A short week
April 6, 2009
Well last week was shortened to just 3 days for me. Unfortunately I picked up a cold, so apart from a couple of errands I had to run, Thursday and Friday were spent in bed!
Monday once we had finished getting our offices back into a habitable state we met with our Chairman, as per usual for Mondays, and then set about sorting our final Draft for the consultation on Water Framework Directive – River Basin Management Plan. This I am glad to say shall be sent today, after what has felt like a long and drawn out process. Moans aside, it is absolutely essential that we did this, and I hope that we can now see some improvements to the plan.
Tuesday I got our consent applications and plans sorted for our Hellifield Beck Fish easement. This has been priced, and subject to consents will be completed in due course! It has serious chance of encouraging fish to make use of spawning gravels above the road culvert. Stephen and I then headed out for a targeted kick sample on Wigglesworth beck sub-catchment. We have highlighted a potential problem in one area which we have passed over to the EA, but on the whole we were delighted with the results. There is certainly good water and plenty of food for fish – and the Dippers – that kept us company on the day!
Wednesday was hec-tic to say the least. We were given consent to undertake some equipment checks, for one of our projects, details to be released shortly (I hope!). We analysed and then passed on our Data from the kick sample on Tuesday, as well as working up a couple of proposals for the trustees to consider on new projects.
The trust would also like to thank Michael and Sheila Robbins for the very kind donation they gave to the trust, the donation was raised in memory of their son Andy Robbins who was a well known, and well liked angler on the Ribble in the Clitheroe Area.
Musical Offices
April 6, 2009
Well, it’s a late post for me this week as I have been moving back into our old offices. I’ve rearranged my furniture to try and give the place a new feel, and also to fit in more equipment. Today is my one year anniversary in Lancs, and I seem to have managed to acquire a lifetimes worth of equipment in this short period! Thank you to all the people who have been patient with me, as I have sought to find my feet up here in the North, and also to those who have made me feel welcome.
I’m still raring to go, and can’t wait to get our projects underway, as well as the next round of electro fishing results. We have had our back pack serviced and improved, and this weekend I visited a friend in Leeds who had picked up some new stop nets for us. These nets are a quarter of the size and weight of the originals. This will allow us to do more detailed fisheries surveys in the more inaccessible sites – further increasing the quality of our surveys and their value.
Monday of last week I put together a presentation for some post graduate students who were visiting the area from Imperial College London. The topic of the presentation was “Where the Trust fits into the management of the Catchment”. This was really useful exercise as it made me really consider how we work with our partners and how we can improve our work, and working relationships.
Tuesday was an early start to get ready for the Students, and after a bit of confusion over the location of the talk, we made a start. The feedback on the day, was that the talk was of useful and insightful, and after a few questions, we discussed the WFD, pollution, taxonomy and plenty more. We managed to form some strong links with them, and there is a chance that we may provide a summer placement for students in subsequent years.
In the afternoon, we headed over to the Calder to do a site survey and start planning a fish easement. We spoke to one of the land owners who was very keen on the idea. It was a useful day and fingers crossed we can get some funding for this. It is only a small and simple project but has significant potential to boost Brown Trout populations. It is still often over looked how important in stream migration for Brown Trout is.
Wednesday was a day where I thanked my lucky stars for being able to do my hobby and passion for a living! I spent the day undertaking a targeted invertebrate survey of the Ribble and Stainforth Beck – In glorious sunshine, being kept company by Dipper and Wag tails!! I did 7 Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) Surveys and found the water quality on this beck to be excellent, including below the Stainforth sewage works outflow.
Thursday was another day spent on the river doing a walk over survey of Bezza Brook Below a weir, which we hope too make passable to fish. The channel below the weir has suffered from the Scouring effects of having a weir. It is a perfect example of how weirs effect more than just fish migration. We hope that in the coming years by placing suitable Baffles and boulders we can re-create a near natural pool and riffle sequence, increasing spawning habitat and in-stream cover.
Friday we met with the EA Team Leaders from those teams we work closest with as Lutra House. It was a useful meeting to thrash out this years projects. We discussed benefits, consents, funding and the program. We had hope to make more use of the good weather but we had plenty of paper work to sort out, and also we packed ready for today’s move!
