Flood plain restoration is good news for wildlife

THE clock has been turned back for another Northumberland river by reconnecting it to its historic flood plain - which is good news for waterway wildlife.

- TONY HENDERSON

Thanks to funding from Natural England's Species Recovery Programme capital grant scheme, Tyne Rivers Trust has completed the major flood plain restoration scheme on the River Rede in Northumberland.

The scheme is part of the two-year project to tackle the challenges faced by freshwater pearl mussel, salmon and trout. The work has reconnected 600 metres of the River Rede, a major tributary of the North Tyne.

Two chutes have been created on the banks of the river, and ditch blocking undertaken which has created 10 hectares of wetland, providing a vital resource for wildlife including wading birds, amphibians and invertebrates.

An in-river boulder feature was also added on the Chesterhope Burn, a tributary of the River Rede, to ease fish passage over a small weir and increase the area of available breeding habitat.