Avon Diary 2022

5th August

2nd August

31st July

28th July

27th July

24th July

21st July

20th July

16th July

13th July

12th July

10th July

8th July

6th July

4th July

Sunday 3rd July

2nd July

Wednesday 29th June

Tuesday 28th June

The water temperature remains below 18 degrees, salmon fishing is okay today.

The water temperature remains below 18 degrees, salmon fishing is allowed at Somerley.

A photo for the river members showing John with a good looking 13+ he opened his account with last week. Lovely fish John, congrats and thanks for the photo.

The river generally is very low and very clear, making for difficult conditions. The weed is in overdrive as the light is penetrating right into the depths, which is adding to the complications. There have been a scattering of barbel and our ever present chub population has formed the bulk of the catches to date. A careful approach is going to be key if condions stay as they are. We all know what's present so it may be tricky but the rewards can be amazing so good luck in your endeavours.

I added a further photo of a Meadow Brown to the entry I did in praise of standing grassland a day or two ago. When one thinks of tall grassland Meadow Brown are the obvious butterfly that springs to mind, which I forgot when I did the piece, its an age thing!

The water temperature is now below 18 degrees, salmon fishing is once more allowed at Somerley.

A five pounds plus male tench that I was pleased to catch on the waggler this evening. After being driven off by the rain yesterday evening I was keen to have a further try for tench today. I didn't get underway until 7 pm and it continued where it left off yesterday with a fish a cast. The old stager of a tench was very welcome and gave a good account of itself on my 15' Acolyte. A further tench dropped and the roach continued every cast, with just one eight ounce rudd joining in this evening. That was up until 08:30 when the evening took on a distinct chill and the fish stopped feeding as if some one had thrown a switch. By then I wasn't overly concerned and was quite happy to pack up and head home to warm up.

The water temperature remains over 18 degrees.

One for the birders among you in the form of this beautiful young Red-footed Falcon. She has been with us in the Park for a day or two and shows very little concern for our daily coming and going. Long may she remain.

Strange old world we live in. If I were catching roach of this stamp from the Avon I would be over the moon. When catching them in a lake that is just a few meters from the Avon they are bordering on being a nuisance. Fish up to a pound literally one a cast, no time to put the rod down between bites. Corn or soft pellet, it made no difference.
That brings me back to my long asked question, why do roach thrive in waters that are just a few meters from the river, yet they struggle in the river? There are remnant populations but no stable, sustainable population throughout the length of the river as there should be. The list of possible causes is demoralisingly long but the worst bit about it is that no one is trying to make it any shorter.

One to cheer Pete up.

I have to admit this one was a little larger than I had previously thought. Thanks for the video Kevin, catches my concern perfectly! That's the PWD number one prototype out in the field behind me, which now has a bend in it require a design rethink perhaps?

The water temperature remains over 18 degrees (19.15 at 09:00am) as such salmon fishing is suspended at Somerley.

A few pointers for the carp guys in the form of the weed in the other half of Meadow Lake .

This is not an attempt to rub salt into the wound but this family double was on the last day before we hit 18 degrees. A paticularly pleasing brace as Jared's fish was his first of the year, from a pool that hasn't produced a fish for decades. Fish occupy it most years but for reasons best known to the fishermen very few actually fish it?

The standing grassland I was praising the other day is coming into its own as a vital habitat for many species. Two that are dependent on grassland are the Burnet moths, familiar in their red and black garb and the beautiful Marbled White butterfly, which is in fact a brown but we won't go into that here. The first shot is taken looking across one of the lakeside paddocks with the middle shot showing a burnet cocoon on a tall grass stalk. The cocoon is in the middle of the third shot, beautifully camouflaged in the jumble of stalks. Its almost central, not the yellow bent stem but just to the left just below the seed heads of the cocksfoot grass.

Shots showing an emerging Marbled White drying its wings, feeding on a scabious flower before coupling to ensure the next generation. The scabious is a welcome addition to our flora with this single plant appearing this year. Strangely we also have a single knappweed that has been with us for several years, I keep my fingers crossed they will thrive and multiply as they are superb nectar sources.

Having failed to mention them originally I have added the shot of the coupled Meadow Browns, which when thinking of grassland is the butterfly that should Immediately spring to mind. They certainly make up the largest population currently to be found on the grassland transect routes.

Please be aware the water temperature is back over 18 degrees once more, salmon fishing is suspended at Somerley.

Well, the water temperature dropped below 18 and Paul came out to give the shrimp a go, now that bait fishing started on the 16th. In true Paul fashion he managed to find a couple of lovely fish. The first was a sixteen pounder alongside the ranunculus beds that Damian was on hand to take a snap. The second, a cracking big twenty that I was fortunate enough to witness and take the photo. Great result Paul, I'm putting this up mid afternoon so I may yet get a call to say a third has been added to the list!

Another family out fishing, with this late brood of grebe on the lakes.

Please be aware there is an annoying failure of the EA Knappmill website, that all fisheries rely on for the cut off temperatures, to load with the most recent information. Any rods planning a visit that may involve having to travel considerable distances if in any doubt give me a call.

As with yesterday's entry, the Somerley Lake complex opened on the 16th, the traditional opening of the coarse season and today was the hottest day of the year so far. To me the new season and hot weather immediately brings tench to mind.

If I think about tench, I think back thirty or forty years to when I was fishing a great deal more than I do these days. Back in the distant past tench were a far more popular pursuit as the carp revolution was only just getting under way.

One of the anglers who spent many an hour after the bottle green beauties was my old friend Neil Hurren, who sadly, recently passed away. Neil was the perfect tench angler, he seemed to almost blend into the burgeoning Summer margins in his sun faded fishing jacket and wide brimmed hat. Always carefully selected swims, quality tackle, meticulous presentation and accurate feeding, if anyone was going to catch Neil would be a pretty safe bet.

One aspect I mentioned above was his quality tackle and I was hugely surprised and honoured when after Neil's passing, his daughter Jo contacted me to say that dad had left instructions that one of his favourite set ups, that I had always admired, had been left to me. Jo was down with mum and we arranged to meet to drop off the tackle. The rod was a Bruce and Walker, Powerlite, with a lovely smooth through action that was matched with a little Trudex pin. The rod and reel had been well used by Neil and I'm sure the list of captures would make for some great reading.

So I was in a mind to go after a tench and what better way to do so than with Neil's set up that had accounted for so many in the past.

I arrived on the water at about six o'clock, chose a swim that I knew was a firm favourite of both Neil and I. A Garden Warbler in the brambles behind declared I was entering his territory and a Reed Warbler rasped out his call alongside. The perfect spot to spend a Summer evening. As it was already quite late I added a handful of two millimetre pellets, a few grains of corn and twenty or thirty pellets of bread before setting up. Hopefully the few freebies would encourage some interest and save me some precious minutes in getting the fish into the swim.

Six pound line throughout, a small, three inch self cocking waggler, locked with two no 4, plus one no 4 eight inches from the size 14 Drennan barbless hook. Couldn't be much simpler but I'm a great believer in not over complicating the issue.

I needn't have worried about encouraging fish into the swim as it was a bite a cast from the off. Unfortunately, not from the tench I was hoping for, it was rudd, roach and carp a chuck, which whilst enjoyable fishing was not the species I had set my heart on. Two and a half hours, plenty of action yet still no tench. Half an hour and it would be too dark to see my float despite it being only three or four meters away. Fifteen minutes to go and a Nightjar began his spooky churring from the far side of the meadow behind. The float disappeared once more and on setting the hook the unmistakeable boiling and diving of my hoped for species. Certainly not massive but any tench would do, all I had to do now was get him safely in the net!

