Project reinstates river at former colliery site

The project to restore a section of Vicar Water started on 8 January

River water has been reinstated at a former colliery site for the first time in over 70 years after early works carried out as part of a restoration project.

Vicar Water flows through the Nottinghamshire country park of the same name and then alongside Clipstone Colliery.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWT) says a 600m (1,968ft) section - from the nearby railway bridge to Baulkner Lane - was previously heavily modified, with much of it buried underground during the mining construction in the 1950s.

The project will restore a "more natural river channel" through "deculverting", the trust says, and will introduce measures to improve water flow.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust hopes the work will be finished by the end of March

The works will also improve fish passage, increase water quality, create floodplains, increase water storage capacity and contribute to flood alleviation and wetland habitats, said the trust.

Beaver analogue dams, structures that mimic the natural dams created by beavers, will be also installed to slow water flow and create pools and wetland habitat during high flows.

The work is being carried out as part of the Three Rivers Restoration Project, a collaboration between NWT and Severn Trent to deliver "essential measures" to improve the water environment within the River Idle catchment area.

Other rivers covered by the project are Rainworth Water and Bevercotes Beck.

The work forms part of a project to improve three rivers in the area

Ian Higginson, NWT project manager, said the restoration of Vicar Water was "by far the most ambitious element of the project" and was "amongst the most complex habitat engineering work" the trust has overseen.

He claimed the "improved habitat" will attract birds like kingfishers and little egrets, fish such as eel, bullhead, stickleback, trout and other wildlife such as dragonflies, water vole, otter, Daubenton's bats.

He said: "We are proud to be helping to regenerate a former coal mine by bringing life back to the river for the benefit of the local community.

"The river will once more become the green heart of Clipstone, transforming the local environment for people to enjoy and value."