TEN pockets of woodland are being planted by watercourses in the Yorkshire Dales Upper Ure catchment over the next few weeks.

Newbiggin Beck in mid-Wensleydale is one area where new planting is set to create better conditions for fish and stabilise riverbanks.

The ten new woodlands constitute the first part of a project known as ‘Keep Ure Rivers Cool’.

Woodlands project officer for the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Phill Hibbs, speaking during a site visit to Newbiggin Beck, said: “Any young trees have been grazed out, so we’re having a decline in tree cover.

"That means more sunlight is getting to the beck and warming the water and that’s not good for the native fish.

“What planting like this will do is cast dappled shade and cool the river, as well as stabilise the banks.

"Flood fencing, not square fencing, will be used, so that when it floods the fence won’t get taken away."

The project has identified 83 sites where it is hoped new planting will help species such as river lamprey, brown trout, otter and kingfisher.