Habitat Monitoring

Overview

Over the course of the last few years, Trust staff have been carrying out habitat surveys on the River Teith to map habitat features such as riffles, pools, large woody debris deposits and bankside pressures. The river has now been fully mapped and digitised from Inverlochlarig at the top, down to the confluence with the Forth, and work has begun on the main spawning tributaries as well. The benefit of this kind of mapping is that different datasets can be overlaid with each other to show how habitats and river features relate to each other e.g. how large woody debris relates to gravel deposition / river widening or how barriers to fish passage relate to predation hot spots.

In addition, the relative contributions of habitat types can be quantified and compared between river systems. This information can be used to identify problem areas, prioritise reaches for restoration and understand where river processes and functioning are most impaired.

The main stem of the River Esk has also been largely mapped in this way. This was part of a project to identify the impacts of the array of main stem barriers that the river suffers from. It is hoped that the data will eventually be used to support a large scale barrier easement project similar to the current RiverLife project on the River Almond. The Esk is one of our most underrated rivers. It has a huge amount of excellent habitat potential but is constrained by barriers over much of its length, on both the North and South tributaries. The headwaters that are unaffected by the barriers exhibit some fabulous habitat that could rival rivers like the Spey. It’s amazing to think that salmon may once have frequented these headwaters, but currently they can’t get anywhere near it.