Life returns to The Wandle
Having once been classified as a sewer, The Wandle now counts as one of the UK’s most improved rivers and now supports chub, barbell and eel


A river that was once declared a sewer heads the Environment Agency's (EA) list of the 10 most improved rivers. The Wandle, a tributary of the Thames, now supports chub, barbel and eel, and the Thames itself has undergone a dramatic recovery from being biologically dead in the 1950s. The Wear has become a leading salmon river; otters have been seen in Kidderminster on the Stour; the Darent, which dried up in the 1980s, now has brown trout; and the Taff no longer flows black with coal. Other improved rivers are the Dee, Nar and Stour (Dorset).
Defra is spending £110 million to clean up rivers across the country, with £18 million pledged for the next 12 months to transform another 9,500 miles of water in order to bring the UK up to EU standards by 2015. ‘Work that we have done with farmers, businesses and water companies to reduce extraction and minimise pollution is really paying off,' says the EA's Ian Barker. ‘Britain's rivers are the healthiest they've been for more than 20 years and wildlife is returning for the first time since the Industrial Revolution.'
* Subscribe to Country Life and up to £50
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
-
Jungle temples, pet snakes and the most expensive car in the world: Country Life Quiz of the Day, April 14, 2025
Mondays's quiz tests your knowledge on English kings, astronomy and fashion.
By James Fisher
-
Welcome to the modern party barn, where disco balls are 'non-negotiable'
A party barn is the ultimate good-time utopia, devoid of the toil of a home gym or the practicalities of a home office. Modern efforts are a world away from the draughty, hay-bales-and-a-hi-fi set-up of yesteryear.
By Annabel Dixon