Abbey river this Saturday (12/5/2012)

Folks we have a first opportunity to clear some nasty Floating Pennywort this Saturday on the Abbey River Weybridge.

Need a few hands to get involved for this trial, if it goes well then we can start properly attacking it. The area is in private land but amazing habitat and needs to be protected fom the scourge of this voracious invasive.

Intend to start at around 11am and have a small boat being brought down but need help.

Cheers

David, the Abbey River is in Chertsey, starts at penton hook, ends up at chertsey bridge

PLUS, parts of that river, some fishing club has the fishing rights to it, not sure who. Plus I can get the local press down for some pics, as what is the point of doing these things if no one kwons it is being done,

Keith Collett wrote:

PLUS, parts of that river, some fishing club has the fishing rights to it, not sure who.

Runnymede Angling Association, I believe. Only open to borough residents and a few years waiting list even for those eligible.

I would have been up for this, but I am away this weekend.

Hi Dave
just to say i would love to have assisted at the weekend,however we are away in the Isle of Wight for my sisters wedding Saturday,not back till late Sunday
Colin/Mike

Sounds like fun,Any chance of a map or meeting place(I'll be on me bike).
I'll be there if it aint too far.

Keith yes of course Chertsey, I have spent enought time down there recently, ha ha.

Trevor thanks mate I will be in touch.

Colin no worries mate, you have been to most things recently so will be lots coming up.

I can do it if my cricket is cancelled which is looking increasingly likely. I'm also a Runneymede member.

Last shout for a few hours tomorrow and getting your hands dirty, or wet.

Its not a huge job and more of a trial and gaining experience of clearing an in river invasive species

Daaaaave


where are we all meeting up, and timings please

thrope park end, or where the Abby used to be, or old aged peoples home near chertsey bridge

Trevor I dropped you a pm mate

Well we did get wet, ha ha,we got loads cleared and this first tester worked amazingly well

Lots of laughs today and thanks Keith, Trevor and Mark and Stu K from EA fisheries for some of the kit, as ever

The Abbey river is probably one the best save havens for fish on the Lower Thames as enter as the bottom of Penton Hook, goes cross country and exits below Chertsey weir. On the same vein an amazing natural fish pass and nearly all no fishing, so as perfect as you will find.

The section we worked on is just above where it exits into the Thames and on private land so hence why access etc is sensitive and had taken some arrangement.

Floating Pennwort is a nasty invasive plant and when it gets hold will be bank to bank, blocking all light so removing oxygen and starving the river. I have seen areas on the Colne where it has narrowed pacey reaches to a narrow strip and then to nothing and this stuff seriously grows.

Had discussed removing it with the EA and had an idea about using a drift net across the river to catch the bits that break away, and it worked a treat.

The EA supplied a bic boat and the net plus we used rakes to get it out.

Overall we took out 31 bin bags of PW, and that was only from a 200 yard stretch, so may 1/4 ton, this stuff is staggering.


Anyway here is a few pics from the first clearance, and guess what we have a pretty good idea of how to do it now folks and will be out again. If you fancy get wet and dirty let us know.

What is looked like in places


Out of the water, see how the roots are like a thick mat, and it just floats



Clearing from the boat



The net downstream of where we were clearing first



Some of the 30+bags



In the river



Loads in the boat for one trip, we worked out bagging it was easier



Moved downstream and shallower water



A Landrover full of bags on the second section



Picture perfect habitat for our precious fish



Well done chaps

well done

Good work everybody.
2 people in that toy boat looks precarious, then one standing up, how did you not go for a swim?!

Ed, skill and judgement, should have seen 5 in it

Well done chaps, we should be very proud of what this club achieves, in many regards.


Richard

good news, a few new fish have been put into a number of rivers in Surrey, on of them being the Abbey River, Chertsey, after lots of digging and campaining, managed to get some numbers, from our Local Fishing EA team

1000 dace


1000 roach

1000 chub


200 barble,


as you all know, a year or so ago, Penton Hook island had a few put in as well, that and this lot, as the Abbey river starts at PH, in 30yrs time when most of us will ne worm food, there will be a lot of big fish around that area,

ps

not sure wot age there are, give me some credit, cant think off every think,

They'll almost certainly be the same size as those we stocked in the Crane last year Keith. So all would be round about 5 or 6" in length.

At the recent RUG8 meeting there were some interesting comments from the British Canoe Union grumbling that the gravels which went in earlier in the year had made the Abbey River too shallow (this was in mid-summer when there was no flow down the Thames anyway).
Does anyone have any earlier photos depicting these same locations for comparison?
Perhaps if they'd actually contributed to the work they might have some moral navigation rights, not sure if a canoe would even get down there before you guys removed the pennywort?

What exactly does a PRN (Presumed Right of Navigation) mean? - sound like something rather presumptious to me - though there is one of those small boat roller things on the sluice there.  Hopefully we can get some updates from our EA fisheries officers.

From: http://www.riverusergroups.org.uk/bell-weir-to-teddington.php
The attached images show:
- the low water level  of a few inches across one of the two riffles prior to raking out a channel.  The river bed had been raised by at least 24 – 30”.  


- the water level at Abbey Chase Sluice reduced by 12-15”.  


We would be interested to know if this degree of lowering the crest of the weir/sluice at Abbey Chase is a further point to factor in for the low levels on the riffles

Canoes still grounded during July and August after  Fisheries had raked  out a channel 3-4 ft wide and 8-10” deep across each on 2 July.   I suspect there may have been a degree of movement in the gravels after the raking and this combined with summer levels getting lower the channels were less defined and shallower.  There is a PRN on this channel.

Prior to these works, although vegetation could be an issue the grounding of canoes was not experienced even at times of low flows on the main river.  A greater depth of water and width of usable channel across the riffles is required  for unobstructed navigation. British Canoeing is looking to a channel not less than 6ft wide with a minimum depth of 12” across that width at all times.

This is not to undo the purpose of the works as it is recognised the measures have also included the welcomed clearance of vegetation as a measure for environmental improvements, reducing flood risk and assisting navigation.  However, in respect of  lowering the water level/raising the river bed a balance is required to ensure navigation is not compromised.

Subsequently a site meeting has taken place at Abbey Chase with Andrew Graham and Fisheries

Kevin East 16/09/2015

A quick Google on Presumed Right of Navigation suggests that this only applies to TIDAL rivers. However if you change Presumed to Public then it's a different matter.

If you look at the first few sentences of this then it might make sense in that it suggests that access cannot be lost simply by a change of circumstance. Which, if I've read it right, might suggest that introducing the gravel and lowering the water level could be deemed to be an illegal removal of navigation rights. If navigation is lost by natural silting then that's fine but you can't artificially affect the water course.

Waddya think?

There is no "Public Right of Navigation" on non-tidal rivers, it's a BCU invention based on a thesis written by one Dr.Caffyn.
http://www.caffynonrivers.co.uk/master-of-laws/
This is the government's assessment of Dr.Caffyn's paper: (source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rights-of-navigation-on-non-tidal-rivers )


That said,
1. if the river level has been lowered 12" because of the sluice settings, it can just as easily be raised 12" again, then they have 20" of depth.
2. rather than scream and shout about their "rights"  being violated, BCU members would do better to come along on work parties and help improve the river, they might then have the chance to give their input.

18 months on, the BCU are still grumbling about this.
see https://t-a-c.forumotion.com/t1063p25-river-user-group-8-rug8-meetings#38528