Wednesday 4 June 2014

'Incredible population' of crayfish near roundabout

A major roadworks scheme is being further delayed because of the discovery of an "incredible population" of rare native crayfish.


The native white-clawed crayfish (left) is threatened 
by the American signal crayfish

White-clawed crayfish are usually found in isolated streams in Britain, but hundreds have been found in a brook near a busy roundabout in Derbyshire.

The Highways Agency said 120 crayfish were initially found near the Little Eaton Island, and then relocated.

A further 100 have now been found during dredging of the brook.

Dredging has not yet finished, meaning more could be found.

Trevor Taylor, from Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, said: "That is an incredible population.

"I was involved in de-siltation works on the Markeaton Brook. You were only talking about handfuls of crayfish, which again was considered to be a decent population.

"Now you are finding hundreds or so, that is a significant population."

No comments:

Post a Comment

You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!

Related Posts with Thumbnails

ShareThis