We’re working on an important project to improve resilience in the Henmore Brook catchment. This means we are looking at ways to help the area cope better with the impact that Carsington Reservoir has on the watercourse near Ashbourne. Our aim is to tackle some of the issues the brook faces, due to the artificial flows it experiences. These particularly impact the watercourse during dry periods, when the water is held back in the reservoir.
Low flow conditions introduce issues to rivers’ ecology and habitats. Where there is no tree cover, for example, and river levels fall, the water temperature can increase and the oxygen levels decrease. This can be fatal to various aquatic species, especially fish, which are unable to source cover or cooler water. This is where increasing the catchment’s resilience will be vital.
The work will focus on restoring the area close to the reservoir to help retain water where it affects river processes and ecology the most. While the focus of the work lies on dry periods, the work’s wider impact will boost biodiversity, habitat availability and flood resilience for communities downstream.
This two-and-a-half-year project, led by Trent Rivers Trust in partnership with Severn Trent Water, will deliver works aimed at restoring the ecological resilience using a practical river and catchment restoration approach.
Improving catchment resilience can be achieved in multiple ways, including:
Our primary challenge in the Henmore Brook catchment is enabling natural flow conditions to flourish in a catchment with regulated flows from Carsington reservoir. Flows semi-naturalise with the input of other tributaries as the brook flows downstream.
Works in the catchment will focus on water retention and floodplain reconnection as well as fish passage to enable natural flow regimes to recover and utilise water from the wider catchment. Works will also contribute to increasing the overall resilience to low flow conditions, which can cause heat stress and poor water quality. The aim here is to create suitable and favourable habitats for wildlife to tolerate low flows.
Like most watercourses in the UK, the Henmore Brook is designated as ‘heavily modified’, with large sections of straightened, over-widened channel, as well as a number of weirs. Weirs and barriers to fish migration along the brook will pose a significant challenge, as larger structures are unlikely able to be removed, and impoundments remain. We will assess in detail options for ways in which we could reduce the impact of these barriers.
Restoring natural flows and water retention capacity within the catchment will be vital to alleviate the impact of the reservoir. Reconnecting the watercourse with its floodplain to better store water and improve habitats will help more water to be accessible to wildlife and increase biodiversity. Wetlands with scrapes, hollows, ponds and connecting channels will be used and introduced to enable the greatest possible area for water retention across the catchment.
Improving river banks and in-channel habitats will also contribute towards greater resilience for all manner of species, including migratory fish, water voles, invertebrates, and birds. To do this, natural processes will be encouraged to develop with the introduction of brushwood mattresses and large woody debris, alongside river bank re-profiling to improve natural flows and encourage natural erosion and deposition to take place. Where possible, hard substances such as concrete will be removed from the watercourse.
We are aiming to deliver improvements to habitats both within the water and along riverbanks. We will also work towards creating new wetland/woodland areas within the catchment, and we will investigate opportunities for fish passage at a number of weirs in the catchment. The project is engaging with as many landowners as possible in the catchment, and will look to deliver works to improve the catchment at many of these sites. Much of the catchment’s land ownership is small-scale parcels of land, and there are few areas where both banks are owned outright, so collaborative working and project planning will be key to delivering larger-scale works in the Henmore Brook.
To understand the impact the projects deliverables will have detailed monitoring of flow levels, turbidity concentrations (suspended sediments) and temperature, as well as invertebrates and fish, will take place before, during, and after the project work is complete. River morphology surveys will also indicate general habitat availability and changes. Desired outcomes will be evidence of more stable flows and fewer low flow conditions during stressful periods (summer time), lower overall water temperatures and suspended solids; and, greater diversity of invertebrate numbers and of fish species and ages.
enquiries@trentriverstrust.org
The Trent Rivers Trust,
Middle Mill,
Darley Abbey Mills,Darley Abbey,DerbyDE22 1DZ
© 2025 Trent Rivers Trust. Website designed and developed by Studio Seventeen Ltd.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |