MONMOUTH pupils have helped to release 30,000 small eels into the wild as part of a restocking programme.

Boys from The Grange Monmouth Preparatory School, along with 50 other schools have been involved in Severn and Wye Smokery's Tanks in School Scheme, which saw the pupils release baby eels from boats on Llangorse Lake in the Brecon mountains.

Students learnt about baby eels, called elvers, and and how they migrate to our shores from the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda, 6,000km away.

During their trip, they also saw how eels are smoked and got to taste the fish prepared by Michelin starred chef, Yoshinori Ishii, who is executive head chef at the UMU restaurant in Mayfair.

The Grange has been involved with the smokery’s restocking programme for the past five years – a scheme which has seen close to 200,000 eels released into the lake.

A tank of elvers is looked after at the school for a few weeks before the time comes to release them into the lake.