Pickering Beck Channel Restoration

Pickering Beck is fed from the North Yorkshire Moors. It follows a meandering course alongside the North Yorkshire Moors Railway as it approaches the town of Pickering from the north. Part of this course is within a SSSI and the boundaries of the North York Moors National Park. The soft sand substrate is easily carried into the lower tributaries and causes siltation of gravel spawning areas in the rivers Rye, Costa and Derwent.

Channel restoration

The aims of the project are to use large woody debris (LWD) and coarse woody debris (CWD) to stabilise the bed of the stream. This will also provide much needed habitat for small fish and invertebrates. The majority of the river runs through a deeply-wooded valley creating very deep shade and limiting the diversity of the stream. It is proposed to remove small sections of the dense canopy to allow daylight to the stream bed and enhance the biodiversity of this wild trout fishery. The Trust are working with the Environment Agency and North York Moors National Park to enhance the Agency’s ‘Slowing the Flow’ project. This project is aimed at protecting the town of Pickering from flood flows by using the landscape in this valley to retain high water on the land. The Trust has been working with the Pickering Fishery Association and the Wild Trout Trust to develop a strategy for management of this stream. The land and stream are part of the Dutchy of Lancaster’s estate. The Trust is working with the land agent, the Pickering Fishery Association and the WTT to identify and address areas of bank erosion andsiltation. We have partnered this group in atraining day to demonstrate the use of LWD to create in-stream habitat and further enhance the above project.

Horse logging