As part of our continued commitment to conservation on Castle Farm, we have recently been very busy with one of our new River Darent projects. 

Along with other neighbouring farms, we have developed the Darent Valley Farming Cluster, and with the support of Kent Wildlife Trust.. we have been embarking on a number of significant river management projects. 

A key objective is to restore the river’s natural flow by removing barriers and returning it to its original shape (which over time has been moved to power water mills etc).Re-meandering the river slows the water, reduces downstream flooding, and helps recharge the chalk aquifer. Importantly - all these efforts will increase biodiversity and improve habitats for wildlife, plants fish and insects that depend on the chalk-river ecosystem. 

We will keep you updated on this important work, but below is a recent update on the project!

WHATS BEEN HAPPENING THIS MONTH?

Last month the South East Rivers Trust (SERT) undertook to “clean” several areas of the naturally occurring gravels of the river channel – including two on Castle Farm. This means using compressed air to dislodge the silt that is clogging the variably sized stones or gravel on the river floor. This silt makes these areas very solid. The cleaning process opens up the gravel and allows water to percolate through the stones in these gravel areas.

Why?

Trout and other fish spawn in gravels and need to lay their eggs amongst the stones, if loose they can move some gravels to create small pockets to spawn into- BUT they cannot do this if these gravels are compacted with silt.

The intention is to allow the native brown trout to breed in the River Darent, which has become very rare for many years. This will enable a natural improvement in wild brown trout and add to river biodiversity.