Lake District river re-bent after 200 years, salmon return in months
Conservationists in the Lake District have restored a 1.1-kilometre stretch of Swindale Beck to its original winding course after it was straightened by farmers 200 years ago. The project successfully improved water quality and flood management, leading to the return of Atlantic salmon to their historic spawning grounds within months.
Why it matters
This project demonstrates the effectiveness of 'rewilding' as a nature-based solution to restore biodiversity and mitigate environmental damage caused by historical land management.
Centuries after people forced a Cumbrian river into a straight, artificial channel, nature has reclaimed its original course in the Lake District, bringing endangered wild fish back to historic spawning grounds almost immediately. In the summer of 2016, conservationists restored a 1.1-kilometre stretch of Swindale Beck near Haweswater by putting its natural bends back into the river. Diggers created winding curves along the valley floor to replace a straight, raised channel built by farmers about 200 years earlier. Within three months of the work being completed, Atlantic salmon were seen spawning in the newly created gravel beds for the first time in living memory. The £212,500 project was jointly managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and landowner United Utilities, working with the Environment Agency and Natural England.
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