By Kerri Tyler

Stroud Valleys Project (SVP) has been dealing with some slippery customers recently… in a good way. The charity, which manages around a dozen local sites, has been restoring Arundel Mill Pond for two decades – and they’re now seeing the results of the work put in by staff and volunteers.

“The site, just along the River Frome towards Chalford, was completely overgrown with reeds,” explains SVP’s CEO Clare Mahdiyone. “Archaeological evidence shows there was a mill here as early as the 14th century, but over the years it’d been used as a dumping ground and the pond had become silted up.”

The charity set about restoring the area when they took over its stewardship in the 1980s, but progress has been beset with challenges. Partnership working with Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, and Severn Rivers Trust has been fruitful, with open water and wetlands providing a better space – and wildlife is gradually returning.

Project officer Tamsin Bent has been observing changes. She says, “We hydroseeded the islands in March; this means mixing seeds with a jet of water to make planting denser. The more wildflowers, the more likely we are to see birds and small mammals. We’ve spotted Grey Wagtails, Dippers and Kingfishers – and the other day, there was a swan on the pond.”

SVP also repaired the weir using stone taken from the Forest of Dean – but the most exciting change has been the addition of an eel pass.

“Eels usually leap out onto greenery and wriggle their way downriver,” explains Tamsin. “The weir here means they can’t do that, so we’ve created a pass – a kind of eel staircase – using special tiles.”

Eels, once plentiful in British waters, are now an endangered species. Recent research confirmed for the first time what was long suspected – that every eel in the world is born in the Sargasso Sea near the Bahamas, and that they return there to reproduce and die. And SVP have been doing their own research: testing in the River Frome has revealed eel DNA downstream of the weir, but not upstream.

“Next time we test, we’ll be able to see if eels have used the pass to travel upstream,” says Tamsin. “Watch this space!”