The perfect evening swim and the rod in action.

Plenty of action from the off with carp, roach and rudd and a perfect little tench to round off a lovely evening. I landed six carp, five of which were between eight and fifteen pounds, the sixth being the micro carp in the photo. A problem in themselves as they survive to overstock the water and create problems for the other species.

The man himself, Neil with a big rudd. Thank you Neil, this evening was perfect and the rod was a pure delight.

I can see setting one or two further targets may be an incentive to try a further session or two.

Quite like old times as eight or nine members waited for midnight to get the new season under way on Meadow Lake. Even more like old times in that the fish promptly did an about turn and disappeared out of sight! I think the sudden arrival of the heat wave didn't help, sending the fish into hiding with very few being landed during the first night. One or two tench falling to the carp guys seemed to be the only participants under the clear conditions. Roger did have the good grace to land the lovely dark, twenty plus common in the photo above as I was passing, proving that they can be caught if you can find them.

The photo above is a photo mosaic quickly tacked together to show the extent of the weed in Canada Bay. I need to know the amount of weed in order to get the balance between what's good for the fish and what's good for the fishermen. To that end Manny came over and very kindly flew a series of passes to provide the photos for me to stick together. From the photo weed cover would seem to be about right and means no further action is required to increase or decrease the current volume for the next twelve months or so at least. I will put the remainder of the lake together at some point as I'm sure many of the members will be interested to see where they are casting their bait! From my perspective it looks as if the tench may be difficult to catch again this year as they will have plenty of food available to them in all the weed growth. Not that I'm personally overly worried the chance of a tench is almost enough these days, if the swim looks good that will do.

Just a reminder to the salmon rods that the water temperature has reached the cut off point of 18 degrees C and as such all salmon fishing is currently suspended at Somerley. Keep an eye on the Knapp Mill counter page to see when it drops back below 18, allowing fishing to resume.

There are lots of these chaps about at the moment. This one decided one of my herpetological sheets was just the job to keep him warm. In the event you do come across fawns tucked away in the long grass or bracken ensure you give them as wide a berth as possible and definitely don't touch, the doe will know exactly where she left him.

A nice comparison between the Little and Great Egret as they searched the runs between the ranuculus for their food.

Paul with a nice 2SW fish, making it two in recent days as Colin also managed a Summer fish on Friday, proving that age old adage if you don't have a bait in the water you definitely wont catch a salmon. That brings numbers up to a round dozen, thankfully ensuring this will not go down as our worse season ever. Well done and well fished both, also thank you for sticking at it under such difficult conditions!

Across the entire country there are literally thousands of fisheries that have parcels of land attached that for the most part are completely ignored. A role for some forward thinking group would be to liaise with the owners and compile a record and management plan for all these areas of river bank and adjoining parcels of land. The first shot above shows areas of tall standing grassland that we leave until the Autumn. The middle shot shows the carefully managed bramble beds that provide so many different ways the natural world interacts with them. The third is one of the wild flower meadows that we manage in the main for the invertebrate population.

The Stag Beetles were flying about the back garden this evening. I would like to think they are emerging from the pile of cherry logs I have stacked in a corner of the garden, unfortunately before I spotted them they were airborne making it impossible tp establish their origin.. The middle shows a Painted Lady feeding on the bramble banks beside the Lagoon path. Finally a Little Egret sat on the hatches, spearing any minnows that fail to concentrate on staying away from the surface. We also still have two Great White Egret on the Estate, certainly the latest I have ever known them on the Estate.

Before lunch I had to pop over the the Estate to water some container grown trees we are trying to get into the ground asap. Anne decided to join me and we thought a walk across the meadows to see how the new drains were coping with the low flows and back through the nearby covert. The meadows looked well as the recent rain has spurred the grass into growth and the lack of floods the winter just past meant a heavy, reasonably clean crop, free of docks would be awaiting the mowers next month. The drains looked well with sufficient flow to keep the fry population content despite the lack of weed that is yet to get established.
The river itself was looking extremely low and very clear for this time of year. The height is partly due to the lack of weed to coffer the water back, as well as the obvious lack of rain. The clarity is something new as we usually are in the midst of an algal bloom at this time of year, which seems to be missing this year. Why that might be is currently providing considerable interest. Possibly we haven't reached the trigger temperatures that set the algal growth in motion. That seems at odds with the fact the barbel and chub have spawned, which require a higher temperature than the algal trigger. Another possibility is that the water companies have had a twinge of conscience and stopped pumping so much untreated nutrient rich, crap in the river upstream of us. Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. Or possibly its due to the trout farm on our northern boundary having closed, thus the several tons of nutrient rich, faecal detritus that has flushed through the river on a daily basis has ceased to flow. I can't believe it was the latter or the EA would have stopped it years ago. Having said that they don't stop the water companies filling our river with untreated sewage do they! Whatever the reason for the water clarity long may it continue.

I had a count of fourteen Small Tortoiseshell whilst crossing the meadows, which I shall record on "iRecords". A few years ago that wouldn't have been notably, these days unfortunately with the Small Tortoiseshell struggling it was good to see them as they fed on the Marsh Ragwort. They seem to do well in the valley with the later flows of nectar of the water mint, marginal hemp agrimony, creeping thistle and fleabane. On the way back through the covert the foxgloves were putting on a bold show where we had coppiced an acre of woodland allowing the light to reach the woodland floor. A final flash of blue as a Kingfisher stopped briefly to fish the new ditch beside the lake. A delightful walk for an hour to work up an appetite for lunch.

Hooray, a new record for the river! The most swans being driven by one canoe, 110 in the photo, 35 further downstream around the bend and about 25 that had panicked and flown back upstream. At 170 that will take some beating. I did ask the couple in the canoe what they thought would happen when they compressed this lot into the section above the hatches. They didn't have a clue! Thankfully, despite having heart burn through having had to gulp down my lunch when Pete's call came in, I reached them before they collected the two lots of newly hatched cygnets in that section, I wouldn't have given much in the way of odds on them surviving the final panic. They were a nice couple just totally ignorant of the impact of their actions. I had to give one of them a lift back to Fordingbridge as they had left the down stream pick up car keys in the drop off vehicle. It just makes your head hurt, half the population appears to be of an equal standard of intelligence and that's the polite version. Why, oh why, is not respect for other people and the environment taught in schools. If the Defra policy, through the national parks, is to turn the countryside into a giant theme park, as is the obvious intent with the New Forest, surely they have a responsibility to educate the masses they release on us.

The ups and downs of a sunny bank holiday. Nick and George about to land a good common in today's glorious sunshine whilst complying with all the rules related to the SSSI and paying for its upkeep. It wouldn't be a bank holiday if we didn't have clowns in a canoe, who were totally ignorant of what an SSSI was, how it was maintained and that its not a good idea to paddle through hatch gates. Thats the fifty percent of the GBP that I mentioned the other day who are either totally ignorant or don't give a bugger about the environment.

Opening day of the spinning and we added a further four fish to this year's dire tally. I have to say I was surprised to see so few rods out on the banks. Recent weeks have seen the rod effort almost disappear so I was expecting a rush to the river when spinning started. I only spotted three rods today on the entire estate although Stephen Hutchinson was out and I failed to spot him. I know he was out as he put a fish on the return sheet in the lodge, as did Paul Greenacre who added a further three for the day. Well done all round, we can certainly do with a few rods out to try and get the numbers up a little.

