Trout into new head waters and into the classroom
January 25, 2010
Another non stop week that just flew by. It feels like you get in on a Monday morning and the end of the week is so far away that you can’t see it. You blink and it’s 17:30 on Friday!
The week started early on Monday with a visit to Barrowford 3 to meet a trust supporter on site who is able to advise us on construction, to discuss the initial plans we have received for the fish pass. We agreed the plans were definitely the right way to go and thus were able to contact the site owners to start the process of getting an agreement for allowing us to do what is needed.
On the way back to the office I called into Pendle Junior School to pick up the faulty chiller for the Trout in the class room tank, and bring it back to the office for picking up by the manufacturers. The afternoon was spent designing the baffle arrangement to the A59 culvert/bridge to get trout above the A59 into the ideal spawning streams that are upstream.
Tuesday the chiller came back from the manufacturer and so I took it down to Pendle Juniors to install it again and get it going. We then arranged to pick up their eggs on Thursday from Dunsop Trout farm. This scheme would not be feasible without the support of the funders or Dunsop Trout Farm, who are brilliant with their contribution of eggs, time and advice.
Once that was done I was back to getting the A59 designs settled, liaising with the EA, Lancashire Highways and the suppliers of the Baffles. With this done, I need to now get my Land drainage consent in to the EA, and the licence for works to Bridges from Highways. So fingers crossed. We also crashed along with getting our Passport Scheme up and running, I’m really excited by this, and hope that I will see some of you down fishing these lovely waters, I certainly plan on fishing them all!
Wednesday I had a chat with our Treasurer to confirm some income and expenditure in preperation for our trustees meeting on Thursday night. It is often over looked by many the amount of work that is involved in simply running a trust, excluding the work we actually do on the rivers and streams. I then finished off my 2009 Fisheries Scientist report (what a relief!) and put some time into more projects for 2011. We have to plan so far in advance that my head hurts sometimes!
Thursday we got the eggs from Dunsop and into Pendle Junior School, where we were relieved to find the chiller working perfectly. Then it was time to get our reports ready for the Trustees meeting and catch up on some correspondence. The trustees meeting was intense as there is much going on (as you can gather), and ran on longer than expected – getting away at about 22:30!
Friday Philip and I met a trustee and site manager for the Heritage Northwest Trust on site at Barrowford 3. The meeting was very positive and we have support for our scheme, but we have a few issues to take into consideration and build into the project. The weir itself used to be 3.6 metres high, we were astounded by the photos, and in the 1960’s it’s height was reduced (if this hadn’t happened we would never get a fish pass on there!), the weir used to supply a goit or leet that fed a lodge pond for the old mill, that has since been demolished. As such some of the workings of the weir, the abstraction point, are of historical importance. These we need to retain in some way so that the history is visible to the public. This is going to take some more work by us, but is part of any project!
In the afternoon I contacted the Wild Trout Trust to see if they would be able to contribute towards our eel beck weir removal project. I sent them a photo, map and description of the history of the site (fish wise that is!). I am over the moon to say that the WTT are contributing to the scheme! I will be reporting on the scheme on the website and hope that once completed the WTT newsletter may contain a small article on it!
The Our Rivers Campaign is still running, which is a partnership of organisation looking at the WFD and what is being done to achieve the targets. I was asked to send them details of the impact of intensive agriculture on rivers. I was able to send them a specific example of intensive agriculture’s impact on our catchment. Which is often harder than it may seem.
So with the end of another week I was glad to get to the weekend, but equally glad to be back in today cracking on with the next week!
Comments
One Response to “Trout into new head waters and into the classroom”
Got something to say?
Environment Agency news- New maps to reveal potential hydropower hotspots
- 25 million GBP boost for anglers thanks to record rod licence sales
- Cypermethrin sheep dip to be scrapped
- Flood statement - Friday 26 February 2010 (16:00)
- UK industry should develop new technologies to flood-proof homes
- Farming must adapt to changing climes
- Environment Agency statement: Court of Appeal decision on Thames Water fine appeal
- Environment Agency outlines flood investment plans
- Lords issue warning over ‘Climategate’
- Environment Agency takes action to protect the beleaguered eel
Loading ...
Hello! I’m a PhD student from the University of Glasgow working on signal crayfish. I came across your blog and would be really interested to hear about the work you’re doing on crayfish at the Ribble Trust. Do you have a contact email address?