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Before bank reprofiling
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After bank reprofiling
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Erosion control
Livestock overgrazing destroys bank side vegetation which leads to erosion. Agricultural land is lost and the water becomes choked with sediment having an adverse effect on biodiversity. Invertebrate populations are reduced and salmon and trout eggs are starved of oxygen.
Erosion can be prevented through bank re-profiling work and willow spiling. The lost part of the river bank is reinstated and replanted to bind the soil together. Willow spiling is used alongside this to reinforce it. Freshly coppiced willow stakes are hammered into the river bed at the foot of the bank to create the base for a living willow fence which puts down roots to further bind, and stabilise, the riverbank.
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Erosion control 