The second of three for the day, congratulations Paul, well fished. By the look of the gill plate and general colour it looks as if this fish has been in a week or more.

Pile Pool now beginning to look the part as the bramble strip has now gone and the grass is slowly establishing. Bang on time, the first of June and the Stag Beetles appeared this evening. I couldn't get a shot of a male, only this poor shot of a female that are often overlooked as not sufficiently dramatic, yet antlers or not they are a great looking beetle. Finally another shot of the Canada geese juveniles that are everywhere I seem to look.

Thanks to Mark Collins for sending through the spectacular shot of a sunset he enjoyed whilst fishing the gate swim at Mockbeggar the other evening. Great shot Mark, on such an evening a fish comes as just a bonus.

The tip of the iceberg.

He may be late to the party but you have to give credit where credit is due he brings a considered resume of the situation that raises the profile of such problems. Hopefully the closed shop of the water companies, agrichemical producers and the EA won't be able to shake off his attentions as easily as they could ignore us back in the 90's. I'm sure the combined efforts of such committed campaigners as Feargal Sharkey and George Monbiot will be more successful than we were in our naivety. The problem is that whilst fifty percent of the GBP, that's the Great British Public not the Pound, profess to care deeply about environmental issues and just love David Attenborough, once those concerns land on the door mat and have an incurred cost, they quickly forget their virtuous commitment. As for the other fifty percent couldn't give a toss about the environment, they are simply ignorant or too stupid to take the gravity of the situation onboard. If the public are bad, industry is far worse and now that any form of regulation has been effectively emasculated by this government the shit street we are all well and truly up makes the problem of our rivers pale into insignificance. Greed, ignorance and self interest make for formidable foes, where ever they are encountered.

Sadly we have exactly the same scenario with barriers to passage on the river. We have the water companies hiding behind the regulators and the regulators hiding behind out dated legislation that affords protected status to salmon and totally ignores the ninety nine percent of species that contribute to the natural wonder of the River Avon. The stock answer from the water companies when questioned with regard to the barrier to passage the Great weir and Turbine House present always refer to their compliance with the requirements of the regulator. When the regulator is asked why they do not insist on the removal of the barriers they hide behind having no power to protect any species other than salmon. Catch 22, we just keep going around and around, with raw sewage in at the top and barriers at the bottom, whilst the EA sit on the fence, with their thumbs firmly up their a*"*s. You can understand the cynical, commercial policy adopted by the water companies. Unfortunately you can also understand the policy adopted by the EA, they certainly aren't going to press for new legislation to protect Summer migrating invertebrates and cyprinds whilst they sit in such a cosy relationship. They only have to look at the evidence of their own shameful counter to see the number of cyprinids that are able to pass upstream on a natural migration. They will tell you that cyprinids are too small to be counted yet they manage to count sea trout, believe it or not the Avon hold enormous numbers of barbel and chub that are considerably larger than seatrout and where able migrate many miles upstream. With us many move upstream as far as the next barrier to passage for cyprinids a mile above our boundary. If the Rivers or Angling Trusts, or any of the other bodies claiming to represent rivers and angling, want to do something useful perhaps they might get a serious campaign up and running to update the legislation to prevent invertebrate and cyprinid barriers to passage. In a recent conversation with a caring angler it was suggested a good starting point might be to stop buying the rod licence.

Some light reading in the hope of significant change, as opposed to token gestures.

Of course, cyprinid friendly fish passes are the obvious alternative. Designed by some one outside the EA, we are still suffering the balls up the EA made of designing the Ringwood Hatches!

Thanks to Roger Harris for the photo of the Mandarin brood that he managed to snap whilst working about the lakes today. Lovely shot Roger, good to see they were using our recently cleared out ditches as their highway. The middle shot is just one of our Lutece elms that are hopefully disease resistant and going to provide a stable food source for our White Letter Hairstreaks. I put the shot up because I happened on their passports whilst I was rooting through some files recently. This Spring they seem to have had conditions to their liking as they have made considerable new growth, which is gratifying considering the number of watering cans full of water I carried up from the lakes in the first two dry Springs they endured after I planted them. Finally the first toadlet of the year sat on one of my water lily leaves. I think its a toadlet as I believe I can see his paratoid gland bumps but I wouldn't swear to it. I'm not sure they are officially called toadlets and froglets, if not they should be as its a great description of the perfect little minatures they emerge as.

Having had time to take a closer look at our toadlet I can almost see him thinking, "What have I done"! Only seconds earlier he left his totally submerged aquatic life and is now looking at his new world that he shares with us humans.

Brian landing a nice tench, which was the last of five he managed this afternoon. Completely at odds with recent behaviour the fish stopped feeding at about six o'clock almost exactly when they have been coming on the feed in recent weeks.

The main question occupying my time at the moment is who locked the police car in Mockbeggar this evening? The finger of suspicion is pointing toward Mike W, who left the scene at about the time in question, we won't know the identity of the culprit for certain until the police dash cam is downloaded and the stills are published in the Police Gazette!

The war between the Starlings and the Swifts seems to have settled down with the Swifts apparently coming out on top. Four new pairs have taken over boxes previously occupied by Starlings bringing our total to nine pairs of Swifts now established. The Starlings have all raised their first broods and are now occupying previously unused boxes within the cabinet to start their second. Its all a little mixed up however I think we managed eight first broods, along with seven or eight broods of House Sparrows so we're not doing too badly.

A further tale of the river bank, or in this case the lakeside.

The other evening I decided a walk around Mockbeggar would be a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours, so about seven o’clock I headed off up the Gorley Road in the direction of the lake. Five minutes and I was at the gate clicking in the combination and opening up. As I pushed the gate back out of the way I heard a very deep, unusual “meow” in fact several "meows". All sorts of creatures sprung to mind, with the Mockbeggar panther at the top of the list. Odd, I hadn't realised panthers meowed! There was only one course of action curiosity would allow and I peeped over the bank, that ran alongside the road at that point, to see what was giving rise to the call that was obviously in the small clearing that held the gate swim. No panther, or wild beast, just one of the syndicate that discretion prevents me from naming, stood in the clearing, eating a tin of anchovies and meowing like a demented tom cat?

Now I come across all sorts of strange things in my various roles about the Estate but I have to admit this was up there with the weirdest. Obviously I was in no danger of being mauled by some threatened creature so I clambered over the bank and hailed our man with my best, “How's it going then” All the while hoping this behaviour wasn't the result of exposure to too much sun without a hat on. I needn't have worried as I was answered with a relieved response of “You wouldn't believe what has just happened” Well, actually knowing the member in question very well it would take something pretty amazing for me not to believe it as he seems to attract adventures. That said he did seem pleased to see me and get some support for his obvious dilemma.

It transpired that our man had spent the day working ten miles or so away at a property where there were two cats in residence. Not that in itself would bring about this unusual behaviour, there was more to come. It seems our man, like myself, had decided that as it was such a pleasant evening and he had his tackle in the van, he would have an hour or two beside the lake on the way home. On arrival and seeing the gate swim was free he parked up and opened up the back of the van to get his tackle out only to have a most disturbed moggie pass him at head height and disappear into the nearest thicket! Without doubt one of the felines from the property he had been at all day and it had no intention of stopping to allow its capture.

