RDAA confirms Kennet anglers don't condone threats to paddlers

The Chairman of Reading and District Angling Association (RDAA) has provided a positive response to concerns raised over the language used in relation to canoeists and kayakers on the River Kennet by a small number of RDAA members.

Details of aggressive posts that have previously appeared on the RDAA forum in response to apparent confusion over questions regarding navigation by canoeists and kayakers were listed on the Song of The Paddle website forum two days ago, prompting one paddler (who is also an angler) to write to the RDAA Chairman, Alby Cohen.

Mr. Cohen has replied promptly with the statement

"Further to your recent e-mail - I can assure you we don't advise or condone the disruption of any water orientated activity, whoever the participant or whatever their hobby or sport.
Thank you for drawing the matter to my attention. I will endeavour to make our position clear on the forum and try to ensure the offensive material is not repeated.

We do, however, like to encourage open debate on our forum and regret when some take advantage. I'm confident that these threats are just that! Should any member be proven to have carried out such threats they would be severely dealt with by our disciplinary committee."

It is to be hoped that this position will provide a step towards greater mutual understanding of the differing needs of others by all legitimate and responsible river users on the Kennet.

UK inland waterways access map expanded

In just over a year from the initial post reporting on the creation of a new map to record disputed river access in England and Wales, over a thousand sections of UK inland waterway have been recorded by paddlers to create the most comprehensive online listing of its type to date.

Disputed inland waterways are now marked in purple (it was felt that the red colour initially used might give the impression that paddling was not allowed on these sections).  A number of Scottish rivers have also been added by way of contrast to the situation in England and Wales.

The Access Map can be found in a dedicated section of the Canoe Days Out website, which itself provides details of several trips on the canalised sections of the Kennet Navigation and the Kennet and Avon Canal including the

• Kennet Navigation, Berkshire, Aldermaston Wharf to Colthrop Lock
• Kennet Navigation, Berkshire, Theale to Aldemaston Wharf
• Kennet Navigation and Thames, Berkshire, Theale to Thames Valley Business Park, Reading
• Kennet & Avon Canal, Wiltshire, Rowde to Barge Inn, Seend
• Kennet & Avon Canal, Wiltshire, Devizes Wharf to Bishops Cannings Swing Bridge
• Kennet & Avon Canal, Berkshire, Dunmill Lock, Near Hungerford to Newbury
• Kennet & Avon Canal, Wiltshire, Honeystreet to Wooton Rivers
• Kennet & Avon Canal, Wiltshire, Devizes to Honeystreet
• Kennet & Avon Canal, Wiltshire, Wootton Rivers to Crofton Pumping Station
• Kennet & Avon Canal, Wiltshire, Crofton Pumping Station to Hungerford
• Kennet & Avon Canal, Somerset, Bathampton to Avoncliff Aqueduct

The Access Map homepage provides the option to view the map (with or without undisputed canal navigations), an alphabetical list of all the waterways logged, the ability to add further waterways, and a section of access-related links.

Due to the complicated inter-relationship of the River Kennet, the Kennet Navigation, and the riverine branches of these waterways, as well as the K&A Canal,...

The Access Map for River Kennet and Kennet Navigation now includes extended sections.  Please note that inclusion of a waterway does not imply automatic rights of access to that waterway or automatically confirm environmental conditions are appropriate for paddling at any given time.

...they are separately listed as follows:

• Kennet & Avon Canal (from Newbury west) (#188): 90 kms
• Kennet (Aldershot Water) (#172): 1 kms
• Kennet (Benham Weir to Northcroft) (#67): 3 kms
• Kennet (Bonsals Point to Garston Lock) (#178): 1 kms
• Kennet (Burghfield Mill) (#179): 1 kms
• Kennet (Chamberhouse Mill to Kings Bridge) (#169): 3 kms
• Kennet (Crookham Manor to Brimpton Mill) (#170): 1 kms
• Kennet (Drapers Osier Bed Stream) (#177): 1 kms
• Kennet (Fobney Island river loop) (#181): 1 kms
• Kennet (Frouds Marina corner to Ufton) (#173): 5 kms
• Kennet (Ham Mill to Bulls Lock) (#68): 1 kms
• Kennet (Hungerford to Hamstead Marshall) (#186): 9 kms
• Kennet (Kings Bridge to Woolhampton) (#171): 2 kms
• Kennet (Mildenhall to Hungerford) (#185): 16 kms
• Kennet (Northcroft to the Navigation) (#182): 1 kms
• Kennet (Padworth Stream) (#174): 1 kms
• Kennet (Preshute to Mildenhall) (#184): 4 kms
• Kennet (Southcote river loop) (#180): 1 kms
• Kennet (Sulhamstead Weir loop) (#176): 1 kms
• Kennet (The Craven Fishery) (#187): 1 kms
• Kennet (Tyle Mill) (#175): 1 kms
• Kennet (Upper reach) (#1143): 11 kms
• Kennet (Widmead Weir to Chamberhouse Mill) (#69): 3 kms
• Kennet Navigation (#65): 31 kms

