed on the Stour is eelgrass.

Some years the Avon has lost a lot of ranunculus due to severe floods, 2000 was a good example when the river bed shifted a great deal so the buried roots were destroyed. On the upper Avon above Salisbury especially flocks of swans sometimes strip the weed.

Poor spring/summer flows have been to the detriment of ranunculus in the Allen, Frome and Piddle.

 

[John Aston]

The plant will survive were it wants to survive and were it doesn't some other plant will.

Any ideas or suggestions on the identity of 'some other plant '? Whatever its species , it is in very short supply on rivers I know where ranunculus was once widespread ....

 

[Molehill]

I am totally convinced that swan numbers prevent ranunculus and other weeds regenerating in places. On the upper Severn big floods (looking at the last 30 years) have ripped much of the weed out, the problem then is that the resident swan pair on a given section strip out everything that shows above the gravel. 2 swans equal about 1 sheep and this is grazing every day on it's given territory of river. The weed has little chance to replenish, if the weed is there in abundance then swans have less impact, but weed is like a species numbers dropping below the threshold to replenish, once on the downward spiral it has a job re-establishing as it is constantly cropped.
I have no idea about canoe impact, but not an isssue on the places I fish.

 

[theartist]

I have to echo the flood impact on ranunculus on rivers as I love fishing near the stuff you sure notice it when it goes, you notice too when this coincides with a flooded spring.

I don't think swans can be blamed per se as there should be plenty enough weed for a natural number of swans, where the number of swans is unnatural due to being overfed by humans it could be different matter though.

 

[no-one in particular]

Any ideas or suggestions on the identity of 'some other plant '? Whatever its species , it is in very short supply on rivers I know where ranunculus was once widespread ....

I dont know, just that some plant will fill a vacant niche, that's what usually happens.

 

[108831]

I agree with you Rob,in fact on the Somerley estate above Ringwood on the H.Avon the population of swans was very large,yet the river was full of ranunculus,so much so in fact that some swims were literally a couple of feet wide and six long at best....

 

[theartist]

Lets face it there's is not much more beautiful sights in fishing than seeing fish in a gin clear chalkstream with flowing beds of ranunculus, swaying like the hair of young ladies in hues of green so rich that are almost beyond description. It's almost as if the river is talking to you, maybe even singing no doubt with the voice of an angel. If Canoes and unnatural levels of birdlife are responsible for it's decline it really is a conservation area we should highlight as much as possible, especially given how unique chalkstreams are to this country.

Be a shame if those angel's voices are muted or even screaming

 

[mikench]

D

Lets face it there's is not much more beautiful sights in fishing than seeing fish in a gin clear chalkstream with flowing beds of ranunculus, swaying like the hair of young ladies in hues of green so rich that are almost beyond description. It's almost as if the river is talking to you, maybe even singing no doubt with the voice of an angel. If Canoes and unnatural levels of birdlife are responsible for it's decline it really is a conservation area we should highlight as much as possible, especially given how unique chalkstreams are to this country.

Be a shame if those angel's voices are muted or even screaming

good stuff was it Rob: positively poetic.

 

[John Bailey]

Ranunculus

A fascinating debate this one, and a deep thank you to those taking part.

Floods, on the one hand, and low flows, on the other, are two issues I did not pay full attention to. I am reading Green and Prosperous Land: A Blueprint for Rescuing the British Countryside by Dieter Helm again at the moment, and he stresses the damage done by flash floods around the upland sources of rivers. A similar strand was seen on Countryfile a few weeks back where attempts were being made to control run-off rates. So, yes, point taken. Many years of bad land management upriver have a lot to answer for.

Equally, I was taken aback last year when I visited the Lea after a gap of a few seasons. The river was narrowed, the flow was low (despite recent rain), the silt appeared thicker and more widespread, and “good” weed was all but absent. As Feargal Sharkey has made clear, most of the water in the Lea comes from the sewage farm at Luton, so perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised by what I saw there.

So, whilst there is no silver bullet nationwide, fencing still worked 100% for my pal on the Wensum, so it can be seen as a godsend for ranunculus lovers in some, if not many situations.

 

[108831]

The eelgrass on the Stour was cleaned right out one season after flooding,the next year it was back as thick as it ever was....the Gt.Ouse at Bedford after a winter of little rain was weeded throughout,even in 12ft of water,the next autumn was one of the wettest on record,not a sliver of weed and that is on a river with little flow,normally...

 

[John Bailey]

Treasures In The Sunday Times

Easter Sunday was so mellow I spent it discovering hidden rivers around the new house and planting a seven foot willow in the garden. Today, though, Easter Monday, the temperatures have halved, and so it is a day of work and catching up with the Sunday papers. The ST, I noted an hour ago, has a story on page 15 entitled “Salmon spawn after rivers leap back to life”. 'Ho hum' I thought as I settled down to be amazed. The crux was that old hot potato about demolishing weirs and mill pools, many of which have been erected for a thousand years. However, we were also treated to the staggering conclusion to a World Wildlife Fund report that established that burbot and sturgeon are extinct in the UK. Wow! I wonder how much that report cost, especially when there isn’t any one of us who couldn’t have told the WWF that fact for free. That’s what this ST piece said to me. Waste. Waste of our money as tax and fishing licence payers.

A selection of fishery experts were quoted by the ST as saying, basically, weir pools bad, fish passes good – even at tens of thousands of pounds a pop. The river Tiffey in Norfolk was highlighted as a shining example of Environment Agency conservation work because they had spent £55k removing an obstruction under a bridge so eels could migrate more easily. Think about this, if you will. The Tiffey is a very minor tributary of the Yare, so small it is hard to find for much of its course, and whether a single elver finds it way up there these days is debatable.

But even if rafts of young eels rampaged up the Tiffey every spring, how would this work possibly benefit them? I lived in Old Costessey mill house on the Wensum for two ill-fated years. Both the months of May that I was in residence elvers swarmed up the walls of the sluice gates in a liquid, living, shimmering carpet ten feet or more high. Hundreds of thousands of them continued their way upriver without a thought or a whinge about how hard their journey was. Never in hundreds of years have mills stopped eels, and other fish, moving up and down Norfolk rivers, but now this fishery management shibboleth is so firmly entrenched we will never see the back of it.

There is so much I could add to this, based on years of incredulous examination of how our fishery experts spend our money. But what is the point? ST columnist Ron Liddell comments on Boris Johnson’s once denied, now revealed affair with Jennifer Arcuri that cost us a wedge. Will BJ ever have to answer to that? What about Cameron’s financial shenanigans with this guy Greensill? Will we ever see either of them in the dock? No, we can say what we like, write what we like, but PMs will continue to be devious, and fishery scientists will continue to blow our money on any scheme that offers them employment.