Never a chance of standing still

September 1, 2009

The weather….. what more do I say, early in the week, we managed to survey the spawning channels on the Dunsop and were encouraged by yet another set of A grades on the Upper Spawning channel.  The lower spawning channel requires some more work, improving flow, but still produced good results.  We also surveyed Pendleton brook just below Pendleton and were really encouraged by great results, despite a tributary being poor.

Tuesday was a busy day as I had a site meeting with Baileys (our contractor for the majority of our works) to discuss modifications to the design of the Fish pass on the River Don ( Calder Catchment).  Followed by a stint on Radio Lancashire.  We squeezed in a couple of surveys, and I fell guilty to the one thing I tell other not to, I looked at a tiny brook and pronounced the survey to be a waste as it was to small for salmonids.  How wrong I was!!  The brook was full of trout fry, in no small part due to the work of the Clitheroe Estate fencing off becks to improve habitat.

The rain Tuesday night and Wednesday morning resulted in no survey work Wednesday, but I still was non-stop with correspondence, reporting, data entry, and projects!

Thursday I managed to get out and survey Bashall Brook.  This brook is one that has three sections, a piece above a weir impassable to migratory fish, a section down to Cow Hey Brook, and one below.  The top two sections perform well for the respective Fish able to reach it, however due to intensive farming, Below Cow Hey brook just doesn’t stand a chance.  The contrast in the results is so stark it is depressing, but a perfect example of how modern “Factory” farming can ruin the environment.  Not all the farms below Cow Hey brook are this way, with several supporting habitat schemes and river improvements.

Friday was another wash out, we had aimed to survey Chipping brook to provide data to the Hodder Consultative on the performance of their Sea trout Project.  Early morning correspondence between us resulted in cancellation, the correspondence went something like:  “Andy can’t get a quad bike across Chipping Brook”, “well there isn’t much hope for us standing in it then!”.  We utilised the day to get more Data entry done, and send off a few more of the bits of information required for upcoming projects, both this year and next. 

I had hoped that I could then get back to surveys this week, but it looks bleak with the Ribble Running at what must be near 3 foot and coloured.  We still have a lot of surveys to do, and I am now nervous as to hitting our targets, so sorry salmon anglers, I’m praying for a dry September!!

Oh I was going through some old photos from January of this year and found one I had taken of a rather sizable dead salmon Kelt.  I was out walking my dog one weekend, and was counting how many kelts I could see on the Ribble just below Calder Foot.  I came across this “little” which I got the dog to stand next to for scale!

cassiekelt.jpg

My dog is nearly a metre from rear end to nose and weighs around 16kg or 35lbs, So this fish when it entered the river was at least that size!

Posted by Charles Edward Poate | Filed Under Uncategorized 

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