New pumps to protect the Fens

This picture shows the incredible size of the biggest pumping station ever built in Britain - that's a skip in the bottom left of the image.

It's being built on the Middle Level Drain at St Germans, near King's Lynn, to protect half the Fens from rising sea levels and increasingly-frequent storm surges.

When it becomes operational next February, it will be able to shift 1000 tonnes of water a minute.

The Middle Level Drain is fed by a system of drains stretching miles inland, including the Sixteen Foot, Forty Foot, Old Nene and Popham's Eau.

It protects tens of thousands of homes and thousands of hectares of low-lying farmland, much of it below sea level, from flooding.

When the drainers reclaimed the Fens, they created mile upon mile of waterways which centuries later have become a Mecca for pike anglers.

But they didn't realise the peaty soil would shrink as it dried out. And parts of the area are now 20ft below mean high tide levels.

Eeeek... Andy's caught a crab

CRABBY: An alien visitor to the Fens

Mittens aren't only what pike anglers use to keep their fingers warm in the winter if you fish in the Fens these days, as PAC member Andy Webster discovered when he fished a drain in Lincolnshire.

For when something munched on his deadbait, it wasn't a pike but a Chinese mitten crab.

"I reeled in the float fished sprat and felt a bit of weight on the end but it fell off," Andy said on his blog tonight.

"The sprat had been shredded and I didn't have a clue what could have caused it. I decided to put it back in the same spot and after ten minutes I carefully reeled in again. The crab was wrapped in the trebles."

Mittens first hit the headlines when they turned up in the tidal Thames two decades ago. Oringinally believed to have travelled to London's docks in the ballast of cargo ships from the Far East, scientists believe frequent drought years and increased abstraction reduced river flows and created ideal conditions for the interlopers to breed.

Since then, they have spread around our shores, taking upwards of 20 years to walk around
our coastline to The Wash, from where they are believed to have entered the Tidal Ouse.

One turned up in a fish trap at Denver two years back and anglers were urged to report captures to the Environment Agency.

Another specimen ws caught recently on the Yorkshire Ouse - click here for local paper report.

As well as having a nasty nip mittens - so called because their claws grow fur during the breeding season - have another habit which doesn't go down well in low-lying, climate-change threatened areas like the Fens.

They burrow into the mud, digging large holes which can cause river banks to erode.

Environmentalists are now investigating whether the crabs could be commercially harvested for food as a way of controlling their numbers. But there are concerns over the level of toxins present in their flesh.

Waterways link could transform Fens

Fenland could be transformed by a new Waterways Link which would increase navigation and allow boats to pass along connected drains and rivers all the way from Lincoln to Cambridge.

That means many more Fen drains could be opened up to boats for the first time, offering pike anglers the opportunity to access remote areas of the system.

Feasibility studies have been doing the rounds of council chambers and committees for more than five years, while the public seem less than enthusiastic about the idea.

As a 90m stretch of moorings opened on the South Forty Foot at Hubberts Bridge, Lincs, South Holland councillors were being urged to do more to promote the benefits of the plans, which would link Lincoln, Boston, King's Lynn, Ely and Cambridge.

An Environment Agency report says:

"The Boston Waterways Link will provide a navigable link for recreational craft between the River Witham and South Forty Foot Drain and is the first key component of the Fens Waterway Link.

The Fens Waterway Link is a partnership project to develop a new navigation link within the Fens, starting in Boston, Lincolnshire and ending on the Great Ouse, Cambridgeshire.

This navigation link will provide a focus for new investment in the East of England and will support leisure and tourism interests.

It will open up 240km of waterway including 80km of additional navigable waterways, creating the largest waterway enhancement scheme in Europe.

The entire strategy will deliver rural regeneration on a major scale through water-based tourism."

The 18,000-strong Inland Waterways Association has this report, which lists the drains and rivers affected:

"Following promotion of the restoration of this waterway by East Anglian Waterways Association, Fens Tourism (a consortium of local authorities) undertook a feasibility study of the route.

This report was encouraging and EA adopted the project as ‘The Fens Waterways Link’, which it launched in 2004 with support from local authorities, EAWA and IWA.

