Creating river habitat at the Berrylands Nature Reserve

It was an exciting day on the Thursday the 12th of April as we were all set to jump into the river to start installing woody deflectors and berms.

Over the past month our contractors Aquamaintain, have removed a weir and the concrete base from river and cover the river bed in gravels.

So, we were now in a position to build hazel berms and woody deflectors. These help to increase the flow diversity, creating a river channel that has a variety of depths and areas of riffles and flows. This means there are areas where fish can spawn, hunt and hide away from predators. It also increases the amount of habitat for a number of river invertebrates.

So our fantastic volunteers donned waders, and entered the river channel, using a crowbar, pile drivers and sledge hammers we drove hazel steaks into the ground.

We then inserted hazel faggots within the steaks to create the berm areas. And used wire to place them under tension, to ensure they stay in place.

We then worked to cut coir roll, which is made of coconut husk. This matting will line the berms and allow us to plant them up with native aquatic plants in a secure way.

Volunteers also worked hard to pick up litter throughout the site, which will be removed by Id Verde. I would like to thank all the volunteers and Aquamaintain who made the day possible, a big shout out also goes to Des Kay for bringing some lovely pastries along! 

We will be back on site next Wednesday the 18th to continue the good work!