06/03/2011

Available for over a year

The River Frome is a chalk stream which makes it particularly sensitive to run off of silt and pollution from farms. Elinor Goodman meets two farmers who are working to improve water quality in two of the tributaries which flow into the Frome. Alistair Cooper bought the Sydling Estate, on the Sydling Brook, after a career in the City. He's converted the land to organic production and is keen to increase the number of wild Brown Trout which spawn in the stream. Elinor finds out what bugs are lurking in the crystal clear waters with Sarah Williams from Dorset Wildlife Trust, who tells her that these invertibrates are fish food for the Salmon and Trout. On another tributary, the Hooke, Kevin Wolbridge is improving the environmental impact of his dairy herd through building projects funded by Natural England. Further downstream on the Frome proper, outside Dorchester, Elinor meets anglers John Aplin and Charles Dutton from the Frome, Piddle, and West Dorset Fisheries Association who are passionate about rebuilding Salmon numbers on the river. The association jet washes the river bed, plots spawning sites on GPS, and has paid for a high tech fish pass to make a huge weir less of a barrier. As Elinor hears, it's even fitted with a camera. Producer: Sarah Swadling.