Salmon Redds on the Garbh Allt 2020

Just days after completing restoration works on the Garbh Allt, salmon and redds have been spotted!
Going back to the 1960s this short 700m stretch of water which joins the Dee at Ballochbuie bridge used to home 10-20 redds. Due to historic works to constrain the watercourse, suitable spawning habitat has declined to such an extent that no redds were recorded there for the past couple of years.
With funding and support from the Biodiversity Challenge Fund, cbec eco engineering, and Balmoral Estate, work to open up secondary channels and add spawning material to the site has just been completed.
The site immediately benefited from a spate of water which helped to redistribute the gravel through the site and within days redds were spotted in site as well as this quick glimpse of a fish.
Early days still but we hope to see more fish taking advantage of the new spawning habitat in years to come.
See below for the design of the Garbh Allt restoration works: