What is a Chalk Stream?

What is a Chalk stream? The English chalkstreams are characterised by naturally filtered alkaline water of exceptional clarity and lush waterweed, creating an environment in which Brown Trout thrive and grow to large sizes. Grayling fishing is excellent and unusually for the UK they can be caught on a dry fly even in the winter. The clarity of the water means that both Trout and Grayling fishing often involves sight fishing for individual fish….creating real excitement and added interest to the fishing. The very best fishing is often in the shallower clearer upper reaches of the main chalkstream rivers and in the tributary streams.

Where are the Chalk Streams?

In England chalk streams are located in south and east England, for example in Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Kent, Norfolk, south Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. There are also some important chalk streams on the wolds in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.

The Importance of Chalk Streams.

There are only around 200 chalk streams in the world, and 85% of these are found in England, so we have a special responsibility to look after them. A combination of geology and climate means that our chalk streams have characteristic features that support special wildlife habitats and species. They are fed from groundwater aquifers, meaning that the water is of high clarity and good chemical quality. It is the quality of the waters as well as the gravels of the river bed that make chalk streams so precious for invertebrates, such as rare species like the fine-lined pea mussel and a range of mayfly species, as well as for damselflies […]