Three decades of reservoir drought

 

Greetings!   Finally, 33 years after the last reservoir came online and after years of shouting and cajoling since then, the government and water companies seem to have got the message in a country that has 32 inches of rain a year but only requires 6 inches to supply its water needs – BUILD MORE RESERVOIRS!   The argument has also been turbocharged in the past couple of months with three British ‘heatwaves’ (how the people of southern Europe must laugh at our definition ….) with the subsequent hosepipe bans which we all know are largely for PR reasons rather than the expectation of having any practical impact.

 

Havant Thicket Reservoir currently under construction

 

So, the good news is that the excavators are currently at work creating two new reservoirs, to open in 2030 and 2035, plus four more in the final stages of design. And to add to this list, and of particular interest to us chalkstreamers, is the announcement by South West Water of Cheddar 2 Reservoir near Bristol which also includes a 35 mile pipeline to feed a smaller reservoir just south of Warminster (see map below), that will relieve the stress on the chalkstreams of east Wiltshire, in particular the River Wylye that has its source nearby.   Of course, this is a long way from being a done deal. South West will not be putting the contract out to tender for two years and in between, have to find partners to finance the project by way of the Competitively Appointed Provider (CAP) process which is an Ofwat inspired version of PFI for the water industry which built the London Thames Tideway scheme and Hampshire’s Havant Thicket reservoir which is under construction.   Reading between the lines the earliest that Cheddar 2 might break ground would be 2029, warp speed in water industry terms, so add another 10 years before the River Wylye might see the benefit. Call me a fool, but I am mildly optimistic. The CAP process opens the way for financing these megaprojects that are otherwise beyond the balance sheet of the water companies and government, rightly, has no appetite to step in beyond changing the planning rules.   Of course, we have been here with Cheddar 2 – it was first proposed in 2007, the survey work took place in 2012 and the project scrapped in 2018. At this rate an opening in 2038 will nicely mark the centenary of the opening on the original Cheddar Reservoir.     Map of Cheddar 2 Reservoir with east Wiltshire reservoir bottom right

 

 

To fish farm or not to fish farm is the question   Do you fancy the life of a fish farmer? It could be yours for £785,000 in the beautiful Chalke Valley in Wiltshire, on the River Ebble - a River Avon tributary.   Having worked as a teenager on a fish farm, I would not necessarily recommend it if you were looking for a Good Life style rural idyll. Now admittedly, where I worked was a full on commercial for-the-table enterprise which put me off eating trout pretty well forever. Having fished plenty of trout lakes I had often wondered why the gutted fish smelt of chicken – working in the fish farm explained why – the feed back then, in the 1970’s, was bulked up with rendered chicken. Today things are more enlightened: the food is soya or similar protein plus fish meal and fish oil. Yes, you have read that right. We harvest millions of tonnes of fish from the sea each year to grow millions of fish thousands of miles away because you cannot rear a fish without the essential amino acids that are only available from other fish.     Chalke Valley Trout Farm on sale via Strutt & Parker   Chalke Valley Trout Farm is up for sale because fish farms are closing at rate that makes the pub industry look positively thriving. They are, of course, caught in the general upwards spiral of energy, raw material and labour costs but equally the market for their raw material, trout, is disappearing both for eating and re-stocking. There was a time when trout were on every fish counter, but public taste has moved emphatically towards fish of the sea variety, with just high-end producers like Chalkstream Foods carving out a niche market. Likewise, there has been a precipitous fall in the number of put-and-take fisheries.   Back in the 1960’s the trout lake boom began; just about every existing available water body was pressed into action, queues forming on the opening day for any new venue. Soon, every landowner or farmer was digging a pond, throwing up a clubhouse and throwing in trout. Build it and they will come. They did and soon we had the 1970’s era of the Super Ova, pioneered by ex-NASA physicist Sam Holland at Avington Lakes in Hampshire which ushered in a two-decade long arms race for ever bigger trout until the 30lb mark was breached. That was probably the moment of peak trout.     River Ebble   Like the cartoon character Road Runner running off a cliff, it took a while for the realisation that the ground had disappeared beneath the feet of lake trout fishing as a major leisure activity. Quite why this happened is hard to precisely divine, though it was certainly not cost as in real terms a trout day ticket has never been cheaper. Perhaps it was a generational thing, a boom that came and went, the activity of no interest to the next generation. Certainly, the exponential growth of carp fishing has diverted potential recruits away from fly fishing for the 16–40 year age group.   So, should I buy this derelict trout farm as someone asked me? Yes, but probably not for trout farming – sell the nitrate credits and start a wild swimming enterprise.

