Improvements to the River Dee as part of a £3.5m project to improve habitat for freshwater pearl mussels 

Gravel embankments will be removed along 500m of the Allt an t-Slugain burn near Braemar to restore habitat for the rare freshwater pearl mussel and for salmon.

The embankments were constructed in the 1980s to prevent the burn from spilling onto the adjacent grazing land during high flows. However, in some cases embankments can increase flood risk downstream by reducing temporary floodplain water storage. They can also affect the river channel by increasing flow speed and depth, leading to riverbed erosion, and reducing in stream habitat for mussels and fish.

Click the link below to read more about this project.