Weston Farm Lower Beat

Weston Farm Lower Beat runs about a quarter of a mile of the River Lambourn in Berkshire, from the footbridge marking the boundary with Welford Park up to the footbridge below the mill. It’s the most mixed of the three beats on the fishery, and the character changes more than once along its length.

The downstream end is slow and uniform, impounded water, most likely the effect of the weir and cascade just below at Welford Park. A weed rack across the channel pinches the flow, and the increased pace keeps the gravel underneath it clean. Below the Newbury Road bridge the impoundment eases off and gives way to proper riffle, with redds cut into it. Above the bridge, the left bank is deliberately left uncut: it holds habitat for the Desmoulin’s whorl snail, a rare and protected species.

Higher up, the beat passes a perched mill leat with a sluice, then a stretch that was dredged in the past and is now over-wide, over-deep and canal-like. It’s the weakest water on the beat, more a corridor than good trout habitat, and restoring it properly is a long-term aim for the fishery rather than something already done.

The beat finishes well: the final run past Marsh Cottage up to the footbridge has a clean gravel bed under healthy growth of crowfoot, starwort and water parsnip.