Europe removed a record number of dams and other barriers from its rivers in 2023, a report has found, helping to restore its disturbed waterways to their natural states.

Nearly 500 barriers were taken out of European rivers last year, according to figures compiled by Dam Removal Europe, an increase of 50% from the year before.

France led the way in helping rivers recover, with 156 removals, the report found, followed by Spain, Sweden and Denmark. The UK removed 36 barriers.

“It is amazing to witness another record-breaking year for dam removals in European rivers,” said Herman Wanningen, the director of the World Fish Migration Foundation and co-founder of Dam Removal Europe.

Europe’s rivers have been fragmented by dams, weirs, culverts and fords – many of which are no longer needed. An estimated 150,000 of the 1.2m barriers in European waterways are obsolete and possibly dangerous, according to the report, which documented 113 deaths involving river barriers in Europe since 2000.

Dam Removal Europe, a coalition of seven environmental groups including WWF and The Nature Conservancy, which aims to restore the free-flowing state of rivers and streams, said the pace of removals was rising.

It highlighted the removal of a quarry weir in Scotland, where a steep gorge blocked heavy machinery and meant the weir had to be removed by hand, along with the removal of a series of dams on the Hiitolanjoki River in Finland, where 34 miles (54km) of river has been opened up to salmon after being blocked for more than a century.

The EU’s proposed nature restoration law – the fate of which hangs in the balance after last-minute lobbying from member states – aims to reconnect 25,000km of fragmented river by 2030. But achieving this “will require a paradigm shift in river restoration”, according to a study in Nature that highlighted the “widespread impacts” caused by small barriers. Although large dams get the most attention, the researchers found that nine in 10 European river barriers are less than 5 metres high.

Connecting rivers helps wildlife travel and allows migratory fish to reach breeding grounds. Removing dams also allows water levels to vary over the year, which can cause habitat changes that increase the diversity of plants and animals, said Pol Huguet, a city councillor in the Spanish town of Manresa, whichremoved a dam as part of a rewilding project. He said: “Thanks to this change, for the first time, we have seen some fish going upstream to this part of the river.”

Dam removals are not always popular. When Poland removed its first big dam in 2021, most people in the area objected despite risks to their safety due to poor construction, a study found in February.

As carbon pollution heats the planet, allowing air to hold more moisture, the risks of extreme rainfall collapsing ageing river barriers is rising. At least three river barriers collapsed last year due to heavy rain in Norway, Northern Ireland, and Slovenia, the report found. Last week, a dam burst in the Orsk region of Russia as heavy rains flooded the area and forced more than 100,000 people across Russia and Kazakhstan to flee.

Obsolete barriers that were built to cope with different climates harmed the river and increased nature loss, said Wanningen. “It’s time to rethink the way we manage our rivers by removing all obsolete barriers and letting as many rivers as possible flow freely. A river that does not flow freely is slowly dying.”

There’s a hissing noise, then a peal of nervous laughter. The grey gander is on the rampage again, chasing anyone who comes within a few metres of him and his goose. Usually the pair are sedate, waddling around together, orange beaks grazing the grass. They’re just another couple of farmyard characters among an assorted bunch of dogs, horses and a tailless cat. But spring is here, and aggression levels have risen with the sap.

This pair of geese have been here for a quarter of a century. Back in his youth, the male was even more assertive, he’d block the little lane, then as the cars tentatively tried to edge past, he’d attack the moving tyres. Like swans, these heavy geese, weighing in at up to 10kg, can cause injury to people. For this old boy, it is all bluster.

The female is a likely descendant of Embden geese, one of the largest goose breeds and a domesticated version of the wild greylag. Geese were commonly kept on farms, for meat, eggs and grass mowing. They also loudly and shrilly honk if there is a nighttime intruder, so they can be useful burglar alarms.

There’s a comedy to the way they waddle around the place together, occasionally terrorising innocent people. But, of course, behind many comedies, there is often tragedy.

The female has just laid her clutch of eggs. Every spring now for nearly 20 years, her nest has failed. It’s not for want of trying: the nest spot is perfectly selected, out of sight and avoiding the strongest sun; she plucks her chest bare to cushion her nest with the softest feathers; and she sits diligently for 28 days, the usual incubation period.

But at a certain point, after the eggs should have hatched, she will have to decide that it is no longer worth sitting and the nest will be abandoned. Goose fertility declines rapidly after only five or so peak breeding years. My dad is wondering about buying a couple of goslings or fertilised eggs and trying to infiltrate them into her nest when she is away feeding. For now, though, we wait with her for the inevitable, somehow also wondering if some miracle late goslings will arrive this year.

NORTHUMBERLAND and DURHAM: The viper or adder is a common enough reptile of these two northern counties. They seem to put in an appearance as the weather turns warmer. Adders love to lie coiled on some rock in the rays of the sun. You often see them lying on the unpaved forest tracks which run through heatherland and the vast conifer forests. The southern flanks of the Rothbury Hills are a favourite place for adders. Early this year I was up on Simonside, which on a clear day can be seen from the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. There on the forest road lay what I at first took to be a length of abandoned rope. As I approached I saw the coil move. It was a big adder and it was sunning itself on the unmetalled road. I estimated its length at over two feet and its sex as female for the she-adder is nearly always larger than the male. It was certainly the biggest adder I have ever seen and I have seen many. When I touched it with the tip of my stick it raised its head and shot out a flickering black Y-shaped tongue.

To the naturalist the British snakes are fairly easily distinguished for there are but three species here: the grass or ringed snake, which is a greenish olive; the adder or viper, which is decidedly marked in black and grey; and the smooth snake, which is a rare reptile frequenting isolated localities in the far south of England.