St George’s River Ely
Clearance of multi-tree log-jam on the River Ely at St. George’s. Grid Ref. 10218 76813.
This work enabled migratory fish access to an additional 1.5Km upstream of St. George’s to the other log-jam at Peterston Super Ely and eventually access to the spawning gravels in the headwaters and tributaries of the River Ely.
This multi-tree log-jam was identified by Environment Agency Wales as a barrier to fish migration during one of their river walk over surveys and was viewed by South East Wales RiversTrust representatives during 2009.
The log-jam consisted of approx. 12 very large trees and root plates which blocked approx. three quarters of the river width and extended downstream for approx. 15 metres. It had been compacted with silt over time adding to the difficulties for removal and the blockage had caused some erosion of both banks, due to deflected high winter river flows.
Contractors were approached to carry out this clearance work and quotations received and eventually accepted. However, confusion over the method of funding grants from the Welsh Assembly Government caused long delays to the start of this project. Below are some pictures illustrating the problem
Establishing land ownerships for permission to access the site of this log-jam proved very difficult, but eventually, with the contractor’s assistance we managed to identify and contact the various land owners and obtained the necessary permissions.
Clearance work eventually began on Wednesday 13th October 2010 and was completed to our satisfaction on Saturday 16th October. There was excellent vehicle access to the site of the log-jam, allowing the contractors to use 4 wheeled drive vehicles and more robust/heavy duty lifting gear, together with winches, tirfors (a type of winch) and chainsaws, etc. However, they experienced difficulties in removing some of the very large trees and root plates which had been become heavily compacted with silt. Below are pictures of the work in progress.
The woody materials were removed from the river and stored on the left hand bank in stock piles for use as fuel, if required. Some of the largest tree trunks and root plates were laid into the eroded areas of river bank as revetments.
The effectiveness of removing this log-jam will be monitored during and after the winter floods to visually check that access for migratory fish is being maintained. Hofefully, analysis of future EAW electro-fishing surveys will confirm the presence of migratory fish (fry/parr) upstream of this site, indicating that migratory fish had naturally spawned upstream of this location.
Funding for this project was provided from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) via the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG).
