Moves to protect freshwater pearl mussels and salmon

Gravel embankments will be removed along 500m of the Allt an t-Slugain burn near Braemar to restore habitat for the rare freshwater pearl mussel and for salmon.

The embankments were constructed in the 1980s to prevent the burn from spilling onto the adjacent grazing land during high flows. However, in some cases embankments can increase flood risk downstream by reducing temporary floodplain water storage. They can also affect the river channel by increasing flow speed and depth, leading to riverbed erosion, and reducing in stream habitat for mussels and fish.

Removing the embankments will allow the burn to naturally re-meander over time, further slowing the flow of water into the River Dee. The burn will be given a helping hand as infilled connections to old channels will also be re-opened as part of the works. Restoring the natural flow of the burn will increase spawning habitat for salmon, the host species of freshwater pearl mussel larvae.

After works are completed more than 2.5km of new stock fences will be installed to keep livestock off the riverbanks, allowing vegetation to establish. Native trees will be planted along the banks to provide dappled shade over the water and enhance the habitat for the wildlife that lives in and around the streams.

Iwan and Manuela Wirth, local residents and owners of The Fife Arms hotel in Braemar, have made a significant contribution which has enabled the project to go ahead.

They said: "We are delighted to help fund this crucial work to improve and safeguard the natural habitat of the many species indigenous to the River Dee. This scheme is an important component in our ongoing commitment to support restoration and conservation projects in the local area, which we are proud to call our home."

Angus McNicol, estate manager for Invercauld Estate, said: "We are delighted to be helping to facilitate this important project. Conservation is a key element of the estate's objectives and these works are expected to result in improved habitats for a number of species in a key tributary of the upper River Dee."

The work is being done as part of the Pearls in Peril LIFE project (PIP), working in partnership with the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board and River Dee Trust.

Edwin Third, of the Dee Salmon Fishery Board, said: “This project, with the support of all in the PIP Team and the likes of Mr and Mrs Wirth, means that we have been able to successfully tackle projects that were previously too difficult to take on. This is a real practical benefit to the Dee, its wildlife and the local community.”

The Allt an t-Slugain is within Cairngorms National Park whose planning committee recently granted permission for the works. Eleanor MacIntosh, convener of the planning committee said. “The committee is delighted to give planning permission for such an exciting restoration project within the National Park.”

The PIP project ends in March 2017. Over the past three years it has carried out a number of improvements throughout the River Dee catchment including planting over 100,000 trees, facilitating more than 95km of buffer strips and riverbank woodland schemes, the removal of 29 boulder croys and getting 40 school classes out onto the river. Last year the project removed 30 cars from the river bank which had been used in the 1980s to repair flood embankments near Mar Lodge.