A clear out ahead of the new financial year

March 31, 2011

I must try harder to get this done on a Monday morning, or perhaps I should do the weekly blog on the Friday at the end of that week. Whichever I need to get back to regular posting. The last week flew by as we had quite a lot to sort out in an attempt to be prepared for the new financial year an announcements on project bids.

Monday morning was the usual weekly brief with Philip followed by a sorting of correspondence. I then met with a couple of trustees in preparation for our riparian owners and fishing clubs meeting on the Wednesday.

Tuesday I met our contractor on a finished site to snag a couple of final issues, and then we headed off to look at another possible project site. In the afternoon I then worked on our feasibility study project on the Brun. It’s certainly going to be a hard slog getting the habitat improved and connected, but I honestly believe it’ll be worth it.

Wednesday I had a site visit to Cockden Bridge to finalise levels for the fish pass, and then it was back to the office to write the presentation for our evening meeting. The evening went very well, and thanks to the Post House Hotel in Clitheroe for hosting the evening (and for the excellent buffet!). I was so pleased to see the turn out of clubs, I’d never seen so many different clubs from the Ribble in one room. And I think that everyone was both impressed and pleased to see just how much work was going on to improve the river, and that we offer fantastic value for money! It was heartening to hear that so many of the clubs were happy with proposals for increasing our funding, including massive support for our “golden ticket” plan. The Chairman of the Hodder consultative came up with a great idea that would allow funds to be raised and shared without any significant investment from fishing clubs. In essence it was proposed that clubs would put in a few days fishing that would then be linked and sold as a ticket that would allow an angler to fish almost anywhere on the Ribble. This was done on the proviso that each day would be booked in advance. Fingers crossed that this will raise some money!

Thursday I had a meeting at Ball grove park in the morning. This was to try and find an alternative place to source water for an important stillwater feature in the park. After a serious discussion we decided to look at the possibility of using a bore hole, rather than a spring or the river, as this would minimise impacts all round. In the afternoon I took Catherine over to Bottoms Beck, where we met Pete Wilson from UU, and we walked the proposed angling passport beat there. It’s a cracking little beck and I think we’ll have good use from our anglers.

Friday we had an archiving session, we’re slowly outgrowing our office space, and this is compounded by cluttered offices and lack of storage. Thankfully Hanson Cement have come up with a temporary storage solution and so we managed to have a huge clear out. It’s amazing what a difference a tidy office that isn’t bulging at the seems can make on morale! It was a really nice way of getting things all set for the following week when results from some grant bids were expected to be announced and we could then set about another year of improvements!!!

Posted by Jack Spees | Filed Under General News, Members, Restoration and Conservation Projects, Volunteers, WFD, Working Partners | 1 Comment

Willow stakes and solar panels

March 22, 2011

What a week! It was time to really get the projects for this year going, which made a nice change from previous weeks where there was moping up from 2010 and applying for funds for this year.

Monday was a day in the office getting the final details for design of the Brun and Calder Confluence weirs sorted, and organising the commencement of works for the River Don fish pass (Which starts tomorrow!) . In the evening was a trustees meeting which was shorter than normal, only 2 hours (but it was decided to keep my reports succinct not like the all to often ramblings!).

Tuesday I had an early start I met the land owner for the fish pass on the river Don on site to check he was happy with the work, which lead onto a potential habitat scheme which would be fantastic. Jackie Monk from the EA then came in, her new role of Catchment Co-coordinator for the WFD will bring us into close contact, and so we thought we should have a sit down and thrash out what was needed from both sides -4 hours later we had the beginnings of a plan! In the afternoon it was back to the Calder Brun Confluence and corresponding with the EA national fish pass group to agree on a concept.

Wednesday we had a visit from Imperial college, around 16 students attended, who were interested in the industrial impacts on riverine environment. Not surprisingly I picked weirs. The effects that they have and some of the controversies linked. We then visited Wadow weir where all of the impacts are demonstrated, and many of the students were amazed by the fact that such structures can pose such an incredible environmental impact!

Thursday I attended a meeting in Burnley about the Brun Valley Forest Park. A scheme that links up with our Urban River Enhancement Scheme quite nicely and we hope there will be some cross over to link up public engagement and use of green spaces. The afternoon was all about fish passes again….

Friday, what a day, the kind of day that makes me glad that I do what I do, sun shining, and I was tree planting – well willow stake/whip planting. 180 trees in at Montford by 14:00, and then over to Easington to check on our solar powered drinkers and attach a new section of pipe (involving a quick ride on the quad bike. What could be better!

Posted by Jack Spees | Filed Under General News, Grants and project management, Restoration and Conservation Projects, Volunteers, WFD, Working Partners | Leave a Comment

Making time to make progress

March 14, 2011

I can’t believe it’s been 2 weeks since I last posted! I have struggled to keep my head above water in recent weeks to the point that I’m sure many may accuse me of sounding like a broken record! It is so good to have plenty to do when you can see an end result, even if it is someway off in the distance. All that said my missing fortnight began with a day off!!! My better half’s birthday fell on the Monday and so we went to Manchester for the day, although during the train journey, outward and return, all I did was work! It was a nice day out, but when you’re busy having a day off can often make you quite apprehensive knowing what you have to come back to.

Tuesday I met with UU and some stakeholder up at Stock Resevoir to discuss a potential passport scheme beat on Bottoms beck in Gisburn forest, above the reservoir. The meetin gwent well and hopefully we will have a new addition to our scheme for the 1st of May.