The Link envisages:

(a) connecting the Witham to the South Forty Foot Drain at Boston,

(b) restoring the South Forty Foot,

(c) linking the South Forty Foot to the river Glen at Guthram Gowt,

(d) improving the Glen downstream to the Welland at Surfleet Seas End,

(e) creating a new non-tidal navigation from Surfleet Seas End upstream to Spalding,
(f) improving the Welland from Spalding up to Crowland,

(g) creating a new waterway from Crowland across to the Nene at Padholme Pumping Station,

(h) improving the route through the Middle Level to Salters Lode on the Great Ouse,
(i) improving the alternative Middle Level route via the Forty Foot River to Welches Dam lock,

(j) creating a new navigation, using the Old Bedford and New Bedford rivers southwards from Welches Dam to the Great Ouse at Earith,

(k) creating a landmark structure at Denver, involving flights of locks and an aqueduct over the New Bedford River, to eliminate the current tidal crossing,

and (l) creating a new direct waterway link from Chatteris to Earith."

While pike anglers of the future could be taking to boats to fish the drains and rivers, the plan has already suffered a setback of sorts.

West Norfolk council has scaled back plans for a marina in King's Lynn, which would have been connected to the Ouse at Denver via the Relief Channel and River Nar, because of infrastructure costs of raising bridges, dredging the Nar and and connecting it to the Relief Channel.

A new lock built at Denver Sluice, connecting the Ouse to the Relief Channel has been little-used.

But pioneering pike and zander anglers have been taking advantage of being able to fish the 12-mile channel from boats, which is permitted between June and October.

Did someone say zander..? Connecting drains and rivers linking Norfolk and Lincolnshire could have another consequence as far as the species is concerned.

While they are present in the Welland, zander are not currently found in much of the Lincolnshire drain system. That would doubtless all change once waterways were linked.

Similar plans to link the Ouse with the Grand Union Canal and the rest of the Inland Waterways Network via the proposed Bedford and Milton Keynes Link have been on the table for some years.

Skaters take to the f-f-frozen Fens

ROCK HARD PIKE FISHING: Ice sets in as temperatures plummet.

Tha'ss a bit hard for pike fishing in the Fens - so get yer skates on...

Ice skaters took to the frozen Welney Washes today for the first time in more than a decade, the Cambridgeshire Times reports today.

The vast wetlands, between the Delph and Hundred Foot River, on the Norfolk/Cambridgeshire border, were once the home of great skating contests, when skaters flocked from across the country to challenge Fen folk to races.

Many anglers are hanging up their rods, as waters up and down the country freeze.

Temperatures are tipped to dip as low as -10C tonight - colder than the Antarctic, as an unseasonal cold snap grips much of the country.

Forecasters predict warmer weather by the weekend. But many pikers are faced with an unexpected break in their winter campaign unless the ice clears.

Click here for a report from the Daily Mail on the cold snap.

***To check the forecast where you're hoping to fish, click here to access the excellent Metcheck service. Just enter your postcode, county or the nearest town and click on the tabs for an advance forecast.

Metcheck also allows you to set up e-mail alerts, to receive the following day's forecast for your chosen location direct to your inbox each afternoon.

EA plans future for Great Ouse

Environment Agency scientists are drawing up plans to deal with the impacts of climate change on Fenland's main artery.

Problems posed by changing weather patterns and siltation were unveiled in a new discussion paper, during open days at Denver Sluice.

Pike anglers in the Fens wonder whether restoring Denver Sluice will mean an end to the harsh flows and fluctuating levels scientists believe have led to poor spawning years for pike and prey fish being swept out to sea by heavy flows in the Relief Channel.

Click here for a newspaper report by Chris Bishop.

BBC reports on Fen flood barrier

Ten days after the PAC revealed an entrepreneur's proposals to build a barrage across The Wash to protect the Fens from flooding, the BBC reports on the story. Conservation groups claim the plan to protect thousands of low-lying homes from rising sea levels is a non-starter. Click here for more.

Click here for our original report revealing details of the plan.

Club tightens bylaws to deter fish killers

King's Lynn Angling Association, the biggest club in the Fens, today revealed bylaw changes in a bid to tackle fish being removed in numbers for food.

It's changed its bylaws to make it clear no fish are to removed from the waters it controls, which include parts of the Great Ouse, River Wissey, Little Ouse, Middle Level Drain, Cut Off Channel and Relief Channel.

The wording on permits and day tickets has been changed, while signs have been put up at club venues.

