Meet the Team

Cumbria and Lancashire River Restoration Programme Manager.

I'm a rare 'can do' river restoration programme and project manager delivering environmental improvements across the UK and Europe.

My background is in fisheries management and science, biodiversity and conservation, which I happily did for many years, before taking on the role as lead for the highly acclaimed Cumbria and Lancashire River Restoration Programme.

In the last 15 Year’s I have directly coordinated the delivery of over 300 restoration projects, including 50+Dam/Weir removals. This has brought the team great success, winning 4 UK river prizes, 5 wild trout trust awards and the European River Restoration Award in recent years.

Ian is Emeritus Professor of Applied Fisheries Science and Former Director of the Hull International Fisheries Institute at the University of Hull, UK.

Ian has extensive experience of inland fisheries management globally, especially river restoration, stock enhancement, fish conservation and environmental impact assessment.

Apart from being a founder Trustee of EYRT, he is a Trustee of WildFish, Scientific Advisor to the IUCN Freshwater Fish specialist group and currently works on inland fisheries in South East Asia and East and Southern Africa and the interactions between both cormorants and beavers on fish.

Since my childhood in the 1950s & 60s I have been passionate about wildlife. In the late 1960s I studied Biology & Ecology at York University. After qualifying I spent 4 years as a research scientist working for the Ministry of Agriculture in their Plant Pathology Laboratory at Harpenden. This was followed by gaining a teaching qualification at Gloucester & Cheltenham College, after which I taught Biology Chemistry & General Science in Secondary Schools in Bridlington & Driffield.

I have been retired for 18 years and devote much of my time to studying aquatic wildlife.

I am a sampler, regional coordinator and tutor for the Riverfly Partnership. This is a nation wide group of volunteers, organised through the Freshwater Biological Association, who regularly sample the aquatic invertebrates in our rivers in order to monitor any pollution incidents.

I am the Nature Reserve Warden at Tophill Low Nature Reserve on the banks of the river Hull.

Much of my childhood was spent fishing with my grandfather around the Ure and Skell in North Yorkshire before studying at Bishop Burton College near Beverley. My study on otter presence in the river Hull catchment led me to explore the river, its tributaries and reserves around it as a student.

I was lucky enough to return to the Yorkshire Wolds in 2008 and have managed the successful Tophill Low site since, seeing the return of marsh harriers to the river Hull Valley, thriving water vole, great crested newt and grass snake populations, and establishing conservation grazing and the wetland plant propagation project off the back of perhaps the UK’s most successful re-introduction of greater water parsnip.

I’m currently employed as a full time river keeper at Driffield Anglers Club.

My journey into the industry started when I enrolled at Bishop Burton to study Fisheries Management. This first step wasn’t straight forward, like most teenagers I had no idea what I wanted to do for a career. During my time at Bishop Burton I met some very influential people, this opened the door to a number of great opportunities. This included being recommended to the Environment Agency electro fish sampling team where I enjoyed two full summers sampling rivers across Yorkshire.

Later down the line I started some part time work at Wykeham Lakes for the then lease owner. The position became full time when I was asked to cover in the owner’s absence due to health reasons. I was soon asked to run the fishery on a permanent basis for the land owners and continued to do so for 6 years before parting ways.

My next fisheries chapter came in the form of a river keeper role for the Driffield Anglers Club on the River Hull headwaters. I feel to have grown well into my roll learning new skills and honing old ones, but most importantly growing a network of contacts within the sector.

After successfully completing a degree in Zoology at the University of North Wales, Bangor, I joined local grain merchant Fishers Seeds and Grain, Cranswick; the company eventually becoming Frontier Agriculture. I was employed there for 38 years becoming a trader of barley and oats before retirement in 2022.

I am a keen angler, cyclist and also enjoy gardening.

I have a keen interest in the state of our rivers and waterways.

Dave is a keen, all round angler, former rugby player, cricketer and Secretary of the West Beck Preservation Society.

As a proffesional accountant Dave has kindly agreed to help us manage the financial side of our operation.

I have been in and around our streams since the age of six and have always gravitated towards water.

A keen angler in my younger years I now split my spare time between my children, dogs, two flocks of sheep and mountain biking.

My background is in Conservation having Studied Environmental Land Management at The University of Central Lancashire. I have worked in farming both fish and livestock, managed a wildlife reserve and worked with countryside management and fisheries students at Bishop Burton College.

Alongside my work with the EYRT I am also a part time chalk stream riverkeeper.

My main aim is to improve the biodiversity of our chalk streams whilst educating the next generation in their management.