A feeling of spring in the air
April 6, 2009
What a lovely morning it is! The forecast seems to be indicating a week of “settled” weather. I hope this is the beginning of spring proper! Last week was another busy week, with plenty of meetings, site visits and the usual office work. I had friends visiting on the weekend who although none were anglers are reading my blog regularly! This is a nice feeling as I hope that the blog is giving the wider public the information on how what we do is for the benefit of the entire catchment as well as the main river users. They also pointed out how poor my grammar is, so I apologise for this, and so I will strive to improve this!
Our normal Monday morning brief with our chairman went well, and a huge “to-do” list was drawn up. This was further added to when our newest Trustee (Dave Wilmot) popped in for a meeting about how we can boost our support and members. We have several projects on the go, details of which will be available in May (following the next Trustee’s meeting). Our website continues to be at the centre of this and we are working with our developers to make it more informative, and interactive. We are also trying to build an email list of all of our members, I have about 1/3 of the email addresses so far. Many will not have email, but for those that do it is an easy and quick way of communicating with them, and may help save RCCT money in the long term. So if you are a member and would like to be included on the list please drop me an email to let me know (jack@ribbletrust.com). All members of Ribblesdale anglers are members of RCCT and I have a copy of their email addresses, so if you are in Ribblesdale don’t worry about sending me your contact details.
Tuesday we undertook a site visit to the Stock beck visit with Philip Lord (our Chairman) to inspect works to date, and look at further works. In the afternoon we worked on our various project proposals and correspondence. Not the most exciting work, but very necessary.
Wednesday was a really good day, we met David Fisher from the North Lancashire Bat group. We looked at the scope of putting up some bat boxes within one of our habitat schemes. The land owner is all in favour and hopefully a dozen or so boxes will go up this year. This is a great scheme to help promote the overall work that we do, and also trial the success for inclusion in future schemes. All 17 species of Bat in the UK are Biodiversity action plan (BAP) species and this will help us to promote our habitat schemes. I spent the afternoon finalising our response to the EA sheep dip pollution reduction plans. This will be sent in to the EA in the near future.
Thursday I created a small flier for the public, outlining what the trust does and how people can get involved to help the scheme. It is different from our newsletters, and we hope that you will all see one in the near future! After lunch we went and surveyed one of our fish easements on Hellifield beck, and checked the water quality up stream. We picked up a minor pollution issue, but the invertebrates indicate that if we get our easements in there is fantastic scope for fish to spawn.
Friday we went out with our main contractor to inspect some habitat scheme repairs and to price up the Hellifield fish easement. He was very positive and gave the impression he wanted to get in and do it then and there! It is so good to work with keen contractors, who are interested in improving the environment not just getting more work. Prior to this we had looked at a similar fish easement in the catchment, we turned some stone above the easement and found this monster lurking under a rock:
I spent the last couple of hours of the day analysing some invertebrate results, and inputting our volunteer results, almost all of which have showed and improvement (as should be expected at this time of year). Lets hope this carries on and we have some fantastic hatches this year!
No rest for the Wicked
April 6, 2009
What a week! Time flies…. when you work for RCCT! It was non-stop last week. We had a meeting on Monday with David Ingham (Ribble Valley Strategic Partnership Officer). We discussed how we may be able to get involved in the partnership. It was a really positive meeting and we have come away with plenty of project ideas that we hope we can work on with them. It’s so good to meet real “doers” with vision, and the drive to achieve the same goals as us! We then nipped up to Backridge farm to plan out our tree planting for the weekend just gone, splitting up the trees and getting the stakes and tree shelters ready.
Tuesday I had the latest invert results from Dennis Halstead, Brian Smith and Andy Pritchard from Colne, Pendle and the Calder. The results for the Calder were well below expected, and the others were much better. So I contacted Lee Collins the EA pollution officer for the Calder Catchment who was straight onto it, talking to the potential polluters in the area. We’re going to try and do a more targeted survey in the area in the near future to pin point the exact location of the problem. Unfortunately yet another consultation landed on my desk, this one on sheep dip, but although they can be pain staking it is so important to respond to these and make sure that the partners involved have the right ideas and information. I’m half way through, and hope to finish off this week. Sheep dip is such a devastating source of pollution that it is so important that we get on top of it, and stay there! We also managed to get round 4 of the 6 schools with Trout in the Classroom, and all are currently doing well. The fish have now absorbed there yolk sack and will soon start “swimming up” to feed.