This is about the point I arrived on the scene, well, in fact events had developed about an hour earlier, our man had spent the intervening hour trying to temp moggie out of the bushes with his jigger impersonations and a tin of anchovies, most of which he had eaten to allay his nervous tension. Now puss was obviously refusing to play ball, which I could understand from pusses perspective because our man doesn't immediately come across as a feline friendly individual, things were looking bleak re the success of this operation. The scolding of a robin in a nearby bramble patch was a clue to the location of puss but that was of little use or consolation.

At this point the options for our member might have been to forget about puss and deny ever having seen it should the question ever arise, or come clean and call the owners. Thankfully a man of integrity a call was made to the owners, to come clean and a plea for help. On receiving the news the owners immediately departed for the lake and within the hour arrived on the scene to assess the situation. The robin continued to whistle its warnings and on the owner approaching the brambles and calling, puss appeared without a care in the world to be gathered up in the waiting arms.

Puss having departed for home with a relieved owner, all that was left was for our man to call it a day, or more correctly an evening and head home to steady his frayed nerves. I just love a happy ending.

For good or for bad I'm back. My enforced absence through loss of my internet has now, hopefully, been resolved. various bits and bobs to follow.

Sunday morning saw me over at Mockbeggar and following the example set by John Slader I was hoping to land a tench or two. Despite a forecast that had promised overcast and breezy conditions the day dawned clear and on reaching the lake flat calm and misty. To add insult to injury on setting up in my chosen swim and casting to the spot I deemed held all the tench, before I could set the rod in the rest it was slammed around as a mob of carp tangled in my line at my feet. Two hours was enough of that, I packed up and headed home for breakfast. I also fitted in the BBS survey at the weekend, providing a pleasant early morning walk to record the details of our ever changing bird population. As it turned out pleasant didn't quite cover the visit as it was surprisingly cold with a very heavy dew. The usual valley residents but these days Great White Egret and Red Kite are regulars as species such as Yellow Wagtail and Snipe have disappeared.

I'm pleased to say the Slepe Stream bridge is now back in place allowing access over the Slepe and Harbridge Streams just above their confluence with the main river. You may well recognise this bridge as the original oak trunk that I split almost thirty years ago that had disappeared a couple of winters ago in the big floods. On the occasion of its disappearance it ended up down at Ringwood weir where the EA hauled it out of the gates and I arrived on the scene in time to rescue it from being trailered away for destruction. Last week we eventually got around to collecting it, taking a trailer down to the weir to bring it back to its original site. With much slipping and sliding, cables and pulleys we dragged it back over the stream. Last weekend Damian turned up and on his own managed to position it on its concrete plinth, add a step and wired it down to prevent a recurrence of its escape.

Tempting.

winning

Not, you'll notice, Alan but son Will out there in river trying to persude the stock to cross the river. His efforts met with partial success as about half the herd followed and made it across to the rich grazing on the other side. Will told us the water wasn't too cold, which is just as well because he was out there for about half an hour.

As for the fishing we struggle on with the salmon, which are proving just as elusive. There are without doubt fish in the system now but conditions are making them all but uncatchable that has the knock on effect of a very low rod effort. If you want to open your account this season now is as good a time as you are likely to find so make the most of it. Mockbeggar is still producing carp and tench all be it none to predictable, one day they are feeding the next spawning, making visits somewhat of a lottery.

Only in the UK it seems you can be paid for destroying the environment.

Just a reminder to the EA, who have a legal obligation to maintain, improve and develop our fisheries, sitting with your thumb up your arse whilst the water companies pump shit and chemical cocktails in at the top and prevent the movement of species in at the bottom, isn't going to solve itself. I suppose it will take a dedicated group of individuals to stir up a stink and hold them to account before they jump into action, claiming to have always had the best interest of the river at heart...............and we are still charged for the privilege of suffering such a non existent service. The really sad part about it all is that the EA management believe they are doing a worthwhile job.

We opened the salmon season with east winds and no rain, everything in the valley seemed to be in suspended animation. Nothing was growing, nesting and the salmon refused to run. We have now enjoyed a couple of wet weekends with heavy thundery showers and the vegetation has gone into hyperdrive, we have juvenile birds everywhere and the salmon have continued to remain elusive. I have been out clearing salmon pools, trying to keep pace with the growth. Hoodies, the Bridge Pool, Above and below the breakthrough are clipped up and this evening Lower Cabbage and Harbridge Bend joined the list. I will keep at it and Pete Reading is helping by hacking away at the in the hope of having the pools clear for when our salmon run does eventually turn up, hoping to get in a desperate last fling. Unfortunately we can only keep our fingers firmly crossed we do see a run whilst the river remains sufficiently clear of weed to allow us to fish and before the water temperature reaches our cut off point of 18 degrees centigrade.
The barbel have continued to spawn on many of the shallows, which will hopefully see them cleaned and rested for the beginning of the season, which is now in less than a month. The freshet of water in recent days saw the river colour briefly, as the forest stream disgorged the flash floods brought about by the thunder storms of the weekend. The colour has quickly drained out as has the inch or two of freshwater, disappointingly it failed to encourage the salmon so we have no idea whether we have fish in the river or not. The EA continue in their totally useless fashion, refusing to release counter figures to encourage rods onto the fisheries, just when will those supposed fishery representative organisations organise a campaign that finally gets rid of this costly burden hung around the neck of the fisheries.

Three shots from today that provided food for thought in the shape of masses of tadpoles in the margins of the lake, a Wall butterfly and Ellingham Church across the water meadows. The reason for thought was that the tadpoles were crowded into the invasive crassula helmsii beds that have recently arrived in the lake. Whether this is coincidence or there is a food source they are exploiting I couldn't decide. The thought that tadpoles may be a means to control the wretched stuff seems highly unlikely. The wall butterfly turned up appropriately enough in the Walled Garden where I was pruning the grapevines. I have seen three Wall butterflies on the Estate and two of them have been in the Walled Garden so it might seem the sunny aspect on the sheltered walls is where the name came from. The shot of Ellingham Church across the meadows is one I have put on here several times, the difference on this occasion is that in the foreground beside the carrier are a Great White Egret and a Little Egret. The new species in the valley are now becoming established, Little Egret have been here for a couple of decades or more. The GWE roost reached double figures this winter and they are staying throughout most of the year. Nothing remains constant, new species and changing weather patterns can't be denied.

Meadow lake looking grand with just another month before we get underway again. There seems to be plenty of weed growth yet again this year, which will hopefully ensure the fish thrive and we get conditions that will allow us to see some of the lakes tench population. Having said that John Slader is proving that the tench population of Mockbeggar is doing fine, if somewhat erratically, he has had bags of five or six fish interspersed with sessions with hardly a touch. Lets hope its early days and as the weather warms a more reliable pattern emerges.

Thanks to Manny for sending over some frame grabs of the carp that he was filming at the weekend. The fish on the right is a recognisible resident that several of the syndicate may have seen on the bank, often weighing in at well over thirty pounds.

Whilst its always enjoyable to get a different perspective on our big carp I get an equal amount of pleasure from seeing the juveniles that swarm about the weedbeds and margins. In this instance perch and roach that abound in the lakes around Ringwood in their millions. I still can't get my head around the fact the Avon, that is only a couple of hundred meters away, doesn't have the same abundance. Unless of course its to do with the raw sewage and agrichemical runnoff that is pumped into the river by the water companies on a daily basis ........... and in the meantime the hot air and talking goes on!

Always a pleasure to see a further herald of warmer Summer days as the Scarce chasers appear around the lakes.

