Weir today, gone tomorrow: work starts to free Cumbrian river

Bowston is the largest river barrier removal planned for the UK this year and will allow fish and other species to move more freely

Nearly 150 years after it was built for a paper mill, work has begun to demolish a 3-metre-high weir in Cumbria as part of nationwide efforts to improve biodiversity by allowing fish and invertebrates to move more freely along the UK's rivers.

Bowston weir lies across the River Kent, an internationally important site of special scientific interest, home to white-clawed crayfish and freshwater pearl mussels, as well as water crowfoot, an oxygenating aquatic plant. But the river is in poor condition due to human interference over the centuries.