Clicking on any of the above marked sections of waterway will generate a dialogue box from which a summary of reported access conditions can be viewed.

The dialogue box also permits paddlers to report access incidents or add new access ratings, as well as...

...the ability to view any existing reports.

Black Swans on the upper River Kennet

Writing the previous post on non-indigenous species reminded me of a more positive recent alien close encounter on the River Kennet:

An Australian Black Swan at Axford on the upper River Kennet in late April 2012...

This species is not on the official list of birds recorded in Britain, but it is a category E species "recorded as introductions, human-assisted transportees or escapees from captivity, and whose breeding populations (if any) are thought not to be self-sustaining" and, furthermore, it is in the "E*"  grouping where "individuals are recorded as nesting with their own kind, and known or presumed to have originated from a captive origin."

There are concerns that it might out-compete native swans, which will no doubt call for someone to start culling them before long.

...one of a pair.  I've also seen them whilst paddling on the Itchen, when they seemed distinctly shy.

American Signal Crayfish biosecurity on the River Kennet

The fact that the River Kennet is literally crawling with  Pacifastacus leniusculus, the American Signal Crayfish (ASC),  is nothing new, with The Field belatedly reporting "Danger Signs" in 2008, whilst the same year The Telegraph produced the headline "American Signal Crayfish wrecks UK waters", nearly twenty years after their introduction to the UK.

In 2011 the Crayfish issues on the Kennet again came to national attention after British Waterways responded to "American crayfish destroying Britain's footpaths" in Newbury with protective reinforcement of the banks with polypropylene mesh.

Protection of the banks of the Kennet Navigation on limited sections of the river may provide limited local defence from tunneling erosion, but also serves to concentrate the damage elsewhere.

A number of fisheries have employed the services of trappers in an attempt to reduce the impact of crayfish predation and environmental damage...

Crayfish traps on the River Kennet Navigation (and elsewhere in the region - see this week's report from the Oxford Mail) are said to produce substantive hauls for their licenced users...

...which is evidenced in such as this half-dustbin catch of ASC from the Sulhamstead loop.

 ...but whilst a conversation with a trapper on the lower Kennet produced the comments that the average size of trapped ASC was falling and that fisheries were pleased with the effects of taking out the larger individuals which was resulting in the recruitment of improved numbers of smaller fish with the potential to grow to specimen size, this might not be acheiving much in terms of reducing overall ASC numbers.  ASC are cannibalistic, which means that as the larger specimens get caught more smaller crayfish survive, and so the total biomass of crayfish in the river may actually increase.

ASC are only one of the six non-indigenous crayfish species in the UK; details of Narrow-clawed, Spiny-cheek, Noble, Virile and Red swamp crayfish can be found at Buglife's UK Crayfish Website. Of the six invasive alien species, the Noble is only currently known in Somerset and Gloucestershire and does not out-compete our single native species, the White-clawed crayfish, Austropotamobius pallipes.  The Narrow-clawed crayfish is recorded more widely in SE England and has the potential to outcompete the White-claws, but, like the Noble, it is susceptible to the fungal crayfish plague, Aphanomyces astaci.  Whilst the Virile and Red swamp crayfish are only currently recorded in London, they are, together with the Spiny-cheek (also resident in SE England) and the ASC (interactive distribution map here), immune to and carriers of crayfish plague.

For paddlers on the River Kennet biosecurity measures to avoid spreading crayfish plague are simple:

Further information on wider biosecurity measures for paddlers can be found here and watch this: