March 2024 saw the completion of one of our largest scale river and floodplain restoration projects to date, in Glen Clunie. As well as the Clunie Water itself, habitat enhancement actions were carried out along the Baddoch and Callater Burns. Works were made possible thanks to support from a range of funds and organisations, namely NatureScot’s Nature Restoration Fund, CNPA, Mossy Earth, Woodland Trust and the Cairngorms Trust. Invercauld Estate is the landowner, with some of the project ground managed by CA Smith. 

Although planning and development started back in 2021, actions on the ground kicked off in earnest in July 2022, with specialist survey and designs for in-river large wood structures (to read about the benefits, see https://riverdee.org.uk/news/fish-are-benefitting-from-trees-in-the-river/ ). 

Next, restructuring of the Baddoch plantation took place, allowing riverbanks to be cleared of dense non-native conifers and opened up for beneficial scattered indigenous broadleaf tree planting. Elsewhere, shallow scrapes were created, aiming to provide open wet pools for feeding birds and other wildlife. A series of small debris dams were constructed along short sections of minor ditches unsuitable for  migratory fish, to hold back water by mitigating peak flows during high rainfall and helping create pockets of wet ground. 

A programme of tree planting was initiated during winter 2023 alongside associated fencing which is necessary to protect the young saplings from browsing animals. This provided the opportunity to engage with local volunteer groups who assisted with tree planting as well as installation of debris dams.

Finally, the large wood structures were installed during summer 2023, and redundant old concrete bridge footings removed from the river channel to help improve instream habitat.

Main achievements through the Glen Clunie project:

• 97 large wood structures
• 24 wader scrapes
• 60 debris dams 
• 0.59ha of restructured riparian woodland plantation
• 2 bridge piers removed 
• 10,000 native riparian trees planted 

The project has not been without its challenges, but we are delighted with early results. Post-installation monitoring (Nov 2023) of a section of the project area highlighted at least 8 salmon redds associated with the new LWS which has got to be good news!

This project would not have been possible without funding support from the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund, managed by NatureScot.