Officials believe the move allows a private prosecution to be taken out against anyone caught removing fish. It comes after fish were removed in numbers from Lynn AA waters.

Livebaiting is still allowed, provided they are used on the water where they have been caught.

Barrier proposed to protect the Fens

A barrage could be built across The Wash to protect the Fens from flooding, it emerged today.

The Wash Tidal Barrier Corporation is bidding to build a new sea defence barrier between Hunstanton, in Nofolk and Skegness, in Lincolnshire, in a bid to protect low-lying areas from the growing threat of storm surges.

The announcement came as Norfolk County Council pledged to fight for Government funding to protect the Upper Thurne and its broads.

Much of the Fens between King's Lynn and Ely are lower than sea level. Hundreds of thousands of homes are protcted by a network of man-made drains and rivers, many of them higher than the surrounding land.

A new pumping station is being built on the Middle Level Drain at St Germans to cope with rising sea levels and changing weather patterns.

Today the Barrier Corporation said: "Sea level rise and climate change are major threats to the Wash coast and fenland environment.

"Sea level is predicted to rise by at least one metre by 2100 and sea temperatures, already 1°C higher, are increasing by 0.4°C each decade. Storm surges sufficient to overwhelm the Wash coastal defences are becoming ever more likely.

"Raising the height of existing coastal defences would not only be prohibitively expensive, but also have a major impact on marginal habitats such as salt marsh, inter-tidal mudflats and sandbanks.

"A tidal barrier across the Wash will provide us with the opportunity to manage the tide height and range within the Wash. The Barrier also offers a number of additional benefits – in particular, the generation of a large and reliable amount of green electricity and flood protection for more than 500,000 people, 300,000 hectares of grade 1 agricultural land and billions of pounds’ worth of assets."

For more on the Wash barrier proposals, click here.

Lodes - more good news from the EA

Campaigners fighting to save historic Fenland pike fisheries received a fresh boost today when the Environment Agency declared: "We won't abandon the Lodes..."

Pike anglers across the UK signed an online petition after the PAC joined retired councillor Geoffrey Woolard's campaign to stop Cambridgeshire's ancient lodes being lowered, when it emerged their future was under review.

There were fears the National Trust's plans to buy up farmland to extend its Wicken Fen reserve, north of Cambridge, would have dire consequences for Reach, Burwell and Swaffham lodes, which are believed to date back to Roman times.

Many pike anglers learned their craft on these ancient waterways, like Ian Moules, pictured above with a fine lodes twenty. The lodes remain popular with a wide range of anglers , along with dog walkers, boaters and bird watchers.

The PAC set about publicising the issues as widely as possible. As the campaign was taken up by the local and regional press, the trust held a briefing for journalists at which it insisted its Wicken Vision did not require the lodes to be lowered.

Anger erupted after Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office responded to the online petition, saying the trust's plans would dictate the way the lodes were managed after all.

But the trust hit back, saying the statement from 10 Downing Street was "unhelpful at best".

Then the PAC was leaked documents confirming that the Environment Agency intended to maintain the lodes because of the outcry over the threats some of the options on the table posed to them.

Today EA Lodes project manager Jonathan Fearnley said: "'We have investigated a number of possible options for the future of the Lodes, and have taken into account the views of all interested parties including parish, district and county council, other key stakeholders and the public.

"There were eight options considered, and each was subject to a full technical, economic and environmental assessment.

"The preferred option is to maintain the lodes at their current levels, providing maintenance as and when it is required. However, if changes in land use alter the risk of embankment failure, it will be necessary to consider other options, such as carrying out advance works to the banks to reduce their risk of failure."

The lodes are artificial river channels that carry water across the low lying fens to the north of Cambridge to the River Cam. Centuries of drainage has caused the land surrounding them to sink.

As the land has sunk, the lodes have been retained at their original level by bank raising so they can continue to drain into the River Cam and be used for navigation. The water level in the lodes is now up to 3m above the surrounding ground level in places.

Mr Fearnley added: "One of the benefits of our preferred option is that it provides a cost-effective and flexible approach, which can take into account future land use changes in the area, and should not have any significant environmental effects.

"For now, reactive maintenance is the best maintenance option for the Lodes, but we will review the strategy every five years to make sure that the most appropriate management regime is being followed."

What you can do...

I you haven't already signed the petition, please add your name in support by clicking here.

A copy of the EA's final consultation document is available if you click here.