I was down at Ringwood Weir earlier today when I got wind of the foetid stench of decay from what I assumed was a road killed deer somewhere between me and the main road. Whilst I have come across many Stinkhorn fungi I had never smelt such a pungent specimen. I was not the only one to have caught wind of it as the blue bottles that are tricked into dispersing the spores of the fungus were in close attendance.

Life on the river, where we still have a couple of Great Egret with us, both the birds are in non-breeding plumage. They are staying later each year so I imagine it won't be long before we have them breeding alongside the Grey Heron, Little Egret and Cattle Egret that are already breeding in Hampshire. The cattle were beginning to feel the heat yesterday and stopped to cool their legs in the river. As soon as they enter the river the disturbed gravel downstream of them becomes alive with minnows, dace and chublets feeding on the disturbed invertebrates. Third shot is a small brood of Canada's, one of several dozen now dotted about the Estate. Come on Steve, just when are your Eagles going to earn their crust, there are pork pie sized geese whizzing about all over the place up here, just waiting to be scooped up!

Talking of Canada Geese, as I was above, have you ever seen them stick their heads down in the grass in an attempt to hide? Its the old Ostrich syndrome. Well, that's a pic of Manny doing his latest bit of filming of the carp in the margins. In fact he's not pretending to be invisible, he knows we could see him, he's covering his head in the dark material to see the video screen better in the bright sunshine. Should any members come across this strange apparition on the bank, he's alright under there so please don't give him a poke and disturb him.

Lakeside on my transect one or two of the bugs on show. We seem to be experiencing an early "June Dip" in numbers as the count wasn't particularly good. The June drop, or dip, is a short period between the over wintering species and the Summer species arrival. What over wintering/early emergers were about they looked extremely tired as illustrated by the peacock in he third shot. Whilst we did have several common blue and our first brown argus of the year numbers have a long way to go to announce Summer.

Finally to record the red beetle day a shot of a Black-headed Cardinal beetle and a Poplar beetle spotted during the transect.

........and for something completely different. A huge well done to Anna Kent on her beautifully written and brutally honest autobiography, it should be made compulsory reading in all schools.

The sun came out and the river continued to drop, just not what we needed for the salmon fishing. Along with the sun came the loons with picknicers and trespassers oblivious as ever to the results of their activities. Add a flat tyre at dinner time and the local youfs having a bonfire on Ringwood Hatches it was a typical sunny weekend in the countryside. The local youfs can't be that bad as I think they must have been doing scrapbooks or making birthday cards judging by the number of glue tubes and tins left about the place. Bless um!

Time hasn't permitted me to provide any more than a quick snap of one of our starling broods with juveniles about to fly the nest. They are in fact shouting for more food from their ever attentive parents. One of seven broods currently in boxes on the side if the house, along with at least six broods of House Sparrows, making for a pretty noisy garden at the moment.

Some odds and ends that have caught my eye in recent days, starting at home in my garden, which is currently alive with bees as they collect pollen from the tree peony and the Himalayan crabapple. It almost sounds as if a swarm has moved into the crabapple the tree is actually buzzing. If anyone should wish to plant trees for pollinators I can't recommend the crab strongly enough, its a superb blossom tree and the bees love it, plus the massive crop of tiny, five or six millimeter, apples are a great food source for the birds come the Autumn. As soon as the fruit shows any sign of ripening our resident Starlings strip the entire tree. Unfortunately it's not a tree that we can plant in the valley, or around the lakes that are in the SSSI, as they are not indigenous, which is a pity as it is a wonderful food source for both insects and birds.

I've been out and about giving some of the paths the second cut of the season and whilst up at Ibsley I spotted the Crow in the second photo acting oddly. In fact there were two Crows the second is hidden a few meters upstream of the first behind the vegetation alongside the two trips of ducklings. The bird visible in the photo was acting oddly flapping and hopping about trying to distract the ducklings, the second suddenly swooped down the bank and made a grab for one of the ducklings, causing mayhem with the adults as they drove off the attacker. On this occasion the Crows were unsuccessful but it was obviously a well tried and tested routine that must have worked for them in the past. Hopefully the dozen or so Lapwing, sitting or with juveniles out in the meadows are similarly successful in escaping the attentions of that pair. The meadows themselves are looking their best as the Kingcups and Cuckoo Flowers are at their peak providing a wonderful backdrop for the valley..

A pair of confiding Oystercatchers that are currently about the meadows, their piping calls can be heard as they move up and down the valley. One of several Holly Blue butterflies spotted on my transect this week and the first damselflies hatching in good numbers were also about the lakes.

Anne's familiar, this is the one that Anne has been feeding throughout the Winter who now has appeared with his mate. Its been quite an education watching him feed his mate and carry mealworms back to his brood of juveniles. I think we are now approaching the time for their second brood. Nesting material is being flown back and forth and he is once more being very attentive toward her taking offerings at regular intervals throughout the day. They provide one of those rare photo opportunities that I hope to catch at some point and that is the pair of them hopping about the table as Anne drinks her tea as they come to feed. So far I've missed them but fingers crossed at some point in the not too distant future camera and birds are all ready at the same time.

John Slader with one of a brace of tench and a pound plus roach he managed today from Mockbeggar. That's a great piece of fishing after many blanks looking for the fish John at last managed to get them to join in. Well fished John, peserverance rewarded. Hopefully now they have woken up they will stay active, despite the continuing cold northerly wind.

That's me up a ladder removing the Starling doors from our Swift boxes. I was in the garden this evening when the first of our Swifts swept in over the house. She twice attempted to get into her nest box that was still had the Starling door fitted, requiring a mad dash to get the ladder and drill to remove the offending doors. It took five or ten minutes to clear all the boxes and we imagined she would have given up trying to access the box this evening and would hopefully try again in the morning. We needn't have worried as I no sooner had the ladder stowed away when she reappeared and immediately entered the box, one down fifteen to go.

The grannom have been struggling to hatch for the past fortnight as the cold north and easterly winds blow them from the river. Today was no exception and whilst I was out clearing paths, which are now due their second cut of the year, at one moment clouds of grannom were passing on their way upstream, the next they had all disappeared into the bankside cover. Comfrey seems a firm favourite and many plants were completely covered, to a far greater extent than that in the pic.

That's an interesting photo above, taken by Kevin out on the meadows at Ibsley, the arrows show the alignment of the public footpath. Although its difficult to see, it shows two groups of people that were riding motor bikes about the meadow. There excuse for doing that was that they weren't from around here and didn't know what the signs meant. How in the name of Jesus, Mary and Joseph does that work? Does it mean that from where they came from ignorance is deemed an excuse for all stupidity, or from where they come from everyone is fucking stupid! That particular section of meadow has probably the highest density of nesting waders in the entire Avon Valley. Eleven pairs of Lapwing and at least one pair of Redshank that didn't realise the stupid sods on the motor bikes didn't mean them any harm!!

They weren't alone in marching about out there today they were just one group of three I have had to ask to return to the footpath or public highway; on my day off! One of the other family's told me that dad had worked in the conservation business all his life, some trust or other. He felt that he was acting responsibly and believed the public had a right to access the countryside. When asked why they had ignored our clear sign explaining the SSSI and the protected status of the ground and delineating the public footpath he returned to the old, I'm doing no harm defence! He fervently believed we shouldn't allow dogs, horses, bikes and picnickers, yet he and his family were fine. He couldn't understand that having to turn out to chuck him off when I'm not working is a complete pain in the arse. He couldn't grasp that if we let him, as a “responsible walker” on just how we kept off the rest of the fuckwits. Perhaps we should pay for a little man to sit either end of the SSSI section of public path informing the pig shit ignorant of their transgressions. Unfortunately we don't receive unlimited public funding or corporate green wash slush funding to cover that cost! Perhaps his most pathetic excuse was that the pecked line on the OS map showed a public footpath. The second time I had heard that in twenty four hours!

