Crayfish in the Dales
May 11, 2009
Well it’s a soggy Monday morning, but I won’t complain, the rivers have been in desperate need of some water, it has been at summer low at a time of year that needs a bit more flow. Reports of kelts still hanging around should now disappear if we get some meaningful water, and perhaps we will start to see the odd springer. A reminder to the anglers (not that they need it I’m sure), that all salmon caught before the 16th of June MUST be returned.
Last week was a great week both weather and work wise. Monday was it’s usual admin type day, where we sorted out paperwork and planned the week ahead. Philip popped in as usual to chat over a few issues and to make some suggestions. We also nipped down to Pendle Junior school to test the water quality of the trout in the classroom tank, as there has been some algal growth. All nutrients and ammonia were well within acceptable levels, and the algae is most likely the result of the large amount of sunlight the tank receives due to it’s location. Something we have talked over with the School and have found a solution for next year.
Tuesday I attended a Water Framework Directive Meeting on the River Basin Management Plan. I had my doubts prior to the day, but came away feeling like we had achieved a lot in our consultation (quoted by the regional planner on the day I might add!!) as well as thrashing out how we can help the EA to start achieving it’s objectives, hopefully before the deadlines of 2027 they have been set. There was a good range of people there from the Wildlife trusts, to the RSPB and 4 rivers trusts. It was nice to finally meet Sarah Littlewood from the Lune Trust, and catch up with the others.
Wednesday I went up to the Yorkshire dales to help Paul Bradley with his White Claw Crayfish scheme. The aim of this scheme is to eradicate Crayfish Plague from it’s only known location in the Ribble. It is a novel and hopefully effective approach, that halts the addition of plague free crayfish to a contained pocket of crayfish, thus allowing the plague to die out. It was good to meet some more EA staff from different departments, such as Biodiversity and the Ops Delivery team, and the Bacon and Egg butties made by Ian Fleming of Manchester Anglers went down a storm! On the day we rescued from dewatered (part of the works) several hundred White Claws, similar numbers of Bullheads and a single Trout.
Thursday the trust and a contractor ran an equipment check for our latest American Signal Crayfish (ASC) Trial, which overall was successful and a further trial will be run in due course. More details of this will be released as and when we have finalised the works. It is a hugely important scheme, and top priority for the trust.
Following on from this on Friday Stephanie Peay and I had a talk about other ASC related work we want to carry out this year, and will be meeting in May to sort out details. Specifically work to highlight the ecological and economic threat this awful invader poses to our Country. Stephen and I also managed to get to Backridge farm to check the progress of the trees our volunteers planted 6 weeks or so ago, we were delighted by the results, and the highlight was the discovery of a duck nest with 10 eggs, and a oyster catcher nest with 3 eggs within the habitat fencing. It just goes to show how wide the benefits of our work can be!! And finally (yes there is more!) our Spawning Channel for Ings Beck was completed on Friday afternoon, the work has been absolutely brilliant, and we hope to find it’s utilised this winter to the same levels as the Dunsop channels!
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We have two spring fed ponds on the Charity Centre 865 feet above sea level aboy 3/4 acre ish. Only a few fish in the ponds. Would like to help the native Crayfish. Is there anyway we can help? Our nearest river is the Taff. It has signal crayfish. I have contacted someone locally and have been waiting for years to be told now that they are not interested. Either way best of luck with your program.