Continuing with our Brockloch Burn updates within the Doon catchment, it is now mid summer and the best of the growing season is past. Barley and oats are ripening but perhaps a week or two behind normal due to our poor summer weather and temperatures, however, and encouragingly, the grasses and wild flowers are producing heathy seed crops on the now well vegetated riverbanks along this wee burn and this will only benefit and secure our efforts in future. If you haven’t read the previous posts about our work to restore this burn, now would be a good time to scroll back and find these articles on our web site. The photos in this post illustrate the problems and progress made.
In 2012, we found a single salmon fry at Smithston Bridge during scoping surveys ahead of the Maybole bypass construction and during and since the work was completed, we captured a few salmon parr in the very upper accessible reaches, but very few. Further downstream, we never found evidence that any salmon were being produced within the burn although they obviously passed through our highly impacted site to spawn. The habitat was in very poor condition due largely to livestock access to the burn.
Silt within the burn limited productivity and could only be described as a severe issue
Some tree roots were so exposed by livestock trampling that they were at serious risk of toppling. They may still fail but we have planted many more for the future
To us, we felt there was an obvious need to take immediate steps to boost productivity as this remnant salmon population was facing extirpation unless the issues could be addressed. With a financial grant from Salmon Scotland’s Wild Fisheries Fund and contributions from the River Doon District Salmon Fishery Board, we set about improving the quality of spawning substrates in late 2022 and thereafter installed new fencing during 2023 once the livestock were out of the surrounding fields. More fencing is planned for this year jointly funded by the DSFB and landowner.
ART staff repaired the fences to protect the wet woodland and engaged contractors to erect new fences where there were none
New fences and gates were erected. The extent of the problems can easily be seen in this image
Spring this year and the riverbanks were recovering after fences went up late in 2023. This tyre was allowed to remain in place as we felt there was a lack of structure that varied flows and it didn’t seem to be doing any harm
July 2024 and the difference a few months has made is obvious for all to see. Banks are rebuilding and the burn is narrowing. The silt around this tyre is being deposited out of the water column as the burn heals itself. Once fully vegetated, this bank will be stable and that tyre will probably be buried for ever. Perhaps not the best way to dispose of tyres but that’s a another problem area that mankind has yet to resolve
The result of the work so far has seen a transformation of the river bed and banks. No longer have cattle access to a large area of wet woodland and river banks which were until this year, severely impacted by trampling (also known as livestock poaching). Water quality has improved with less sediment and bacteria entering the burn. Fine sediments are slowly reducing and the condition of the gravel is improving as less silt lodges between the substrates. That said, we will continue to help improve this by loosening up spawning areas as the winter approaches. Anything we can do to make the habitat more suitable to fish recruitment, we will.
Our gravity fed water supply has been consistent and works very well maintaining levels on both troughs. Our solar powered back up pumps rarely kick in unless the calves are drinking heavily on hot days and then this supplements the gravity feed and is really only required for a few minutes once in a while. With over 50 claves between the two fields, there is a fair quantity of water consumed daily and apart from the decision to upgrade one solar panel, the system has worked as first installed since April. We always thought we would need to do this but there were concerns that larger solar panels may attract unwanted attention as they would be more obvious from roadside but we feel confident the batteries are firmly secured to their concrete base within locked stainless steel boxes; so far so good.
The results we’ve achieved are entirely through livestock exclusion and providing alternative watering sources. There can be no better and easier fixes for our many impacted burns than providing fencing although the cost is prohibitive
With the onset of our electrofishing season, we were keen to see how the few trout that were resident in the burn last year had fared. To our great surprise, we found that not only were the trout doing well, but salmon were too throughout the worked area and in surprisingly good numbers considering its really is early days in the recovery process. Of course, further upstream we have previously recorded a few juvenile salmon but never in the numbers we discover this week.This is extremely encouraging for the future and rewarded the staff with a great sense of achievement. We survey 3 sites and found salmon fry at each. Numbers increased as we progressed upstream and we suspect that at least 2 redds had been completed last winter. One we knew about but the other must have slipped our attention in the winter gloom when daylight struggles to penetrate within the wet woodland area. We will keep a close eye on this next winter.
Ultimate proof that things are improving. We found good numbers of trout and salmon in the burn this summer. That’s the reward we hoped for from all our efforts
There’s an improving trout population that managed to survive over the years and quite a number of eels too
In time we hope we can really boost productivity on this small burn and hopefully extend our efforts further downstream onto the Chapelton Burn which itself is pretty heavily modified and impacted. Landowner agreements will be required and that can be themes tricky part of this type of work but we have a demonstrable track record of success and hope this will help when we make the approaches.
Recovering salmon numbers on the Brockloch Burn demonstrates just how important small and often overlooked wee burns can be for salmonid production. We are about.to start another restoration further north in the Ayr catchment and have another underway on the Doon at Netherton but securing the necessary funding is often difficult but essential before work can commence.
Recovering habitat and improving fish stocks. This image shows just how quickly things can recover given the chance
Wet woodland is a relatively rare habitat in Ayrshire but it is valuable and contributes to the mosaic of habitat on this small lowland burn. We are very pleased we’ve been able to ensure the damage to it and the burn has been prevented simply by excluding livestock
Any landowner wishing our assistance with riparian management, please get in touch with the Trust directly or through the local District Salmon Fishery Boards. We are always eager to assist.
