Dorset’s famous River Stour has received a major boost with the successful completion of river restoration work at Glen’s Weir on the Throop Fishery.

A number of improvements have been carried out by the Environment Agency including riverbank repairs, habitat creation and the re-instatement of fish spawning grounds.

The works will help a variety of species including salmon, barbel, trout and chub.

Extensive dredging in the 1970s removed thousands of tonnes of gravel from the Stour for flood risk purposes.

The works caused the loss of miles of spawning habitat for species including barbel, chub, salmon, sea trout and brown trout.

The Agency has worked with the Barbel Society and Ringwood & District Angling Association to identify the best sites for river restoration.

The £20,000 improvements included placing nearly 600 tonnes of Portland stone into a collapsed bank and old weir and re-profiling a weir pool.

Refuge areas were also created for young fish.

The work at Glen’s Weir is the latest in a series of projects carried out by the Environment Agency on the River Stour over the past nine years.

The improvements are important because they will help the river achieve good ecological status under the European Water Framework Directive.

The River Stour used to be one of the UK’s top salmon rivers famous for its large multi-winter salmon. These are mature fish that have spent several winters at sea and return to the river of their birth to spawn – often weighing more than 20lbs.