Wednesday we visited St Leonard’s school in Padiham and were pleased to see another tank of fish in good condition. Afterwards I spent some time looking at a scheme to promote the small tributaries to the villages around the catchment. However the scale of the project is very daunting, and it may have to wait for some time, but it’s not like we’ve not got plenty other projects on! It can be so easy to get carried away with different schemes and projects to boost the trusts work and improve the rivers, when you’re as passionate as we are. However I must always remember that there is a limit to how much we can do.
That said I then switch to costing and preparing for another scheme (all be it smaller – but just as important) and hope to have details for all you salmon anglers very soon….
Thursday was an exciting day, an early start on the upper Ribble with a contractor who we’re working with on the Signal Crayfish “problem”, the weather was fantastic and the results of the site visit are exciting. We are now awaiting EA consent to go ahead with our trial. If we get consent we believe we have a technique that will be very effective, and allow us to deal with this once and for all. We then went up to Stocks Reservoir. The problem we have here is the escapee fish that after heavy rainfall, and once the water level is over the spill way make there way down stream. Last year there were several confirm captures of double figure rainbows and brownies from below stocks. This is a serious problem, the impacts from these fish can’t be highlighted enough, from predation of our wild fish fry, too forcing them out of the best lies exposing them to cormorants and other predators. The contractor is convinced he can solve this problem for us and we hope to work with all the parties involved find a solution. This will seriously help our salmon and trout populations in the Hodder.
Friday I spent the day with Jason Pusley of the EA pollution team. We did a targeted invertebrate survey around Clitheroe, and sampled nearly all the Brooks in the area. We had some mixed results. A miss connection had sewage into Shaw Brook – impacting inverts, and there seems to have been a significant problem in Mearly since our last survey. I have already had a report from Jason to say that he’s working on the problems and hope to have them resolved very soon. The local EA pollution team are really good, and we hope to continue to work with them in this way, as it seems to be paying real dividends!
Saturday I was out with four volunteers, and a dog, to start our tree planting, the weather wasn’t kind, but thanks to Gaynor Cole, Geoff Sewter, Peter Lewin, and Matt Schofield. We managed to get in over 500 trees. Stephen was on the case on Sunday with Alec Clements, Ryan Holmes, Mick Hodges, and Matt Schofield, and managed to beat our tally getting in 600 +! A good day was had by all on both days, and we achieved our target, and thanks to this we will be getting a £500 donation.
Trees, Trees, everywhere
April 6, 2009
A mixed week in the office to say the least, it was good to be getting out onto the river banks everyday again! Monday I spent some time working on our new proposals to try and help recruit new members to the trust. These are to go before the trustees at the next meeting, and then will be announced, so watch this space! I sorted out my phone which had been having problems, and many thanks to Lee Roe at Phoneworks in Clitheroe.
Tuesday we had to sort out a few problems with one of the schools in the Trout in the Classroom, and a few bits and pieces on the various consultations we’re involved with at the moment.
Wednesday was a trip to Longridge area to look at the various potential sites for releasing the trout in the classroom scheme. I also looked at the salmon catch return figures provided to me for Calder individually (this obviously doesn’t include fish destined for the Calder caught below Calder foot!). It seems there has been a steady decrease in catches since the end of stocking, and I am eagerly awaiting the 2008 returns to see if the trend has continued down. Lets hope we can get Padiham fish pass in soon!
Thursday we did the preparation for the tree planting that happened yesterday and for next weekend. We also had Mathew Schofield out to chat (whilst we put him to work!) about what we do at the trust and what trusts can do. We also headed up to Swanside Beck to look at a tributary, that regularly has problems, and unfortunately it was running badly coloured. This was reported to the EA, who I know are in fact all over this case, but they need all pollution incidents reporting.
Friday I spent the morning with Ray Hudson, undertaking some kick sampling on Tems and Rathmell Beck. Both seem to be in good order, getting excellent results for Baetidae and stonefly especially. We had planned to do main river sampling and work upstreams of Settle to try and determine an sheep dip problems, but heavy rain higher up the catchment put paid to that as the river was up and coloured.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get out yesterday on the first actual tree planting day with the Volunteer Team from Prince Albert Angling Society. I regret this as Stephen gave a glowing report on not only how good, and how quick the work was done, but that there was a great social atmosphere! Thanks to all these lads this is a great scheme and a job well done, we look forward to the next one!
