To improve the bankside and the instream habitat on the Brochloch Burn, by addressing the excessive amounts of silt in the water smothering the substrates that fish use to spawn, caused mainly by grazing livestock in the riparian zone.
The requested grant allowed the Ayrshire River Trust to undertake a restoration project that aimed to address excessive amounts of silt on the Brochloch Burn. The River Doon and its tributaries, including the Brochloch burn, supports nationally important fish species including Atlantic salmon, brown trout (including sea trout), lamprey and European eels. These species share a requirement for good water quality and diverse riparian habitats.
The Brochloch burn suffers from reduced water quality and poor instream fish habitat due to the surrounding land use management and diffuse pollution. Unrestricted livestock access to the watercourse had caused erosion releasing excessive amounts of silt into the water smothering the substrates that fish used to spawn. Furthermore, a lack of riparian broadleaf trees made the burn vulnerable to predicted rises in water temperature that may follow due to climate change. Also on the burn was a piped culvert that regularly became blocked restricting access to returning adult salmon and sea trout to spawning habitat upstream of the culvert.
This project aimed to address these problems on the Brochloch burn by improving the bankside and instream habitat and preventing the culvert from becoming impassable to migratory fish. The project was defined by these key activities:
1. ART reduced the amount of silt entering the watercourse by erecting fencing on an 880 m stretch of the burn. This limited livestock access to the riparian area, creating buffer strips and reduced livestock-driven erosion.
2. ART planted 500 broadleaf trees within these buffer strips once livestock fencing was installed providing shade and woody material essential for healthy fish populations.
3. ART also undertook gravel cleaning in spawning areas severely impacted by excessive silt depositions.
4. Work to prevent the culvert from blocking with debris involved installing a bespoke trash screen upstream of the culvert.
The requested grant of £16,775.29 was awarded and contributed to a total project cost of £17,335.29. The shortfall was funded by an in-kind contribution from Ayrshire River Trust.
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