Wednesday I met with Neil Handy and Lee Preston to go through potential project sites in the upper catchment. Key issues were highlighted – particularly bio security in relation to White Clawed Crayfish – but all in all it was a good meeting and I can see some exciting projects coming up in the next few years at the top of the catchment.

Thursday I tried to get on top of some grant claims and application forms, but struggled to make much progress, as once the phone started ringing it didn’t stop. Friday was much the same, except for a little bit of fun, which was setting up the new “river tank”. Thanks to a donation from Ron Broughton’s family we have bought a new tank for trout-in-the-classroom, but it was to late to get it into a school, so we have it set up in the offices. Next year it will go into a school to help educate children on the importance of rivers and their inhabitants.

Monday I managed to get the paper work nearly completed and then typically started to work on another project proposal, although on this one we won’t be undertaking the funding application (phew!!!). Philip and I then went through all the projects (17!) in our pipeline, and it was decided that even with extra help we were at our limit. It seems I had gotten carried away, which is easy to do when we identify a problem, a potential solution. I hope that the 17 applied for come off, but even if we only get half it will still be an incredible achievement.

Tuesday I met Colin Worswick on site at our proposed fish pass project on the Calder/Brun confluence. It was decided that our initial proposal wasn’t acceptable due to the risk of flooding (I suspected this would be the case) which was understandable, so it’s back to the drawing board. In the afternoon I was invited to sit on the steering group for the Long Preston Wet Grassland Project. This was an interesting meeting and site visit, there are some real potential advantages of the work, which if done well and in careful liaison with land owners/farmers and fisheries interests will produce some fantastic outcomes for all. In the evening I was presenting to the Northwest branch of IFM on weir removal, this went well but my highlight of the evening was the sediment survey work being conducted by APEM.

Wednesday I was just catching up and preparing for the training course the following days, but squeezed in a meeting with the new Chairman of the Hodder Consultative (HC). It was a useful meeting, and the main aim was to discuss the activities of the trust, and the HC’s interest in them, I hope that we can continue to work together as we have done in the past. In the evening I dashed to Halifax to present to the Halifax Fly Fishers club, who put up with my slightly extended presentation!

Thursday and Friday I was in Derbyshire for an Association of Rivers Trusts training courses into Geomorphology. It was a brilliant course, and I learnt a lot that I can bring back to the Ribble for our rivers benefit. Some of this was learnt not just in the classroom but over a beer or two in the evening! I then raced back home to attend the Settle Anglers Association social dinner. And I would like to thank them for a wonderful evening, I enjoyed the company and the food but was particularly excited by the progressive ideas of the clubs committee, I hope and look forward to working with them in the future.

It has been a mightily busy fortnight, but I think there was some significant progress made on all fronts, roll on the next 2 weeks

Posted by Jack Spees | Filed Under Education, General News, Grants and project management, Recreation, Restoration and Conservation Projects, Surveys, Volunteers, Working Partners | Leave a Comment

A semblance of normality… for a trust

March 2, 2011

After the strange week of being ill, which was meant to be the week of returning to normality. I managed a week of something like what was a usual week for us. Monday was a day of catching up on correspondance, I had an awful lot that was building up from the previous week, we then had our usual meeting with Philip, a visit from Ralph Assheton and then a site visit to a weir on Boyces brook. Tuesday I had a couple of meetings at Lutra house with the EA. First I met up with Helen Nightingale to look at the methods of investigation into “failing waterbodies” and show here our investigation into why Gayle and Cam beck was failing. It was a productive meeting, and Helen showed me a really good visual interpretation of waterbodies, why they are failing and how they are interacting. Then I had a sit down with Lee Preston to go through a few bits and pieces that we’re working with the Fisheries team on at the moment.

Wednesday I met Colin Riley from the Woodland Trust to look at the river alongide Hagg Wood and any opportunities for river improvement. It was a wet day, but Colin’s enthusiasm for some joint working meant that we came up with some ideas. But what was nice to see was some proper natural Large Woody Debris Habitat:

These trees have retained their root wads protecting the banks from erosion, but causing scour of the river bed to create a deep hole, with a selection of roots and branches over the top – This is the perfect holdin place for any number of different species. I wish we could re-create this everywhere. Which lead me to start thinking of my next project idea… so back to the office and I have started the next round of grant applications for a Trees and Rivers based project. At three I met with Gavin Thomas from the RSPB on the River loud to look at a potential project there. So now I need to do some more fund raising! This site has some incredible potential, and to see a fish moving on site in what was a very mucky looking river was quite encouraging.

Thursday I met with Paul Bulimore from LCC who on their trees and woodland projects. He has a wealth of experience and knowledge in woodland creation and schemes. We believe that we can form a strong partnership, and we plan to start this by doing some GIS work to look at priority areas of woodland creation for both of us and where we overlap. In the afternoon I met Sarah Lewington who is interested in doing some volunteering for us. Currently this may take the form of Temperature and pH monitoring on the upper Ribble, but also some invert sampling work.

Friday was the day that we finally got the solar powered drinkers working up at Easington (that said I’ve got to go back with two more components to make sure things run smoothly). Thanks to Tom Hartley as without his help this would have been a long and miserable day for me! Also thanks to the farmer for loaning us his quad bike, without it we would have been stuck as there was more kit to carry than I had realised!

Transporting the kit

Putting things together

Jobs a good ‘un!

With the solar panels complete we checked on the trees that were planted as part of the scheme, and the signage to inform users of the footpath what the schemes about: