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Small fry have big role in wildlife revival
FISH are being reintroduced to a stream near Sheffield by environmentalists hoping to boost bird numbers.
The Environment Agency is to release small fish called bullhead into Wyming Brook near Sheffield to help restore the natural ecology of the stream.
Bullhead are an important food species for a wide range of predators, particularly brown trout, herons, kingfishers and dippers.
The brook is downstream of Redmires Reservoir, and Yorkshire Water has agreed to set the outflow from the reservoir to give it a regular supply of water that will prevent it running dry as it has in the past.
Brown trout were introduced into Wyming Brook in 2004, and surveys in 2005 and 2006 showed the trout were thriving, spawning successfully and increasing in number.
Wyming Brook is run as a nature reserve by Sheffield Wildlife Trust, and as the bullhead establish themselves it is hoped the natural food chain will improve, increasing the variety of wildlife found in the area.
Pete Turner of the Environment Agency's fisheries section said: "These fish are quite small but their value in the overall scheme of things shouldn't be underestimated. Food chains can't thrive without the small fry at the bottom, and that's exactly what bullhead are.
"Bullhead are also in decline as a species throughout Europe. What we're doing here is replacing the fish in a stream where they would have been a native species before the reservoir was constructed."
The bullheads will be taken from the River Rivelin and transferred to the Wyming Brook. The brook is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, largely for its bird populations.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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