Despite the very large numbers of fish congregated in a very small section of the Rudhall Brook, the Environment Agency has once again confirmed that they are not in distress and no action needs to be taken.

They have attracted a lot of attention not just from concerned residents but a group of herons have been spotted on the swimming pool roof, as well as in trees on the river bank. These include an egret which is a small heron.

Last month the Ross Gazette contacted the Environment Agency to report residents’ sightings of a very large amount of fish in the Rudhall Brook in Ross-on-Wye.

One local resident said, “I have never seen so many fish in this stream before, and they are all different sizes, some are really large. You cannot see the bottom of the stream, the water is black with fish.”

The Environment Agency sent a member of their team to investigate and confirmed that although it is a large number they are not in distress.

Following several more calls to the newspaper the Ross Gazette once again visited the Rudhall Brook and saw several sections of the stream which were so full of fish it was impossible to see the bed. However they were all moving backwards and forwards, there were no dead fish to be seen, and they all looked quite healthy.

Once again the Gazette reported the matter to the Environment Agency.

They said, “This is a freak of nature, we do not know why the fish have chosen to remain in this location but we are certain that if they wanted to leave they could. There must be something in the stream that they like.”

The spokesman added that fish do sometimes gather in this way and it does not normally give any cause for concern.

They added that they will continue to monitor the situation and if anyone sees the fish having problems breathing they should call the Environment Agency Incident Hotline on 0870 80 70 60.