Wildlife in Moray: Feargal Sharkey lends support to Spey charity
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Singer turned conservationist Feargal Sharkey OBE will be at the official launch next week of a charity to improve the River Spey.
The former frontman of The Undertones has been a passionate fly fisherman since his childhood in Derry.
Nowadays he's become something of a figurehead in the fight to save Britain's rivers.
The singer will be at an invitation-only event on Thursday at the Boat of Garten Community Hall as the special guest of the Spey Catchment Initiative.
The SCI has turned itself into a charity to help its ongoing mission to create a thriving natural environment for wildlife right along the length of the Spey and its tributaries.
Another well-known figure from a different field has also become involved with the new charity.
Martin Gilbert, the Aberdeen-based financier, has agreed to be chairman of its board of trustees.
Roger Knight, heads the Spey Fishery Board, which is a member of the SCI's steering group.
He said: "We're thrilled to have the exceptional support of Feargal Sharkey and Martin Gilbert.
"With joint biodiversity and climate crises threatening our river and catchment ecosystems, there has never been a better or more urgent time to focus on habitat restoration.
"Many organisations are keen to invest in projects that are good for the environment."
The SCI has been in existence as what's known as a public-private partnership since 2010.
It's now become a charity to help it attract 'green finance' for conservation projects to restore salmon and other threatened species to the Spey, as well generally make the river more resilient to the ravages of climate change.
To increase the numbers of microbes and insects which constitute the salmon's diet, it's recently felled a number of trees with their roots still attached.
These have been placed into the water at strategic points along the upper reaches of the Spey and tributaries such as the Calder.