 

Hello Lucy! Au revoir Jamie!   I am delighted to tell you of a new recruit to Fishing Breaks, Lucy Waddington, who started this week.   Lucy, who will support Sarah in the office, is a dedicated fly fisher who started her her angling life on the banks of Rutland Water, where her now-husband James and father-in-law, Rob Waddington taught her all the ropes. Lucy arrives with a great deal of rural knowledge having worked for an agricultural charity for the past few years.   Sadly, Lucy's arrival marks the end of Jamie Pankhurst’s time with us, at least in a full-time capacity. Jamie is off to deliver sailing yachts with his father between Mediterranean and west coast European ports with a plan to work up to transatlantic deliveries. However, the good news is that Jamie will still be with us as a guide and instructor between his salty destinations.

 

Lucy & James - 28 June 2025

 

 

Quiz   The usual random collection of questions this week inspired by the date and topics today.   1)       What book with the original title (translated from the German) Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice was published on this day in 1925?   2)       Who were the respective Latin and Greek Gods of Sun?   3)       Who pursued the Road Runner?   Answers are at the bottom of this Newsletter.

 

Have a good weekend.  Best wishes,

 

 

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk Founder & Managing Directorwww.fishingbreaks.co.uk

 

 

Don't forget the July Special Offers!

 

Barton Court (River Kennet)

Lower Brook (RiverTest)

Wimborne St Giles (River Allen)

 

 

1)       Adolf Hitler’s book, later retitled, Mein Kampf 2)       Sol and Helios 3)       Wile E. Coyote

The longest day and the biggest fly

 

Greetings! I did something on the longest day I did not expect to do when I woke up that morning – catch a bunch on trout on the biggest Grey Wulff Mayfly in my box. If it is the longest day there is not really much point to an early start, so we did not set off until late afternoon, heading westward towards Wiltshire, the opposite carriageway populated by an intermittent convoy of dilapidated charabancs transporting the occupants to wherever the Stonehenge sun worshippers go to next. Arriving around 5pm the Nadder was its usual customary summer self, slow flowing even measured by a chalkstream metric, with a slight cloudiness to the water. I never think that is a bad thing; there will be some point, later in the season, when it goes glass clear which does not necessarily translate into easier fishing. Anyway, it was still pretty warm so whilst the BBQ burnt itself to the required temperature the fishing was, at best, desultory with just the very occasional proper Mayfly hatching which both we, and the fish ignored, preferring that old standby, the Parachute Adams.

Compton Chamberlayne, River Nadder, Wiltshire

As the evening arrived it became really quite chilly, at least for June, but still those Mayfly kept popping off. For some reason the fish were not hitting them, so following their lead, I kept my Mayfly box stowed away. But eventually I became curious even if the fish were not, selecting the largest, bushiest Grey Wulff Mayfly I had. Ginking it up and caressing the badger hair horns to sharp tips like a moustachioed bandit I thought, this is pointless. Then, as if on cue, there was all of a sudden, a flurry of hatching Mayfly. Not exactly a full-on hatch, but enough to think mmmmmm…… And then after a few speculative casts I rose a fish that I missed, hooking another shortly after and then another. Just to prove it was the fly not me (ha-ha) I handed the rod to my companion, a keen but less of a headbanging fly fisher than me, and sure enough both the Mayfly and fish obliged for her. In the space of a few minutes we had had four fish without moving a single yard which was enough to sate our piscatorial desires so we left the fish, river and Mayfly to see out the rest of the fading daylight content with the knowledge that the plan, that was never the plan, had succeeded. Mayfly Grey Wulff s8 from Fulling Mill

