Trout in The Town – Darlington

Trout in the Town is a project aimed at enhancing the River Skerne corridor through the centre of Darlington.

The end goal is to provide habitat and spawning opportunities for brown trout and other fish species in this heavily impacted urban stretch of river.

Did you know The Skerne flows underneath 17 bridges in Darlington? The river lends its name to the Skerne Park estate in Darlington.

To the south of Darlington the Skerne passes through South Park, and then, after flowing under the A66 bridge, leaves the town to flow through the countryside for its last two miles (3 km), before joining the Tees at Hurworth

Trout – A medium to large fish, the brown trout lives in fast-flowing, stony and gravelly rivers. It is a predatory fish, feeding on insect larvae, small fish and flying insects, such as mayflies and damselflies. Spawning occurs between January and March when females (accompanied by a number of males) lay their eggs on gravelly beds. Fertilised externally, the eggs are buried in the gravel. The young fish, called ‘fry’, hatch and feed on the nutritious yolk sac before moving on to feed on invertebrates.

The brown trout is a golden-brown fish with a dark back and creamy-yellow belly. Its back and sides display dark, reddish spots with pale borders. Much smaller than the Atlantic salmon, it can be distinguished from the similar rainbow trout by its plain, dark tail fin and by the lack of a purple side-strip

We plan to assess the current state of fish and invertebrate populations through Darlington; this will provide a baseline against which we can monitor over subsequent years.

Various river activities will improve the river channel through the town by creating a narrowed, low flow channel within the existing concrete walls and modifying the weir to enable the free passage of fish.

Trout in the Town is in the planning stage with our partners and will see development later this year.