Cotswolds brown trout stock boosted

After declining numbers of brown trout in the rivers around Cheltenham and Cirencester, the Environment Agency has introduced thousands of fish eggs to improve the stocks.

Over 110,000 trout eggs will have been introduced into the River Churn, the River Dikler, the River Coln and Apney Brook since the start of the year.

Chris Bell, a fisheries officer for the Environment Agency, said: "Thriving stocks of brown trout are seen as excellent indicators of a healthy river. This work is important to re-establish this native species in areas of our local rivers which have suffered because of drought, pollution or habitat change."

Incubation boxes were used to protect the eggs and newly hatched young fish from predators and let them adapt to the river's environment.

The fish hatch and grow in the boxes for around 40 days before they swim out of the boxes and repopulate the rivers.

The new stock in the Cotswolds follows a Environment Agency plan which released 1,000 brown trout fingerlings into the Horsenden stream, near Chinnor in Oxfordshire after unsuccessful trials using incubator boxes.

The native brown trout has suffered from pollution, loss of habitat and competition from rainbow trout over the last hundred years, but the Environment Agency is attempting to increase numbers to preserve the diversity in the UK's rivers.

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