Comments can be sent to: Jonathan Fearnley, Project Manager, Environment Agency, Bromholme Lane, Brampton, Huntingdon PE28 4NA.

Digger heads for Surrey

Dennis Moules, PAC liaison officer for the Fens, will be guest speaker at Walton on Thames Region's meeting on Monday night (November 12...).

He'll be talking about some of his own pike fishing experiences and the rich history of the Fens, a unique landscape steeped in piking folklore.

It's being held at Bagster House, Walton Lane. Shepperton Middx, from 8pm.
All PAC members and non members welcome. Admission £2.

Save Our Lodes petition tops 800

More than 800 anglers, boaters and walkers have now signed up to the online petition to save some of Cambridgeshire's historic waterways. The lodes aren't just ancient man-made waterways believed to date back to Roman times. They're also fisheries where generations of Fen anglers cut their teeth.

Click here to sign up.

Ouse could be closed "for months"

Rail chiefs today warned the Ouse south of Ely could be closed to boats for months, while a derailed train is removed from a bridge across the river. Forty tonnes of ballast fell into the river when wagons on a goods train overturned on Monday.

Network Rail says it may even need to build a new bridge, to carry the line across the waterway between Ely and Soham. More here.

Public meeting over Roswell Pits marina

Plans to turn Roswell Pits into a marina will be discussed at a public meeting on Tuesday.

The famed predator water on the outskirts of Ely, Cambs, has been bought by businessman Jeremy Tyrrell, who wants to re-open disused moorings to create a haven for narrowboats.

But anglers and conservationists are fearful of the impact the plan could have on the lakes, which are connected to the Great Ouse at Foremill Wash.

Now a group called Local Campaigners for the Protection of Rural Ely (LCPRE) is holding a public meeting to discuss the future of the venue.

Mr Tyrrell is already in a stand-off with Ely Sailing Club over access to Roswell, which is also boat fished by pike and zander anglers.

Dr Andrew Balmford, a member of LCPRE, told the Cambridge Evening News: "We have not had a public debate on the future of the site, so we are creating a forum to begin initiating that."

Campaigners are meeting at the City of Ely Community College at 8pm. For further details, call Dr Sarah Hall on 07791 512296.

***How the controversy unfolded - click here. For coverage in local paper the Ely Standard click here.

Burbot set to make a comeback

A fish christened angling’s answer to the dodo is to be reintroduced to Britain’s rivers decades after it died out, scientists revealed today.

The last burbot was caught in the Fens in 1969 and the fish is widely believed to have become extinct since then.

Now fisheries scientists have successfully bred fry in a laboratory and the fish are set to be reintroduced to the Fenland rivers where they once thrived.

The species - likened to a freshwater cod - can reach weights in excess of 30lbs. Click here for more.

Fens are most at risk from climate change

Low-lying areas of the Fens are among the most vulnerable areas of the country to the effects of climate change. More here.

Consultation begins on Ouse Washes

Plans to create 1,000 hectares of new wetland habitat have been revealed in the Fens.

The Government has told the Environment Agency to improve conditions for migrating birds along the Ouse Washes - a man-made flood plain comprising thousands of acres of low-lying land between the Delph and tidal Ouse, on the Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.

It has published consultation papers setting out its strategy and the PAC is now waiting to obtain copies of the document before considering its response.

The biggest questions are what affect the plan will have on the Delph - a popular Fenland pike fishery - and the neighbouring Old Bedford River.

Copies of the consultation papers can be ordered on CD by e-mailing nathan.richardson@atkinsglobal.com. All responses must be sent in by Friday, March 23.

The proposal is the latest in a number of schemes which are likely to drastically alter the face of parts of the Fens, as conservation groups attempt to protect internationally-important bird reserves from the effects of rising sea levels and climate change.

More on this as soon as we have it.

Digger live and direct at Fenland PAC

Dennis "Digger" Moules has been fishing the Fens since Black Shuck* was a puppy.

He'll be sharing some of the ups and downs of more than four decades spent fishing the drains and rivers at the Sportsman Social Club, Chatteris, next Thursday night (January 18...).

Dennis has an unrivalled knowledge of how waters have fished over the years, as compiler of the Fenland Thirties - a booklet charting the aqrea's biggest captures.

The meeting starts at 8pm, the place is slightly off the beaten track, click here for directions.

*Black Shuck