I have to say that the recent announcement that there is to be a new environmental qualification introduced to schools is perhaps light on the horizon. Having said that it needs to be kept out of the hands of the Middle England, politically correct brigade that currently claim the higher ground where environmental matters are concerned. Many lads and lasses that don't have a bent for the deemed basics of maths, science and English do have a love and genuine feeling for the countryside and the environment. If the curriculum provides those youngsters with the basic guidelines that govern the daily running of the countryside it is definitely a step in the right direction. By basic I mean basic, grass isn't something you find in parks to roll about in, its feed for our animals.

What of our current position, certainly the schools have a great deal to answer for in not preparing a generation to coexist in a diverse world. As for our bikers they are direct result of Hampshire County Council being totally clueless when it comes to the impact of their actions. Sadly I don't see the situation changing where are local authorities and regulators are concerned. They are underfunded and totally lacking in any understanding or experience of what they oversee. It does not bode well for the future I fear, the police won't or can't help, NE are unable to help, the local authorities don't give a damn, it has all the hallmarks of being a very long Summer and a continuing downward spiral for our environment!

The PWD mark 1 ready for field testing. Phil having built his design we were keen to get off to the river and put it through its paces having a further crack at those wretched willows that had been washed in and spoilt Lifelands pool.

With the steel cable attached to the digger and run through a block, snatched on the back of the Mitsubishi, to give us a better angle to find some grip we were ready. Several successful launches had dragged the offending rubbish close to the bank where the digger would hopefully be able to reach it and rid us of the menace once and for all.

Pulley block anchor.

Almost!

Not everything always runs as expected but we did get there in the end and the PWD, mark 1. worked without a hitch, perfic!

Job done, a clear pool opening up the 170m of Lifelands pool. With the pool back in action, combined with "Dockens" seen looking upstream from the parish boundary marker and "Above the cut through" there is now well over 400m of really excellent fishing available. I appreciate its a bit of a hike with the shortest route being from the substation car park that is about 850m to the Dockens confluence. Its not a bad walk now the old bridge has been upgraded and fishing back down also lets you add the "Humps" providing a further good pool. The walk down from the lakes is over a KM further, once you've fished down to the Cut Through and made your way back upstream to the car. Lifelands Pool always used to hold fish and with the shallows at the head fish will always rest before attempting to run them, its very similar to Blashford, give it a go it looks perfect.

Today we replaced the old scaffolding death trap of a bridge that crossed the ditch towards the tail of Dockens Pool. The entire left bank of Dockens is now safely fishable, despite the geese and swans doing their best to add to the erosion of the bank. We did try and remove the two willow roots clumps that have been washed into the top of Lifelands Pool due to bank erosion, unfortunately we straightened out my grapnel so its back to the drawing board. We will get them out and Phil is now on the case to produce a grapnel light enough to throw yet strong enough to survive the JCB and steel cable pulling it!

The sad sight of my bonsai ash showing the epicormic growth associated with die back.

Mike Stead with an absolutely wonderful, sparkling fresh, 20+ Avon Springer. Exactly what we needed to cheer up the salmon rods, congratulations Mike, stunning fish. I imagine this fish came into the river in the last week during the very high Spring tides we have just experienced. Whilst there were no lice present the scars were very visible, more than forty eight hours but less than a week, the perfect Avon 3SW salmon.

A day off, well almost, I remained in the valley and went fishing at a small lake fishery on the Sweatfords Water, a tributary of the Avon at Rockbourne, just up the road from Fordingbridge. A most enjoyable day in the company of son Jonathan, seen bothering a fish in the pic above. Interesting day ahead, as I had never fished this water before and on arrival fish were very active on the surface where ever I looked, taking what would appear to have been smuts or subsurface buzzers as nothing was obvious. I set out my stall on a quiet pond, which I had all to myself and was as picturesgue as one could wish for. My 4 weight rod, with a size 16 Black Gnat and when this proved unappealing through the fly box with various delicate patterns and dressings, with, I'm afraid the same result.

After an hour or so of being ignored I wandered back over to see how Jonathan was getting on and he was landing his second fish that had taken a fly that resemble a Jay with a hook strapped to it! Lots of feathers and startling blue stuff. Not to be out done I retreated to my pond to go through a selection of buzzers, fished at various depths right up into the surface film, with strikingly similar results as the dry fly had achieved. Unfortunately I do not posess a fly of the successful lineage that was doing the damage on the other lakes and was forced to delve into Jonathan's fly box to find a suitable option. With the Jay look a like firmly bound to my leader it was back to my opponents that awaited my return with continued activity. I was convinced the result of this avian interloper would be the same as my earlier frustrations as these were obviously wise old stockies that had seen it all before and would continue to treat all my efforts with disdain.

In the clear water of the lake a handsome rainbow could be seen purposefully heading past, just a gentle cast out. The fly was aerealised and sent forth to land with what could best be described as a flop, three feet in front of our passing trout. I had not even started the retrive when this wretched trout bow waved across the intervening few feet and surged out of the water in an effort to engulf the drowning jay. In my shock I struck the fly straight out of its mouth and watched as a swirl and a departing bow wave signalled what was probably going to be my only chance of the day. Nothing ventured I headed along the bank to some overhanging trees where several fish could be seen idly circling just under the surface. Once more the fly was presented in all its finery just beyond the tips of the branches and I began to retrieve along the tree line. The result was almost as instant and startling as the previous effort, yet on this occasion three fish charged out of their lair in an effort to be first to snatch the passing jay. This time, I'm pleased to say, my reflexes were held in check and a fine four and a half pound rainbow soon grace the net.

There were many lessons to be taken on board from my experiences of today, unfortunately I'm not sure what they were. The jay continued to extract fish whenever it was offered, making not catching my limit the next problem to present itself. It did mean I had plenty of time to just sit and stare, which is as good a way to spend a few hours as I could wish for.

A nice surprise on the way in to work this morning as this fine male Ring Ouzel was scratchinging about in the mole hills in search of breakfast. I had the camera trained on him for at least five minutes and in that time he never once turned to face me allowing a shot of his full bib.

Better late than never! I know its taken a long time but we have at last replaced the missing and dangerous bridges at Hucklesbrook. You no longer have to take your life in your hands to cross the ditch and the stream, the rotten and the missing bridges have been replaced with the two I cut from the wind blown larch. Hopefully they are positioned sufficiently above the flood water level to avoid the future floods and thanks to Damian they have now been wired to the foundation stones.

Delighted to see that Mockbeggar is now up and running and the fish have woken from their winter reveries. It remains a little patchy with the frosty nights applying the brakes every now and then but overall some lovely fish have graced the bank. The common in the photos above is a thirty plus fish landed by Andy Jackson in one of his recent day sessions. It was part of a brace of fish with the other one going twenty plus, making for a good way to open his Mockbeggar account this Summer.

