I’m delighted to announce that my latest Trout in Dirty Places flavoured feature has just appeared in this week’s issue of Shooting Times.

The article focuses on urban fly-fishing opportunities for trout and grayling in Britain’s market towns including Fakenham, Leominster and Tiverton, and I’ve also (briefly!) addressed the vital role that’s played by good rural land management practices and catchment-sensitive farming in protecting water and habitat quality across whole river systems:

The Wye and Usk Foundation estimates that more than 700,000 tonnes of valuable soil are washed into the Lugg and other tributaries of the Wye every year, smothering spawning gravels at the same time as denuding the local strawberry, maize and potato fields, while fertiliser run-off contributes to algal blooms that deplete river oxygen levels and even cause fish kills.

… so this isn’t an insignificant environmental or economic issue (hang on, did someone just say ecosystem services or Upstream Thinking?)

I grabbed my Shooting Times at Victoria Station yesterday between Rivers Trust and Wandle Piscators meetings – and you can’t get much more urban than that.

But copies should be available at newsagents in towns of all sizes across the UK for the next few hours at least.  So if you’re interested in exploring a totally different angle on the traditionally rural sport of fly-fishing, pick up yours today!