Early in 2018, I was asked to film some work done on the River Avon near the Chisenbury tank crossing just south of Upavon. This was carried out by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust's river team, who actually moved the river to reconnect it to the surrounding floodplain. In doing so they have restored a wet habitat and allowed natural river processes to take place. At the time, there had been plenty of rain so the river was full of water and really allowed the team to get good insight into how the natural river processes had developed since the work was done a few months ago.
This section of the river is right in the heart of the Salisbury plain training area and the land is owned by the MOD, so we had to get permission to fly. This involved ringing air operations on the day to let then know when we were in the air. There was a minor worry on the day when we thought we could hear approaching choppers, but it turned out to be tanks driving across the nearby plain and they create a similar sound.
It was a great opportunity for me to see some of the work that WWT does in the county, and we are aiming to get back here on a regular basis to chart progress on the river.