Nature Features

For once he didn't eat them… as Bear Grylls rolled up his trousers and trudged into the River Kennet along with a gang of excited school children.

Helped by the SAS trained and TV survival expert, children from Ramsbury Primary School watched their trout's brothers and sisters released into the wild for the first time.

Children from Ramsbury Primary School

This was the culmination of month's of work, when in January hundreds of trout eggs arrived at the school, donated by Berkshire Trout Farms.

Eggs to Fry

The children took it upon themselves to raise this mass of eggs into healthy young fish.

And, by the middle of May, there were about 100 fry (baby trout) but tragically the fish outgrew their tank and their numbers decreased.

It was then decided that it was no longer fair to keep the trout and they were released a week early.

Wanting to celebrate their success, a batch of trout from the same bunch of eggs was released on Wednesday May 21st... the brothers and sisters.

They may be small fry but Grylls was still asked if he'd been tempted to eat one, he chuckled: "I'm definitely out of work mode."

Throughout project Trout ARK the pupils have visited a trout hatchery and learnt about their local ecosystem as well.

Bear Grylls rolls up his trousers

Project work also involved learning about chalk streams and studying developing eggs under a microscope, Josie of Class 5 said: "they were so cute, I couldn't wait for them to hatch."

The Great Escape

In a grand finale each student released a fish, as Bear Gryll rolled up his trouser legs and waded into the River Kennet, and the children followed keenly.

Deemed a success the project is being considered for other schools in the area and Mr Grylls agrees: "projects like this are brilliant."