Nominee Summary
The Dee District Fishery Board and Ballogie Estate collaborated on this ambitious project to restore the Cattie Burn, an important tributary of the River Dee. Re-meandering, weir-removal, wetland creation and native tree planting were utilised to restore habitat for many species including, amphibians, invertebrates, wading birds and the endangered Atlantic Salmon. (Please note the nominees for this award are both the Dee District Salmon Fishery Boards and Ballogie Estate- not 'Abby Nicol' who is filling in the application form on behalf of both organisations)
What was the motivation behind the work which was undertaken?
The Cattie Burn project set out to bring together a wide range of habitat restoration techniques to have an immediate impact on the River Dee’s endangered and iconic wild Atlantic salmon population and benefit other wildlife species. The Dee Fishery Board and River Dee Trust, with their expertise gained from previous successful restoration projects, collaborated with Ballogie Estate, with their aim to increase biodiversity on the Cattie burn, to make it more resilient to climate change and weather events such as floods and droughts. This was achieved through a range of practical measures including the installation of large instream woody structures as well as smaller, hand-built wood structures. A straightened section of the burn was remeandered to create 700m of watercourse. These techniques enable excess shingle to exit the burn improving salmon spawning ground along the Cattie and creating wetland habitat. Two disused weirs were removed, a widened river restoration zone on the floodplain was created, along with wetland enhancement, native riparian trees were planted, and the non-native invasive Japanese knotweed was removed. The DDSFB facilitates practical measures to create, restore and enhance riparian habitats throughout the catchment of the River Dee in Aberdeenshire. Ballogie Estate identified a range of conservation measures in its five-year plan including improving designated areas on the estate of which the Cattie burn was one. The restoration of the Cattie Burn project has built on previous proactive management by the estate to benefit biodiversity. The project delivery ran from August 2023 – March 2025.
Overcoming Challenges
The project was delivered by the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board (DDSFB) in collaboration with Ballogie Estate Enterprises (BEE), and with support from NatureScot as primary funders. The River Dee Trust and Woodland Trust as well as DDSFB and BEE also provided funding and/or in-kind contributions. The project involved working with a range of other stakeholders, without whose support this initiative would not have been possible. In-kind funding was instrumental in moving the project forward. The original remeander design put into the NatureScot application was almost half of what was finally created. Through generous contributions from our contractors CRC we were able to deliver 700m of remeandered channel. The project represents great value for money owing to the diversity of habitat created over the course of the project. Groundworks were completed in late summer 2024, ensuring the works avoided the sensitive periods of fish spawning and egg development as well as the main breeding bird season. Translocation of fish from the old channel to the new involved skilled work which DDSFB staff are very experienced in. Any potential excess sediment was mitigated when the new channel was connected through good project managing and sediment traps. The project created opportunities for local contractors to gain experience in pioneering river restoration techniques and to involve new contractors in some of the works.
Including the community
This project has also connected with the local community. It has had support from many local people during volunteering events, who delivered most of the tree planting and carried out willow peg addition in the riparian zone. A number of groups have enjoyed ‘walk-and-talks’ of the restored area both via Ballogie estate and through the River Dee Trust. Learning from good practice to encourage further restoration projects Visits from student groups which have benefitted their research and/or contributed to students qualifications. There will be further opportunities created for volunteer involvement and awareness-raising to demonstrate best practice.