A busy time for various river interests
April 6, 2009
Well it’s certainly a busy time for the various river interests at the moment. With consultations on WFD, Sheep Dip, Fish passes and papers on Hydro Schemes. This means that slightly more time than I would have liked was spent in the office this last week. That said a trip to Stock Beck Habitat Work on Monday showed the Beck to be in cracking order, apart from the huge amount of litter on that banks, but with a resolution for our litter trap upstream we hope to have this sorted. I spent the rest of the day and Tuesday on the WFD River Basin Management Plan consultation. The less said about that the better. There was some excitement as I tried to help the friends of Greenfield LNR to get a dead sheep moved from Colne Water in their reserve. Stephen managed to spot a salmon Kelt amongst the habitat work on Stock Beck. This was a fantastic site, and shows how well the work is doing.
Tuesday night I managed to get myself to the Ribble Fisheries Consultative Association meeting. There was a lot on the agenda, and I came away with a list of things to do. So Wednesday I spent a large part of the day sorting that lot! We managed a site visit to Sawley to look at an old Mill leet, which in the past when cleaned out had been full of Eels. We dropped in to look at Swanside Below the A59 and found some rather nasty poaching and Hay right on the Waters edge. This was reported to the EA and the farmer has sorted it. We also noticed a discolouration to the substrate. I investigated this and found that there is a huge cliff (40ft) being eroded away upstream and the colour of sediment being eroded was very dark grey, almost black. This was being trapped by the Algae on the Substrate giving and almost black appearance to the river bed.
Thursday morning I headed up to Stock Beck, and did a walk over survey from the Habitat Work up. Unfortunately I found two pollution incidents, one slurry and one sewage. This was reported to Fred Higham and the EA. I also found two weirs, one possibly passable, the other definitely not.
Friday we scouted for potential release sites for trout in the Classroom. We did some kick sampling and unfortunately decided that our Longridge preferred release site was not up to scratch. We did find that Savick Brook that flows from Long Ridge and drops into the Ribble at Preston was really quite good in the upper part of the Catchment, which shows how success full the EA pollution team has been in cleaning up the brook, they are still working at the lower reaches in the Urban area, but it shows the potential.
A Change of Scenery
April 6, 2009
After losing our phones and Internet in the office again Castle Cement have found us alternative accommodation. We’re now sitting proud at the top of the main building (lots of stair climbing!). We moved in on Wednesday and are here until works to our office phone lines are completed. It is hope this will be shortly but if it’s not at least we can now work effectively.
Monday I met with Catherine Higham of Webfettlers who do our website, and we discussed the way forward for our website. Several updates due any time now, as well as some new pages in the not to distant future. Our normal brief with the Chairman and a discussion on our consultation to the much talked about Water framework Directive, River Basin Management Plan or WFD RBMP for short (well sort of). I spent the afternoon finalising our proposal for the American Signal Crayfish and also refreshing myself with the legalities of crayfish (http://www.thefishsite.com/articles/403/nonnative-crayfish-in-the-uk for those interested).
We managed a short visit to Mearly Brook, an inspection of Primrose lodge seems to indicate that a sluice has been opened, and a volume of silt has been released into the beck. This was confirmed by a resident on the Brook. We hope this won’t have damaged to beck to much, and an invert sample by John Barret seemed to show a significant improvement from the previous month, but he also noted a strange colour to the beck. The silt is less damaging to the sampled inverts than to fish or their redds.
We had a call Tuesday saying there maybe some money for WFD projects to be spent by March so a hasty sit down results in a nice long list of work that we submitted, fingers crossed it just might come off! I also did some kick sampling on a Brook targeted for restoration stocking with Brown Trout Fry. The results were mixed and further analysis is required.
Wednesday we made our office move and then the next two days I immersed myself, and nearly drowned, in the WFD RBMP consultation.
Friday was relatively quiet, the Chairman and our new trustee David Wilmot came into have a planning session on how we can promote the trust, and try and increase our membership. We’ve come up with some really good ideas, and I hope that we’ll manage to raise the membership of the trust.
First few alevins spotted in Trout in the Classroom
April 6, 2009
A very busy week, although shortened by a much needed day off on Friday. Monday morning was our usual routine with a short meeting with the Chairman, we decided to purchase and Ifor Williams canopy for our 4×4, meaning we can carry more and it’s more secure! We discussed the agenda for the Trustee meeting on Tuesday and a few other issues. The afternoon has me prepping things for the Trustees, my reports till now have been short and based around electro fishing but I had quite a list for Tuesday night.
