The Environment Agency are planning to stock some rivers around the country with small barbel.
This is welcome news, but I wonder if the EA are going to include the Thames around Oxford, as over the years, there has been a decline in these fish.
Two other rivers in this area which would benefit from stocking are the Windrush and the Bullstake Stream.
Many years ago the Bullstake Stream in Botley was one of the premier barbel rivers in the country.
Today, you could not buy a fish from this river and in fact in a 1999 fish survey, not one barbel was found in the river.
The Bullstake holds a good head of chub which live in similar conditions to barbel, while the work which was done at Tumbling Bay weir maintains a flow of water on the river most of the year.
It would be nice to see barbel back there again.
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