The second photo is a really interesting fish, which I hadn't realised had ever been caught. I had seen this fish about the river back in the 90's when it was occasionally up at Ibsley in the weirpools and also down at Lifelands Pool just above Ringwood. It was usually in the company of a large common that had been caught and weighed on several occasions, once even by the EA at Ellingham whilst on one of their surveys. The heaviest I had seen the common was just a tad over twenty nine pounds, I never witnessed it at thirty plus. The thing is if that's the mirror that used to accompany it, it always looked if it weighed considerably more than the common. I always used to tell anglers I bumped into on the bank where it could be found, oddly no one seemed interested and as I said I never saw it on the bank. In frustration I even invested in a tin of strawberry flavoured sweetcorn and set out to catch it myself, only to be thwarted by every bream that seemingly lived in the river at the time. Today I was out with Damian on the river, wiring our two replacement bridges down, when he produced this photo having landed this fish over twenty years ago. Unfortunately Damian never weighed this fabulous fish, having decided to travel light on the evening in question sacrificing the scales in an effort to reduce the weight of his tackle bag. So the mystery remains, we perhaps will never know what weight that fished attained in its peak. Unless of course some one out there knows differently.

I was pleased to see that our Lapwing and Redshank survived the plunging nightime temperatures this year. Today I could spot six sitting birds and others displaying, so fingers firmly crossed they survive the Crows and trespassers dogs, which have taken a toll in previous years.

It's an ill wind that blows no good. After the difficult work of coppicing the alder on the wet ground and thinning the larch on the steep slopes, three winter storms have flattened the greater part of what we left standing. The destruction and tangled debris will have to be cleared and added to the chip pile before we see what restock or regeneration will be required. It will be some time before we get around to sorting the mess out but today I decided one of the felled giants might provide two bridges to replace those up at Gorley on the Marsh stream and Hucklesbrook Stream. Getting under way is a little like that family game of pick-up sticks, the intertwined trunks have to be safely separated to get at the chosen trunk for the bridges. Once the sticks had been sorted out, without collapse, splitting the section of trunk could start. Unfortunately my 16" bar was too short to get right through so it was necessary to resort to wedges, cut from some of the fallen beech at hand, to complete the process. The end result two good sound, seven meter plus, bridges that should last for a decade or two if we can prevent them being washed away like their predecessors.

The meadows are just beginning to look their best as they begin to burst into life with the Cuckoo Flowers and Kingcups brightening the scene. The new growth is beginning to hide the sitting Lapwing that are out beside the shallow splashes making counting them almost impossible. Today I could spot four sitting birds but I believe there are a further five pairs in the section of meadow captured in the middle photo. I notice that we are forecast night-time temperatures of minus five in the next 48 hours. If you look back to last years entry for the 7th April the sitting birds suffered similar overnight temperatures and whilst they survived the night every nest in the field was deserted within a day or two, presumably despite sitting tight the eggs chilled. It would be desperately disappointing to lose the entire meadow breeding population once more.

The first Swallows of the year, showing three looking tired and cold as they arrived over at the lakes today. I can imagine they are less than impressed with the weather that welcomed them, probably wished they had put off arrival for a few days! The second photo is of an odd couple that are in the Top Park. The closer bird a Ruddy Shelduck, in the background his Egyptian mate? Along with the dozen or more pairs of Egyptian geese we have nesting it will be interesting to see if they are successful in rearing a brood.

Roger with a couple of our elderly residents. He landed the well known mirror a month ago and the common yesterday, the last fish from Meadow before the close season begins today.

An unusual snake, in an unusual pose. It is in fact a fine, yellow grass snake, almost three feet long, that lives over the lakes. I've been trying to get a photo of her for several weeks as she sun bathes in the early sunshine each day. The enlarged first few inches of her body aren't some cobra like hood but an unfortunate frog that came too close and ended up as dinner. Today, whilst she was distracted devouring the frog, I was able to get a photo of her before she made off into the brambles.

Like buses, Rob opened our account yesterday and today David Lambert landed a brace! Both fish were very similar to Rob's, about twelve pounds and sparkling fresh. With one other large fish coming adrift it looks as if we have a reasonable run of fish in the system. Congratulations David, great result.

The first resting in the net

...............and we're off! Thanks to Rob Smythe, beautifully captured in the second photo, we are now up and running with our first salmon gracing the bank today. A small bright fish that had probably entered the river after last weeks rain and the very high Spring tides of the weekend. Unfortunately I was clearing the right bank at the tail of Ibsley weirpool with a chainsaw and missed Rob's call. When I did pick it up five minutes later Rob had released the fish with a quick snap in the net. Not that Rob was worried, he doesn't need a photo to remember the events of the day. Congratulations Rob, well deserved, just what we needed to cheer everyone up.

The offending weir pool where I was busy clearing the right bank tail and missed the call. The tail of the pool is a good looking piece of water at the present water level so if you're up that way give it a whirl. Be warned, you'll need waders to cross the stream at the tail of the pool.

Not the most interesting WeBS day but there were one or two noteable records, three Little Ringed Plover, Great White Egret, yet the definite highight of the day for me were the number of Lapwing and Redshank nesting in the meadows. In the photo above there are three sitting Lapwing and their mates visible, plus a pair of Redshank. There are at least eight pairs of Lapwing in that one small area of meadow and one of the advantages of the higher density of nests is the ability of the non sitting birds to drive off predators. That advantage was well illustrated today when three of the local Red Kite population drfited low over the meadow. The defence was scrambled immediately and the interlopers were dive bombed successfully out of the area. Fingers crossed we don't get a repeat of last years 7th of April frost that wiped out the entire nesting population of the meadows. The other significant risk they run is the appearance of Hampshire County Council encouraged idiots with their dogs loose off the leads, "He's not doing any harm, he's just enjoying himself" This weekends sun has unfortunately brought out the first of the Summer clowns from hibernation, another advantage of a wet Summer!

As well as the birdlife there were plenty of butterflies out and about today enjoying the mid-day warmth; brimstone, red admiral, peacock and at least half a dozen comma in just one corner of a meadow.

The longer than usual break in entries is due to an unusually busy time at work and Anne and I being away in the West for a couple of days. I did see out the coarse season on the river where I failed miserably to get a session with the float, seeking our wonderful chub. I did buy a couple of pints of reds with the intention of getting a visit in but in usual fashion it looked as if the chublets in the carriers were in for a free meal as I usually end up scattering them over the bridge. With the intention of picking them up to get rid of them I opened the garage door to collect them only to meet them crawling under the door to greet me on a determined break for freedom. I'm not sure exactly made it clean away, I do however fear a good hatch in a week or two that is likely to land me in hot water.

The end of the river coarse season very much followed the topsy turvy pattern of a great deal of the past nine months. We never enjoyed the settled spell of mild weather we always keep our fingers crossed will arrive at the end of February or early March. Cold frosty snaps, bitter north winds, cold rain and rising water levels, before back to low flows and clearing water, it really was a case of pot luck whether you found the fish or not. There were several remarkable catches of chub and huge barbel, good perch and some fine pike. Roach as ever were thin on the ground and on the last weekend of the season the dace moved upstream on a mass migration heading for the gravel shoals as high in the river as they could manage.

In reality the Avon is probably the finest chub fishery in the land and our barbel take a lot of beating but in best Avon fashion they are never easy. Fin and scale perfect eight pound chub and eighteen pound barbel that the Avon produces time after time, to the point where with some lucky anglers six pound chub never get weighed unless they might make seven! All in the stunning surroundings of the Avon Valley. Certainly a frustrating season, however one that continues to reinforce the view of many that the Avon remains the finest river in the land.

Darrel with a big fourteen barbel, not his largest of the season as I believe he had them over seventeen. The middle shot of Gavin with a lovely pike and also a seven plus chub, again not his largest as he landed fish over eight. Stunning specimens, for which I thank Darrel and Gavin for sending through the shots to add to my records.