First thing Tuesday was a visit to Bushburn to get photos of the pollution to send to the EA, which they received shortly afterwards. Then a discussion with the Electro fishing equipment engineer who, our kit has been tested and is fine, but we were discussing potential fates for signal crayfish, and also construction of electronic fish screens to prevent escapee fish form reservoirs. We will have a meeting on site in the not to distant future to discuss both issues.
We also started to round up some volunteers for our tree planting on Bashall Brook scheme. This will really help the trust, and we’ve had a great response so far. In the afternoon I met Mel Diack to discuss possible schemes the trust could do with some of the youths he works with. We are hoping to do some Himalayan Balsam Pulling in the early summer, and that Duncan Thomas the Local Wildlife Police officer will come along to educate some of the youths on poaching, or not poaching!! The Trustees meeting was very positive and very long, with the resulting increased work load for all involved! Dave Wilmot our newest trustee and Secretary for Ribblesdale Anglers is now going to be our membership publiciser, or something along those lines.
Wednesday we spent looking at sites for a new scheme we hope to begin in Autumn this year. We managed to find 5 suitable spots on the Hodder Catchment, but had hoped for 6, but 5 out of 6 ain’t bad! We came across a kelt (adipose in place) and we also found a pool containing 3 sea trout in the 1.5-3lb category! Videos to go on the website soon. At 5 it was a dash to Garstang to get our Truck Canopy which with a little work we got fitted.
Thursday we got to the office to find, no phone or Internet again!! We also met Dan Bond the Biodiversity team leader for the EA, we discussed Signal Crayfish and the way ahead, it looks like Dan’s really getting a handle on this. We also discussed joint projects the trust can work on with his team, really positive stuff. In the afternoon we visited the Trout in the Classroom schemes, and removed a few dead eggs from most, but nothing more than expected, one schools eggs are nearly all but hatched, where as the others still have some way to go. It is mad to think that spawning has only just finished, or there abouts, in the Hodder and that these eggs are all starting to hatch. The kids are all so excited it’s fantastic, it’s such a great way to get kids to connect with their environment.
Well with all that done, and having a few days leave to take, I decided to have a day off on Friday. Well sort of I couldn’t resist a Trip to an aquarium just outside Liverpool, that had Atlantic salmon in tanks. They turned out to be parr not the adults, and any who haven’t seen what farmed salmon look like compared to wild should take a visit there!
There’s no Salmon in those thar waters!!
April 6, 2009
A little later in the day than I try to post my blog for the previous week, but it’s been a busy morning!! Last week was quite event full, with more spawning, pollution and discoveries made.
Monday our normal brief with the Chairman took place, where we discussed the week ahead and week past. I was excited about the developments in our research for the off stream spawning channel. We also discussed works to protect a United Utilities pipe on Langden, which had resulted in an off stream channel being re opened, which we hope to keep open and provide more spawning habitat. A site visit later in the day unfortunately showed that the work had caused the channel to block again, but we are confident that as the works are complete and the contractors withdraw that they will re open it. I inspected the entrance to the fish-pass on Langden intake, which although perfect for sea trout, maybe a real challenge for salmon, which our electro fishing results seemed to confirm. We hope that we can work with UU and the EA to improve this. I also looked at the fish pass on the intake on the Losterdale, which seemed to have to much of a spread to create a good attraction flow, so yet another project for the trust to undertake there!! It is so funny when walking the losterdale I found three salmon, two pre spawners together, and another kelt. The kelt had his head under a stone and as I reached in to see if he was still alive, a farmer leaned over the wall behind me and said “what you doing”, I explained and he declared “I don’t think any salmon come up here, plenty of sea trout, too small for salmon” I lent back and then showed him the fish!! Just goes to show even those who live on the beck don’t always know whats in it!!
The intake on the Losterdale also traps gravel so we have yet more work there, and not far above the intake is another weir with as pass, that looks fine for sea trout, but very small for salmon, I hope to find out one way or the other later on this year when electro fishing.
Tuesday we had a site meeting for our latest Padiham proposal, which was very positive, fingers crossed on this!! I also worked on the Off stream spawning channel research proposal.
Wednesday we had another site meeting with a land agent for our project on Bezza Brook. It was really positive and we hope to move forward with this eel and coarse fish project in early summer this year if all consents are granted. However a huge dampener was put on the day when we took a detour on the way back to the office to show Stephen some pollution I had found. It turned out to be far worse than thought so we immediately rang it into the EA hotline having found who we think was the perpetrator. A site visit from the EA the next day seems to have started the ball rolling on recovery but we will watch this one closely.