How To Spend It: Fine money I am going to take all the credit: in the previous Newsletter but one (6/June) I wrote about the small fraction of water company fines that are being spent on damage remediation, the remainder, a £100m plus, disappearing down the throat of an ever-greedy Treasury. And then, without much fanfare, thirteen days later a short press release came out from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs by Minister Steve Reed announcing that, in future, the Government will invest water company fines into local projects across the country to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. I wish I could tell you more about what that investment (a dangerous word when applied to anything Government touches) looks like as the release contained no details and essentially ended with a ‘watch this space’ message.   Now, I know for absolute certainty that all those angling trusts across England and Wales would have been doing high fives at this news. They can smell grant income, often used to feather their already commodious bureaucratic nests, like a shark can smell blood in the water. Local projects? That phrase is like catnip to them. I am not, per se, against these projects: some are great, some are worthless but what nearly all of them have in common is that they fail to address the root of the problem, namely poor water quality and over abstraction. Which brings me to an article I was sent from the New York Times about a project to restore the trout streams of West Virginia, USA that have been devasted by the coal mining industry. Essentially, abandoned coal mines had left the waterways of West Virginia acidic and rusty orange, but local residents are cleaning them up, and recovering valuable minerals in the process. I will not go into all the why and wherefores as it is fairly complicated (read full article here) but essentially by using lime as an additive to the polluted water, that then flows through settlement ponds, the resultant clean water is bringing the rivers, Decker's Creek in particular, back to life whilst some of the cost is met by recovering the rare earth metals captured in the purification process. West Virginia settlement ponds What I like about the West Virginia project is that it addresses the root cause of the problem rather than try to mitigate the effects of the problem. It would be good to think we could use the fine money in a similar way, such as financing alternative water sources to save over abstracted streams. Or paying to remove the causes of pollution, two thirds of which comes from sources other than water companies. Am I confident this will happen? The trouble is that this is the boring stuff, the nuts and bolts of repairing our rivers without the benefit PR forays with ministers and NGO officials sporting hi-vis jackets. But ultimately, it will be work of this nature that will save Mother Nature from ourselves which is why, even if I am not confident it will happen, we should try to make it happen. Decker's Creek, West Virginia

How To Spend It: Your money It has been a while since anything new has popped up on my radar, but this fishing on the River Wylye in Wiltshire recently came on the market via Savills. The 59 acres and two semi-detached cottages has 673 yards of double bank and 924 yards of single bank fishing. This is a lot included in the larger sale of Bapton Manor which is just to the north of the A303 at the junction of the A36, so 5 miles past Stonehenge if you were travelling west. I have not viewed so hard to know how much road noise there might be from the A303/A36. However, I do know the river well, it being just upstream of Fisherton de La Mere that we had for many years, which is a really good bit of water. Here is the link to Lot 3 of the Bapton Manor sale. This is the link to the cottages on Google map. I have been unable to find a site plan. The asking price is £1.3m.

River Wylye, Bapton Manor Estate

That was the month that was June June may have been the hottest month on record but it was not the driest. With rainfall data for the final week of the month still to be added to the total England is at 71% of normal rainfall for the month. However, that does hide some dramatic regional differences with the north-west at 115%, the south-west at 92% and the south-east 71%. I assume it is due to those regional differences as to why the river flow data is literally all over the map with as many rivers Below normal as Above normal. In the primary chalkstream counties Hampshire remains at Normal, whilst all the others are Below normal. The June feedback draw winner is Tim Baily who fished Coln St Aldwyns in Gloucestershire early in the month. Nigel Nunn’s July collection of tactical Olive patterns is in the post today.

Photos of the Week I am indebted to a Florida reader who forwarded me a recent article from the New York Post of a vibrant, quirky nail trend that has reeled in Zoomers with a fishy nail craze. The look is directly inspired by our multi-coloured, glittery, eye-catching lures and game fish with a-fish-ionados of the eccentric manicure taking to social media to show off their handiwork. It looks to me like we have a brown trout and cutthroat on the right, plus maybe a pike on the left? The lures are pretty realistic with that split ring on the yellow body/black stripe/orange back lure a nice touch.

Quiz The usual random collection of questions this week inspired by the date today. Happy 4th July to all my American readers! 1)       What officially ended on this day in Britain in 1954, 9 years after the end of WWII? 2)       What was presented to the United States of America in Paris on this day in 1884? 3)       What children’s fantasy novel was published on this day in 1865? Answers are at the bottom of this Newsletter.

Have a good weekend.  Best wishes,

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk Founder & Managing Directorwww.fishingbreaks.co.uk

Join the Summer Kids Camp!

We have three places left on 8-11 years group (14-16 July) and five places on 12-15 years group (21-23 July). More details here ....

1)       Meat and all other food rationing 2)       The Statue of Liberty 3)       Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland