The River Kent system sees another weir removed. This follows on from the first major weir removed this summer in Bowston by SCRT.

In September, we removed a small weir on a tributary of the River Mint, part of the Kent system, after months of preparatory work. Emma Wright, project officer for the LIFE R4ever Kent project, has spearheaded the removal in order to help improve the form and function of Lambrigg beck.

Removal is the second phase of a river restoration project. In 2021, we removed over 80 metres of embankment and artificial bank protection. Find out more about phase one here.

Lambrigg beck weir removal will provide a number of benefits including erosion control, habitat improvement and improved fish migration. That’s because even small weirs have an impact on the natural flow and sediment processes of watercourses. Weirs impound flows upstream, causing fine sediment to become deposited, further generating uniform habitats with limited diversity in flow variation. Both of which are important features for fish, invertebrates and other organisms. This the natural form of a river can really be compromised by these manmade structures.

The freely flowing river will now provide improved habitat connectivity, fish migration and more natural flows and sediment regime, which will ease the natural transfer through the system. One of the main objectives of the project was to improve smolt (juvenile brown/sea trout/Atlantic salmon) migration both upstream and downstream to access new habitats that were previously less reachable. Removal of this obstruction will really help to improve habitats for the River Kent Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

The design work was conducted by our consultants Dynamic Rivers and our contractors I.T. Shaw Limited have constructed a rock ramp both upstream and downstream of the road bridge to regrade the bed to provide a suitable bed gradient and slope for fish movement.

Since the weir removal, the flows have significantly improved and the watercourse sounds like a typical babbling brook rather than a typical waterfall sound. The site has now had a little time to settle in, with fish recorded upstream of the old weir, kingfishers darting across the stream and white-clawed crayfish now have a new natural habitat to colonise.

These restorative works have been joint funded by the LIFE R4Ever Kent project and Cumbria River Restoration Strategy, an Environment Agency/Natural England led strategy to help restore rivers to Favourable condition. SCRT are the lead organisation for river restoration on the River Kent.

Thank you to local landowners for allowing SCRT to carry out these important works for our aquatic environments.

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