Archive for the tag 'Kelvin'

Urbantrout sidecasts: Monday 29 July

Rivers of flame: memories of when the Irwell and Cuyahoga caught fire How the £3.6 million SUNRISE project (£2.1 million co-funded by the EU’s Regional Development Fund) promises to transform Staffordshire’s urban rivers Fresh outta Portland: fishing for city bass in the shadow of skyscrapers Bring up the bodies (and shopping trolleys, cafe chairs, mobile […]

Urban river futures: Deconstructing Desmond

As large swathes of Scotland and northern England start the mopping-up process after Storm Desmond ripped through the British Isles over the weekend, some frankly terrifying photos have continued to emerge, showing a whole new side to some of our best-loved urban rivers. It’s one of those clichés of environmental consciousness that we all live […]

Urbantrout sidecasts: Monday 12 October

Manchester’s urban river restorationist Mike Duddy wins the Wild Trout Trust’s Wild Trout Hero award 2015 The BBC goes exploring London’s unseen rivers (and how they’re still affecting parking restrictions on the borders of different boroughs!) How was #Bagmageddon for you? England’s new plastic bag tax could raise £730 million for good causes over the […]

Winter warmers: Urban river cleanups around the UK

When it comes to cleaning up litter and heavy rubbish on the banks of urban rivers, the very coldest months are often the best time to do it. Most of the summer vegetation (native or otherwise!) has died back in the frost, so you can actually see what’s been collecting in the brambles, nettles and knotweed throughout […]

Urbantrout sidecasts: Monday 28 July

Urban wildlife through the lens: south London photographer Tomos Brangwyn shoots a Wandle / Ravensbourne inner-city kingfisher story for the Daily Mail Salford Friendly Anglers win the Angling Trust’s 2014 Fred J Taylor Award for their work on the Irwell catchment New research from Cardiff University shows pollution-sensitive species recolonising urban rivers… … but it’s […]

Inspiration from the Kelvin (and a Happy New Year!)

Maybe it’s something in the water (or more probably the proximity of Glasgow’s ancient and world-famous School of Art) but the local graffiti on the Kelvin never fails to inspire us. Take the example above, which recently appeared on Alistair Stewart’s Urban Fly Fisher blog… or the ones below, which we found whilst fishing and […]

Urbantrout sidecasts: Monday 19 August

Remembering Peter Lapsley: writer, conservationist, President of the Wandle Piscators and much more Urban fly-fishing in Germany: Tankred Rinder reports from the post-industrial River Rur in Monschau Less heat, more light? An ongoing (currently civilised and seemingly well-informed) discussion of fracking in the UK context Lost urban rivers beneath our feet, and why they’re important […]

Urbantrout sidecasts: London Olympics edition

From the source of the Thames in a green and pleasant land to dark satanic mills, the forging of the Five Rings and the invention of the www that enables blogs like this, Danny Boyle’s awe-inspiring “Isles of Wonder” charts the transformation of Britain by the world’s first Industrial Revolution (But… did someone forget to […]

Urbantrout sidecasts: Wednesday 11 July

Urban flooding: UK government advisers point the finger at celebrity gardeners Double trouble for the Wandle: First red diesel, now cooking oil Revitalising urban rivers: Bella Davies, Angela Gurnell and Dave Webb talk to NERC in South London Trout in the distillery? Paul Gaskell dispenses wise habitat advice in Oban Big brown water on the Kelvin: […]

Urban fly-fishing: 10 top rivers in FF&FT

Sixteen miles upriver from central Manchester, between the cricket ground and the carpet factory in Ramsbottom, the early-season Irwell surges with smooth, deceptive power.   Raindrops splash into eddies along the banks, and a hatch of dark olives tacks across the leaden surface. Under those little grey sailboats, the trout I’ve just hooked on a dead-drifted […]