Our new Newsletter was delivered, so Thursday we started distributing them to other trusts, partner organisations and supporters. Members will receive them shortly with there Chairman’s letter. One of our invertebrate monitoring volunteers had flagged up a decrease in the invert population on Mearly brook so we made a visit and, it seems as though there is some sewage getting in, a strong smell of thinners, and that the CSO had been operating. The CSO is a permitted discharge but the thinners and sewage was reported to the EA and we wait to see what is found. We got some positive feed back on the Holden pollution from the previous week, a sock had blocked a pipe, causing a back up and sewage to escape, this has been rectified and pollution stopped. It’s great when the system works!!
Friday was more work to the Website, and costing some projects, followed by a site visit to Dunsop Spawning channels, and we found fish in the Channels STILL!! It really is incredible. We also found a Kelt, once again with it’s adipose intact.
Sunday I was doing a training walk for a sponsored walk I am doing in May, and we were walking the Ribble way at Calder foot and I found a kelt in excess of 40 inches, this is an enormous fish, and I only wish I had my kit to take a scale sample and my camera!! I was not looking for kelts and found in excess of a dozen. At the end of this walk (20 miles!) I came accross what looked like a leaking septic tank which was draining into the road drains and then I believe into Bushburn Brook, so this has been reported to the EA and RFCA. You really do have to keep your eyes open in this job!!
Ribble spawning almost over but hodder still going strong
April 6, 2009
Last week was a bit of an odd week for us at the Trust. The offices’ power was cut for routine works at Castle cement and so we were a little stuck Monday to Wednesday!! But no rest for the wicked. After the power went off on the Monday we trekked over to Dunsop to check the spawning channels. Our luck was at last in and we watched two pairs of fish spawning on the top channel. It was a fantastic site, but unfortuneatly the weather made getting and decent photos or video dam near impossible. When we first arrived we scared a heron off (unintentionally), and didn’t think much of it until we realised he was stood over where the fish were then spawning!!
Tuesday I worked from home so I at least had the internet, and worked on getting video and photos ready for the website, the trout in the class room video I’m really pleased with, and we hope to get some more videos of the eggs after hatching and fry being released, but no counting chickens!! In the afternoon I met Michael Graham our Catchment Sensitive Farming officer plying his trade at Clitheroe Mart. I really hope that CSF achieves what it’s set out to. We discussed a project I have quietly in mind, which was quite useful and I got some good info including a contact at Natural England.
Wednesday, the normal morning admin duties out the way we paid a visit to Wigglesworth and Long Preston to check on spawning and any repairs to the habitat schemes. No salmon were seen, but it is getting on a bit now for the Ribble. A couple of Redds were seen on Both becks. I spent a short time planning some invertebrate monitoring and re-checking the electro fishing sites for the coming year, it may be 5 months away but that really will fly by!
Thursday was a day for crossing T’s and dotting I’s in our applications to the EA for various projects as the Deadline was Friday. So results of surveys and costings were flying through cyberspace. I also set up a meeting with Dan Bond of the Biodiversity team at the EA to discuss Crayfish, and the way forward with the Signal project. A short walk along the Ribble at Castle Cement looking for kelts etc., proved fruitless but the water was still significantly up so not much was visible.
Friday with Power and Internet Back we set about going through (mostly junk) emails to the general email address for the trust which was inaccessible to us since back in August. We found several emails from people who we have been sending apologies to for the delayed responses!! I also have hopes for taking forward research on the Off stream spawning channels and their impact. An enquiry to the Atlantic Salmon Trust about their grant for R&D informed us that we haven’t missed the deadline. I then set about speaking to Alistair Maltby at ARTS (Association of Rivers Trusts) about a good way to monitor impacts. This lead to useful info on tagging, and has given me plenty to do as a sound methodology needs to be drawn up for AST application forms. The research would be based on a 4 year plan which would have before and after monitoring of fry and parr densities. We have this years channels lined up, but need more locations for 2010. So we visited Holden Beck in the Afternoon and found a potential site, but more upsetting some pollution coming out of the Sewage “Works” at Holden, this was reported to Fred Higham (RFCA Pollution officer) who records and follows up all incidents, this is a great system and I encourage anyone who come accross pollution on the Ribble to contact the EA and then let Fred know straight after!
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