Brown trout

Together with our Fisheries Department colleagues, we carried out a survey of brown trout at ten points along the length of the Eye Brook in 2005. 

Brown trout were present at all ten sites, but numbers were not high and the proportion of first year fish was low.  Reasonable numbers of young fish were only found at one site, in the headwaters of the catchment. 

Breeding success and consequently recruitment to the adult population is therefore low.  This is because of sedimentation of spawning gravels following erosion of arable land and the movement of soil particles to ditches and streams.  This is an issue we are exploring at a number of scales through our research projects, SOWAP, MOPS, PARIS amongst others listed on this website.

Eyebrook Reservoir, at the bottom of the Eye Brook catchment, is an important trout fishery, providing recreation, income, and fish which are valued as food .  There is potential for improving the movement of fish between the reservoir and the stream.  We are investigating the potential to improve spawning success in the rest of the catchment so as to benefit both the reservoir fishery and other members of the catchment community who have an interest in this species.