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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