Chalk Stream Weed Cutting, River Avon, River Test & River Itchen
Chalk Stream weed cutting is necessary as the nutrient rich clear spring water feeding the chalk streams of the river Avon, Wylye, Test and Itchen along with all the tributaries generally produces exceptional weed growth in the spring and summer months. This weed if left to grow unchecked will choke the river channel and can cause significant flooding and of course prevent us from fishing the dry fly and nymph to our favoured quarry the brown trout that frequent these rivers.
The river keepers job is to work along the lengths of these chalk streams to manage and control the weed. The weed cutting can be done in a variety of ways from the traditional hand cuts with scythes to boats with hydraulic mechanical cutters. Over enthusiastic weed cutting can result in the river bed becoming barren and levels dropping significantly. The weed not only harbours a myriad of fly life and food on which the fish depend for food but also provides cover and security, helping against predation from otters, cormorants and herons.
It is therefore critical that the weed cutting is carried out sympathetically to enhance and not destroy the environment of the river that fish and other wildlife depend upon.
Each river catchment has an organisation that along with the Environment Agency sets periods during the year when weed cutting can take place. The main period is usually sometime after the main mayfly hatches have finished around the second week in June although this can vary between river systems. There are usually other periods in July and August when the river weed will have stopped its growing season. The weed once cut is allowed to float down through the system to collection points where it is removed from the river.
In recent years ranunculas weed growth has been patchy in some stretches, this has been put down to lower flow levels, swan damage and other unknown environmental factors. Certainly the growth patterns have changed significantly over the last 25 years. Our chalkstream are under attack from many areas, abstraction, diverse pollution and eutrophication with phosphates andnitrates leeching from the surrounding agricultural land.