They’d tell of how it used to burst its banks and flood half the town and how salmon used to go tearing upstream at the tail-end of the year to spawn in the upper reaches of its many tributaries.

There were several attempts to rid the town of the flooding from the Maine over many decades and subsequent ‘floods’ proved them all failures.

The so-called ‘dredging scheme’ of the late 1950s and early 60s did what it set out to do and alleviated the threat of flooding from the floor of the valley forever.

The scheme was deemed a great success from that point of view. From an angler’s perspective the Board of Works at the time did a hatchet-job on a once noble river.

The pools were all blasted and straightened and the ‘run’ of the river was changed beyond recognition.

However, against all the odds it still fished well for native Brown Trout down through the years and the odd salmon got through as well.

Now, nearly half a century on from that scheme, the River Maine is getting a makeover under The Environmental River Enhancement Programme. The programme is being carried out with tender loving care and it’s beginning to show. You can see the river is being helped to recover its lost beauty and you can hear its music in places where pools and runs have been recreated and enhanced. And, salmon spawning numbers have dramatically increased here over the past few winters.

By the introduction of spawning gravel and stream deflecting rocks and rests for travelling fish, the river is being revitalised and made more habitable for its fish population. There is as much care being taken with the banks of the river as there is with the bed.

Last Wednesday afternoon I had the pleasure of being invited to accompany Dr. Martin O’Grady on a trek of the upper reaches of the Shanowen – the Maine’s first tributary.

Our meeting was hastily arranged and I had little time to research my companion for the few pleasant hours.

Dr. O’Grady is a senior research officer with the Central Fisheries Board with over 30 years experience as a freshwater biologist.

He is also an author and has a couple of books on river and fish habitat related matters to his name.

Dr. O’Grady pointed out that while the work on the river here is ongoing for the past few years, the window of opportunity for enhancement is narrowed between the development and migration of growing, young fish and the spawning season.

Overhanging trees are matched – as places of rest and refuge – with newly embedded rocks. Eroded and silt creating banks have been protected by boulders. In turn these deflect the stream towards the centre to create and maintain channels of comfortable depth for travelling and native fish.

The beauty of the current programme here is that the river is dictating its treatment.

In other words: the work is going with the flow in as much as it can. Dr. O’Grady is highly regarded throughout these islands and has advised on fishery and river enhancement throughout Britain, Iceland and Canada. He has traded many habitat and stream restoration ideas on his extensive travels and the Maine and other rivers throughout Ireland are reaping the benefits of his expertise today.

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In the course of his meanderings here Dr. O’Grady has discovered and photographed a bridge in a frighteningly dangerous state.

The floor of the bridge has been completely undermined by years of rushing water and looks to be in a state of near collapse. For fear of frightening the daylights out of people in the locality I’m waiting for confirmation on the exact identity and location of the bridge in question and I’ll have more on that here next week.