Mill pond restoration near Stroud aims to help breeding eels

The mill pond will be restored so there is open water and smaller islands made of silt

A mill pond is to be cleared of silt and debris to help eels access their breeding grounds more easily.

The Arundel mill pond off the London Road, near Stroud, is owned by the Stroud Valleys Project (SVP) and links to the River Frome.

Chief executive Clare Mahdiyone said: "There's a whole string of mill ponds along the River Frome and unfortunately they're all silting up."

Work is expected to begin next week and will run until the end of September.

The ultimate aim is to clear the River Frome of barriers that prevent all fish species from reaching their breeding grounds.

"The vision of the project is to get to Salmon Springs in Stroud," said Ms Mahdiyone.

"We're removing the silt to create more biodiversity and to increase water storage.

"Unfortunately we've had flooding issues in Stroud in the past and so being able to hold more water in the landscape will help," she added.

Clare Mahdiyone says the work will be finished by the September

She said the work would also include mending the weir and installing an 'eel pass' so eels can cross over the weir.

"We've got eels in the pond at the moment so if we put in an eel pass we can increase the numbers of eels that can get up this far.

"At a later date we can create a fish pass for other species," said Ms Mahidiyone.

Other work will include clearing the pond from reeds to create open water, planting new water plants and using the silt to create small islands so birds can nest.

The silt would be carefully managed as lampreys, a species of jawless fish, were discovered there.

The project is part of a wider effort to increase biodiversity from the River Severn at Slimbridge up to the River Frome at Arundel Mill Pond, Stroud, which the charity says is roughly a 10-mile stretch.

In 2019, the charity, along with WWT at Slimbridge, the Farming, Wildlife and Advisory Group (FWAG) and the Severn Rivers Trust received over £1m from the Environment Agency for its Severn Waterscapes project.

This stage of the project will cost £160,000.