Award Winning Project

The Lincolnshire Chalk Streams Project brings together a partnership of organisations that are actively working together to conserve and enhance this nationally important resource. The Environment Agency, Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service, Natural England, Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, Anglian Water and the Wild Trout Trust are taking action to ensure that the nature conservation, landscape, community and economic interests are taken into account when working on chalk streams. 

National recognition of the importance of this work was recently given at the Wild Trout Trust and Classic Malts Conservation Awards 2005 when the Lincolnshire Chalk Streams Project scooped the Runner-up prize in the Professional Category.  

Phil Smith and Nick Kite from the Environment Agency’s Fisheries, Recreation & Biodiversity Team were on hand to collect the prize from the Rt Hon Lord (David) Steel of Aikwood and Jonathan Driver of The Classic Malts. In particular, the judges were impressed by the collaborative nature of the project. The prize money of £500.00 will be used to continue the work of the Project and the classic malt has been donated as a prize to the ‘Water Aid’ raffle. 

The Award winning Project 

The chalk stream at Sir Richard Sutton’s Settled Estates had been re-aligned in the past to make it uniform and straight. There was little diversity in the shape of the bed, banks or flow currents, and the ecological and visual aspect was poor.  

The Environment Agency’s Fisheries, Recreation & Biodiversity Team undertook a project to deliver environmental enhancements, including improvements for brown trout and the whole fish community, together with improving the visual aspect of the site and increasing biodiversity. It is also hoped that the work undertaken could form part of future Entry or Higher Level Environmental schemes. 

The stream, which is near the head of the Waithe Beck, is on a LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) farm and, with the support of the landowner, the site is being used as a demonstration project to other landowners, managers and organisations. The Estate is keen to encourage others to learn from the work undertaken and one of the key messages will be the socio-economic gains from improved fisheries and landscape. 

The key aim to achieve a site which can be used to promote best practice management for chalk streams and sustainable fisheries, and to encourage others to replicate what’s been done at Sutton Estates throughout the chalk streams of Lincolnshire.   

The project was designed to demonstrate a diverse range of simple and economical works that all landowners can do to improve chalk streams. Although some of these methods had been used before, this was an innovative project as the techniques were applied in a new way on a small chalk stream. At this demonstration site, many different methods were utilised and is being shown to riparian managers as to how they can adopt some of these methods for their own use. 

It Gets Better………… 

The Lincolnshire Chalk Streams Project have secured resources to employ a Project Officer who will be able to visit land managers and riparian owners to advise and assist with fishery, wildlife and landscape improvements. It is hoped the Officer will be in post by early spring 2006 and will be based with the Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service at their offices in Louth.