Sheffield stream gets new lease of life
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Author: |
Rob Walsh |
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Date published: |
2-May-2008 |
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Keywords: |
fish |
Wyming Brook near Sheffield is being given an environmental boost on Tuesday May 6 when the Environment Agency stocks it with small fish called bullhead.
The bullhead will help to restore the natural ecology of the stream as they are an important food species for a wide range of predators, particularly brown trout, herons, kingfishers and dippers.
The brook is downstream of Redmires Reservoir and Yorkshire Water has agreed to set the outflow from the reservoir to give it a regular supply of water that will prevent it running dry as it has in the past.
Brown trout were introduced into Wyming Brook in Spring 2004, and surveys in 2005 and 2006 have shown that the trout are thriving, having spawned successfully and increased in number.
Wyming Brook is run as a nature reserve by Sheffield Wildlife Trust, and as the bullhead establish themselves the natural food chain will improve, increasing the variety of wildlife in the area.
Pete Turner of the Environment Agency’s fisheries section said: “These fish are quite small but their value in the overall scheme of things shouldn’t be underestimated. Food chains can’t thrive without the small fry at the bottom, and that’s exactly what bullhead are.
”Bullhead are also in decline as a species throughout Europe. What we’re doing here is replacing the fish in a stream where they would have been a native species before the reservoir was constructed.”
The bullheads will be taken from the River Rivelin in the morning of Tuesday May 6 and transferred to the Wyming Brook in the afternoon. Wyming Brook is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, largely for its bird populations.
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