Case study:Thackthwaite catchment restoration

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Location: 54° 36' 43.93" N, 2° 54' 56.27" W

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Project overview

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Status	In progress
Project web site	http://www.ucmcic.com/projects/natural-flood-management/flood-bank-reprofiling-thackthwaite/
Themes	Environmental flows and water resources, Fisheries, Flood risk management, Habitat and biodiversity, Hydromorphology, Land use management - agriculture, Monitoring, Social benefits, Water quality
Country	England
Main contact forename	Danny
Main contact surname	Teasdale
Main contact user ID	User:Ullswater CIC
Contact organisation	Ullswater Catchment Management CIC
Contact organisation web site	http://www.ucmcic.com
Partner organisations	Environment Agency, The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, Natural England, Woodland Trust, Eden Rivers Trust
Parent multi-site project	Case_study:Ullswater Catchment Restoration
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

Failing constructed flood levee

Project summary

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Thackthwaite beck is a heavily modified watercourse. It has been straightened and dredged historically as part of previous land management actions. The beck has failing toe boards, and flood levees in the picture, which shows the extent to which the beck was trying to be retained in. This project began in 2018 to remove the flood levees and reprofile the adjacent land to allow better floodplain reconnection. Thackthwaite beck has a very large upland catchment in the Matterdale area and as such sees very high rainfall annually (2000mm+). The artificial works have been unable to cope with this rainfall and as such are failing.

We are now working with the majority of landowners on this catchment to implement multiple varied improvements to either deliver habitat, river restoration or natural flood management benefits. To date we have created 25 ponds or wetland areas, made habitat improvements to over 3660m of Thackthwaite beck, through either in stream habitat improvements or riparian improvement, such as floodplain connection or tree planting. We have planted over 100,000 trees in the catchment, either as hedgerows, riparian planting or in field trees.

Ullswater Catchment Management CIC are very proud of the fact that the majority of their work is on farmed land. We actively engage with the farming community and have developed trusted relationships with the farming community. The majority of our work is via invitation on farm to see what is possible.

Monitoring surveys and results

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Initial electro-fish survey on Thackthwaite beck prior to levee removal. Results showed low numbers of Salmonids and large numbers of Minnows. This is to be expected as prior to the levee removal the beck was very canalised and could not retain finer material suitable for spawning fish.

Redd counts in autumn to monitor Trout and Salmon spawning success. 2023 was the best year to date for the number of redds, and sightings of Sea Trout and Salmon. Water quality sondes have been installed by the Environment Agency, these monitor water quality, temperature and turbidity.

Lessons learnt

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In our opinion the most valuable lesson learnt is to work with the landowner and be open and honest from the start. By listening to the landowner it helps to understand where the most suitable intervention may be on the watercourse. This is then followed by partner working, by having multiple partners working together it allows an increase in scale of delivery.

Right improvement in the right place. We have seen other individual projects being delivered which do not have the support of neighbouring landowners, and whilst this may return site specific benefits it can often be at the detriment of the wider catchment, as the works can't be replicated close by to build upon the benefits of the initial project.

Image gallery

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Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Site Edit site Name WFD water body codes WFD (national) typology WFD water body name Pre-project morphology Reference morphology Desired post project morphology Heavily modified water body National/international site designation Local/regional site designations Protected species present Invasive species present Species of interest Dominant hydrology Dominant substrate River corridor land use Average bankfull channel width category Average bankfull channel width (m) Average bankfull channel depth category Average bankfull channel depth (m) Mean discharge category Mean annual discharge (m3/s) Average channel gradient category Average channel gradient Average unit stream power (W/m2) Project background Edit project background Reach length directly affected (m) Project started Works started Works completed Project completed Total cost category Total cost (k€) Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources Cost for project phases Phase cost category cost exact (k€) Lead organisation Contact forename Contact surname Investigation and design Stakeholder engagement and communication Works and works supervision Post-project management and maintenance Monitoring Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Hydromorphology Biology Physico-chemical Other reasons for the project Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Floodplain / River corridor Planform / Channel pattern Other Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) Other Monitoring Hydromorphological quality elements Edit Hydromorphological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Biological quality elements Edit biological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Physico-chemical quality elements Edit Physico-chemical quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic Edit Other responses Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information