The River Kennet is one of the 161 chalk streams in the UK. It is a tributary of the River Thames; its navigable length to Newbury makes, with that of the River Avon and The Avon and Kennet Canal, a waterway that stretches across England from Bristol to London.
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| River Kennet near Avebury, Wiltshire |
Its tributaries north of Avebury combine with water from the source at Swallow Head Springs near Silbury Hill.
The area between Malborough and Woolhampton is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to the wildlife (brown trout) and the chalk stream aquatic plants it supports such as rununculus, the creeping buttercup.
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| Mouth of the River Kennet at Reading (With Brunel's GWR bridge) |
The Kennet flood plain at Burghfield in Berkshire contains many gravel pits renowned for their fishing. The river section is one of the most prolific for barbel with weights registered of over 17lbs.
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| A Burghfield Lake |
Photo attributions:
- River Kennet near Avebury: upload to wikimedia commons 16 December 2011 - CC BY-SA 3.0 licence
- Mouth of the River Kennet: 10 March 2013 by Quentin UK - CC BY 3.0 licence
- A Burghfield Lake: 30 January 2008, ex geograph.org.uk by Andrew Smith - CC BY-SA 2.0 licence.
