About The Grayling Research Trust

About Us

The Grayling Research Trust comprises a small team of trustees, three of whom act as administrative officers (chair, secretary, treasurer). The trustees are drawn from academia, the public sector and private individuals with a strong interest in grayling and their conservation.

The GRT meets in person once a year, to assess work to date, and to plan future work. Our meeting is usually held at the Grayling Society symposium in the autumn.

Trustees serve for a term of five years, and can be re-elected. The trustees bring with them wide-ranging skills in physical and biological river science related to grayling, and wide knowledge of grayling through angling, other fisheries-related activities and skills in research.

Chair & secretary: John Dart

Trustee since 2022

John KG Dart became a member of the GRT at the suggestion of Robin Mulholland who, like John, is a member of the Piscatorial Society of which John is a current Board Member and for which his Board role is to develop and oversee the research base for the society’s fisheries including the Wylye grayling study and the three PhD studentships evaluating the effects of the Anton restoration. He has 20 years’ experience of fishing the Southern Chalk Streams. He has been the Secretary of the Grayling Research Trust since 2023 and Chair since 2024.

Treasurer: David Mee

Trustee since 2016

Born and bred in Yorkshire, grayling have been a lifelong passion ever since my father first introduced me to fly-fishing in the late 70s. I studied aquatic biology (BSc) at University of Wales Aberystwyth before completing a master’s in aquatic resource management at Kings College London.

Scientific officer: Jon Bolland

Trustee since 2021

Born in Boston, Jon grew up fishing Lincolnshire rivers and drains where bream and roach thrive. Grayling was a fish that dreams were made of, although he finally caught one grayling from the Welsh Dee a few years ago. His involvement in the GRT stems from a general love of rivers and fish which extends into his every day, researching the spatial ecology of freshwater and diadromous fishes at The University of Hull. Fishing trips nowadays typically involve taking his three young daughters to the village pond.

He specialises in the spatial ecology of freshwater and diadromous fishes in a range of aquatic environments using telemetry, sonar and eDNA techniques at the University of Hull (Hull International Fisheries Institute; HIFI).

Comms: Stephen Gregory

Trustee since 2022

From Kent originally, I matured in Wales (University of Swansea), southern England (University of Oxford, UNEP-WCMC Cambridge, RSPB Bedfordshire), France (University of Orsay/Saclay) and elsewhere overseas (Kenya, Galapagos Islands, Australia).

Rich Cove

Trustee since 2017

A Cheshire lad through and through although I have lived in several English counties. Bitten by the “grayling bug” when I caught my first grayling aged 5. I studied construction (BSc) in Sheffield (building/civil engineering) before a complete change of career into fisheries.

Co-founder: Ross Gardiner

Trustee since 1994

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Martyn Lucas

Trustee since 2014

I hail from the Greensand rivers area of southwest Surrey, where I caught my first grayling during school holiday fishing adventures. I’ve been an aquatic animal ecologist (especially fish spatial ecology) at the University of Durham for over a quarter of a century, and ran a grayling tracking project co-funded by the Grayling Research Trust and the Environment Agency, on Yorkshire ‘freestone’ rivers, back in the mid-2000s.

Jessica Marsh

Trustee since 2024

A passionate conservationist, I have always been fascinated by the underwater world and dedicate my scientific career to studying aquatic wildlife in both freshwater and marine environments. I have never strayed too far from the West Country, growing up in Somerset and studying in Cornwall (BSc Zoology, University of Exeter), Southampton (MSc Biodiversity and Conservation, University of Southampton), and Dorset (PhD Biological Sciences, Queen Mary University of London), where I now reside. I am currently working as a fisheries ecologist for the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Paul Coulson

Trustee since 2024

After leaving the hallowed grounds of Sparsholt College I moved back to my beloved Yorkshire. My first job was working for the EA Dales region on the summer surveys; this was a great way to learn the different survey techniques and gave me a grounding in data handling, gear maintenance, pork pie eating and tea drinking. I worked with a great team (including Mike Lee, Ian Dolben and Steve Axford) many of whom are still friends today. From there I moved back to Winchester to take a post with Hampshire County Council as a laboratory technician working on soil sampling and analysis. Once my girlfriend (now wife) had completed her time at Sparsholt we moved once again to Yorkshire.

Ron Taylor

Trustee since 2024

Ron is a non practicing Solicitor having retired after 36 years as a Litigator and Managing Partner. He is a Level 2 Game Angling Coach and a passionate fly fisherman. He has voluntarily dedicated much of his spare time to river conservation and environmental issues. He serves as Conservation Officer for the Grayling Society and helps Fish Legal as a member of the Legal Advisory Committee. He has written Fly Fishing articles regularly for various publications and is Chairman of his local fly Fishing club.

Neil Auchterlonie

Trustee since 2024

I am passionate about fish and I have always been fascinated by grayling within my primary interest of salmonids. My career has seen me working as a biologist in both freshwater and marine environments, with largely technical roles based on a background of research and science management. I grew up in Perthshire, Scotland where my keen interest in fish took me to Stirling University (BSc in Biology), Plymouth University (MSc in Applied Fish Biology) and back to Stirling again (PhD in aquaculture). I have worked across a wide-range of aquaculture and fisheries subjects and I am now a home-based consultant. I hold a Visiting Fellowship at the University of Southampton, and the voluntary role of Editor of the Grayling Society.

Lawrence Talks

Trustee since 2024

I have always had a passion for fisheries and the environment having been an enthusiastic angler growing up fishing the canals near Rugby, the Warwickshire Avon and rivers and dykes in Norfolk.

Equipped with a BSc in Geography from Durham University and an MSc in Marine Environmental Protection from Bangor University, I was fortunate to be appointed as a Fisheries Officer with the National Rivers Authority in Hampshire in 1991. Who would have guessed that I would be still working in this field, now as the Environment Agency’s Senior Advisor for Salmonid Management for England.

Chris Williams

Trustee since 2024

I have a long-standing passion for fishing, fisheries and fish health, having fished since a young lad and studied at the Universities of Plymouth and Stirling specialising in fish disease.

I started work at the Environment Agency’s National Fisheries Laboratory (NFL) in 1998 and now work with a fantastic team of technical specialists that deliver fish disease investigations, non-native species monitoring and fish ageing. This work underpins the health, performance and resilience of our fisheries nationally and involves working with anglers, fishery owners, academic partners and government bodies.