Back into the swing of things

April 6, 2009

Well the first week out of the way it was back to business as usual. Even our internet in the office was back up and running!! The current water levels restricted our activities, so more time was spent in the office than usual. I’ve been working on an overhaul of the trusts website to try and make it both more interactive and informative. This takes a lot more time than most people think, it’s certainly not just a case of whipping something together.

Tuesday we had a site meeting with Mark Rudd the new EA officer for the Hodder. We went down to the Langden to look at a potential new site for a spawning channel, which fingers crossed will go ahead. We also met the contractors for United utilities who are doing pipe protection work near the old Langden channel that the river filled in. The bonus here is that their work may resolve the problem with that spawning channel, making it successful which would be a fantastic result.

Wednesday was a fantastic day. Delivering the Eggs for trout in the classroom. This is such a rewarding scheme, the kids are so excited and keen to learn about fish and the environment that we were deluged with questions. The schools we visited were; Dunsop, Longridge, Chipping, St. Leonards (Padiham) and Pendle (Clitheroe). There was a little fine tuning and setting up to be done, but fingers crossed in a fortnight the schools will see a hundred alevins.

A brief visit to Padiham weir resulted in no siting of salmon for our 5th visit on perfect water, has the pump priming stocking that took place finished it’s course with the last of the fish returning last year?

Thursday was another day working on the website, and printing out my report for the 2008 electro fishing and putting it into binders. If you would like a copy please pop in or ring the office.

Friday was an exciting day as Lord Smith the Chair of the EA visited the catchment to talk about the abstraction on the Whitendale and Brennand. After what seems to have been a positive meeting in the morning a brief site visit to look at the rivers occurred. Both Salmon and Sea trout were seen giving much excitement to our visitors.

After the visit I dropped to the spawning channels on the Dunsop, where a large amount of cutting has taken place, if only there was more space for more schemes! There was a small salmon sitting in the top channel, and a small sea trout in the bottom channel. It is so good to see how effective these have been

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The Atlantic Salmon Trust’s Annual Auction

The auction is set to begin mid January, but you can already bid on some of the lots right now! Take a look at the Atlantic Salmon Trust's website for further details, and keep an eye out for the Ribble Trust's unmissable package which features quality fishing opportunities on both the Ribble and Hodder. The auction is the AST's principal fundraising event which helps them continue their important work to secure the future of Atlantic salmon and sea trout.

Ribble River and Valley: A Local and Natural History, by Malcolm Greenhalgh

The Trust have a number of copies of this classic book for sale, and the royalties will go directly into the conservation the Ribble Catchment. Priced at £17.99 (plus P&P), the book is informative, brimming with colourful photographs and beautifully produced - an excellent gift for anyone.


 

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