By Bethany Rossiter
Following the planting of 300 native trees at Penrose Stream at the end of January last year, further tree planting has taken place on the sides of the Cober Valley, near Helston. Over two days (Thursday 14th and Thursday 21st November 2019), 531 trees were planted on the streamside edge of two steeply sloping fields, and in a further field on the Cober Valley bottom, at Gwavas near Lowertown, Helston. The trees were donated by The Tree Appeal and were planted by volunteers from the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Upstream Thinking Project, Wild Cober Volunteer Team, the Environment Agency and Cornish Mutual, during some very wet and windy conditions.
One of the sections of steep sloping field planted up with hundreds of native tree species (Copyright: Cornwall Wildlife Trust- used with permission)
A mix of several native species of trees were planted with several purposes in mind such as, reducing flood runoff from fields and to increase rainfall infiltration, in order to protect one of the smaller tributary rivers of the River Cober. Furthermore, this work will help to create a wooded stream corridor between the woodland and hedge habitats on the valley sides, and the larger Lower Cober Valley County Wildlife site woodland that cover much of the valley bottom, in the area between Lowertown and Helston.
Some of the volunteers hard at work planting trees (Copyright: Cornwall Wildlife Trust- used with permission)
A mix of faster and slower growing species of trees were planted. The faster growing downy Birch and Hazel and areas of Willow and Alder, beside the stream will quickly develop some wildlife and landscape interest, giving time for the slower growing wild Cherry, Rowan Sessile Oak and Holly to develop. Also, in order to create an understory layer in the woodland, the trees were also interplanted with several species of native shrubs including; Hawthorn, Hazel Blackthorn and Elder. This will have the benefit of providing shelter, nesting and feeding habitat for a range of insects, birds and small mammals.
A large variety of trees native to the local area were planted (Copyright: Cornwall Wildlife Trust- used with permission)
The trees selected to be planted in this location are all broadleaved species that are native to this area of the country. This allows them to provide maximum benefits to native species of fungi, lichens and invertebrates in the area, as well as several species that sit higher up in the food chain that feed on them.
Loe Pool Forum 
Are trout still present in the Loe? Used to fish there as a boy and am a salmon biologist by profession partly as a result of the interest generated by seeing the results of a declining ecosystem. I find the present state of the Loe very upsetting even though I live in Scotland.
Hi Keith, thanks for your interest.
Yes, the decline of any ecosystem is upsetting. The Loe Pool Forum partners are doing their best to improve this little patch of the world though!
What did you used to catch?
A fish survey by ECON in 2015 did not catch any brown trout in the Pool. However, the consultants thought that some large mature fish are still present in the deeper open waters. The fish consultants did find good numbers of small young trout in the River Cober around Helston.
Under our Wildlife & Ecology section of the Reports tab you can find all the research. Follow these links to read the full reports on fish:
Click to access loe-fish-survey-final-report.pdf
Click to access 2018-review-of-the-fish-surveys-in-loe-pool-cober.pdf
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I fished the Loe in the 1980’s with my father who had fished it on and off from at least the 1950’s. When I fished it we caught trout, rudd and,for a few years, naturalized rainbow trout which had escaped from a fish farm. The quality of the trout was still high and they were a mixture of typical looking brown trout (my father would call them Cober fish) and more silvery ones which were considered to be ‘proper’ Loe fish. Algal blooms in the summer months were already starting to be a problem after May and June had passed. In retrospect I think we were witnessing a once famous fishery in its death throes although I live in hope that things improve. Keep up all your great efforts and I will try and volunteer to do something to help when I am next down on holiday.