Numbers of White-clawed Crayfish have crashed after the arrival of the American Signal Crayfish introduced the deadly crayfish plague to the UK. Some streams in the Wyre Forest still support healthy populations of the species, but these are far from safe due to the presence of crayfish plague in nearby. Graham Hill describes the mixed fortunes of the White-clawed Crayfish in the Wyre and discusses some tactics for conserving the species.
It used to take half-an-hour to collect half a bucket of (White-clawed) crayfish for lunch’ and ‘Every likely stone had one or more (native crayfish) under it and they were easy to catch …’ are recollections from the 1950s and 1960s of two residents of the Wyre Forest.