Not to forget the stillwaters that will see the close season on Meadow and Kings-Vincents with Mockbeggar coming on line to add a new challenge for the Summer. Thanks to Andy for the lovely shot of a cracking thirty plus common carp from Meadow last week.

Not long now girls, The ewes, looking very round, are now within a couple of weeks of lambing getting underway. Three of the Great Egrets heading for the roost this evening and the gull roost out on Ibsley Water, taken as I walked out to do the egret count this evening.

Spring creeps in, despite the chill of the recent northerly winds and overnight frosts, the herons are well advanced in their nesting. The end of the coarse season on the river also creeps ever closer with just six days left to get out in search of an Avon specimen. The river has continued to produce some incredible fish, perch, pike, barbel and chub that simply beggar belief. I bumped into Mark today as he was landing a true Avon slab in the shape of his second bream of the day. The larger of the two was over eight pounds, accompanied by a good chub making for a great Avon session.

A few shots from the weekend starting with a chilled bumblebee suffering from the cold northerly wind. The overnight frost combined with the very cold wind made getting the motors started difficult for the Red Admirals that were creeping about the lakes as well as the many bumblebees. It was well into the afternoon before they could be seen moving freely about the sheltered corners of the meadows. The Elf Cups I added just to brighten the cold, grey day, as with the other two shots showing the Mandarin and wild dafs beside the stream.

A visit to another of the stands of Douglas Fir where the volume of regen came as a complete surprise. On several acres of ground, under the standing douglas, regen is coming up on a wonderful scale, thousands upon thousands of new trees. There are a couple of snags with that in that the overstory is not due for further thinning or clearing for several years, in which time the deer will have done their worst. As the ground at Somerley seems to suit Douglas if we can find the time we must transplant a few thousand into new enclosures and shoot the bloody deer!

Whilst out and about it also gave me the opportunity to do a little bird spotting and I'm pleased to say two Gos sites have chanting males in attendance and the Kites are spending time in their preferred plantation. Calling at the Lakes this evening I visited the Egret roost, which acts as a wonderful weather vane with the egrets always in the lee of the island. The icy wind from the NE has put a chill on the complete day and I believe we are in for a week of it. Typical with the end of the coarse season rapidly approaching we were hoping for a warm few nights to bring the fish out of their torpor. It doesn't seem to have deterred the chub that continue to provide some staggering sport, I would just like to see one of the big girls of the barbel world grace the net as I'm sure a couple of them will challenge Pete's Avon record fish. As for the egrets, the Little Egrets seem to have left us yet we still have seven Great Egret using the island tonight, accompanied by two Grey Heron. Whether they are immature birds spending time away from the established breeding areas such as the Somerset Levels or perhaps we are seeing the start of our own breeding population. With breeding in mind it was good to see twelve pairs of Lapwing on just two areas of the meadows. They were being extremely protective of the area giving any passing Crows a serious amount of dive bombing. Lets hope the weather is kinder this Spring and we don't get a repeat of last years minus five degrees of frost in April that wiped out the entire first nesting attempts last year.

Odd jobs at the weekend, collecting mistletoe berries from the apple tree in front of our house to implant into the orchard appletrees on the Estate. Hopefully it will also stop the Mistle Thrushes covering our car with the sticky gloop they eject after dining on the berries.

I drained the North Marsh at the weekend and today the first of this year's Curlew arrived to spend the day feeding out in the meadows. The wildfowl count on the marsh this winter has been very low as the arrivals from the east if Europe never felt the need to run from the cold and travel to us. Our own coastal waders never came to exploit the flooded meadows as the saltings were never that hostile. Along with the Curlew today there were two pairs of Lapwing, establishing territories and a single BTG that seemed to think it was a Curlew, flying with the small flock when they were disturbed by the passing Marsh Harrier.

Here's an interesting one. Getting it down is not too great a problem, getting it down without flattening the fence is a little trickier!

WeBS day and in an effort to beat the birdworld out of bed I was out and about early. The wind had yet to return in any real force, as it has as I type this just before dinner, making the dawn a reasonable experience none of yesterday morning's frost and no flying trees. The first shot of the Goosander were four of over thirty on the river today. Thirty is a high count for us on the river and I imagine that the birds from the nearby roost didn't wish to venture too far with the threat of more foul weather and stayed locally. This is the same effect as when the lakes freeze, we end up with the displaced population on the flowing water of the river.

The middle shot of the Lapwing is a great deal more pleasing as it records the return of at least three pairs of birds establishing territories on the Ibsley meadows. It was these birds that suffered the late frost on the 7th April last year that brought about the failure of nine nests. If you look back on the diary for that date late year you will see the birds covered in frost having endured overnight temperatures down to minus four degrees. We can only keep our fingers firmly crossed that this years nests will be more successful.

The third shot just records the fact our herd of Mute Swans seems fairly stable with in the region of one hundred and twenty birds in this section of the valley. For the past decade or two this has been about the norm. We usually have in the region of twenty nests on the Estate, about half usually successful, which would point to a balanced population.

Today's route took me up to the North Marsh that has been quiet this year with few migrants arriving from Europe. Today was no exception with very little other than gulls, geese, a few Godwits and a single oystercatcher. The Godwits are the first I have seen this winter, which is the result of the storms driving the waders inland. Sadly the second of the Gorley Twins has succumbed to the weather and the pair now make a sad sight laying in the flooded meadow. I suppose its a fitting end as the they have stood together for probably a century or more. Jeez, I'm getting sentimental about trees now, it must be an age thing!

The last shot is a fallen ash in what is known as the "Snag Swim" its certainly living up to its name now! It will be some time before we can get machinery out across the meadows to heave that out as they are currently water logged.

My walk this morning was like entering the eye of the tornado, not a breath of wind stirred the reeds at sunrise. Around the corner and the gulls were waking, heading off in search of the scraps and rubbish that are put out daily on one of the neighbouring properties. A couple of hours later the rain and wind had returned. Hopefully not with the severity of yesterday's blow. If you look in the background of the gull shot you can see that our eagle platform survived the gale and awaits its first tenant. Sadly two of the introductions have been found dead in Dorset and concerns have been raised as to the cause of death. I haven't spoken to Steve over on the island but if man's hand has played any part in their demise, ten years in prison would not be too great a sentence. Intolerance, stupidity and ignorance are no defence in the eyes of the law and until our wildlife is afforded the protection the legislation is suppose to provide British law enforcement sentencing is a laughing stock. As for the comments of that West Dorset fuckwit dismissing the introduction, it comes as no surprise I fear and just reinforces the commonly held view that many of our politicians are just sad, outdated, posturing jokes.

The aftermath of one of our huge Scots pines having succumbed today, unfortunately one of dozens trees and branches that blocked roads and brought down powerlines locally. Kevin has pushed the head of this tree off the road as the fastest means to clear the road and move on to the next one. This tree took just a couple of slates off the roof of the building, which is about as close as you can get with such a huge tree.

The difference a day makes. Today the Humps, during the peak of the blow and yesterday the run into Lifelands looking just perfect. It looks as if we are going to suffer a rough few days that will make fishing difficult. If we get a break in the weather hopefully we will see a good finish to the river coarse season and our first salmon will hopefully also put in an appearance in the not too distant future.

A timely reminder supplied by Stephen Hutchinson in the form of a bright, fin perfect kelt. Luckily Stephen has plenty of experience of fresh salmon and kelts and this one was recognised for what it was. To less experienced eyes a very bright fish without a mark on it might well have been misidentified. Please take your time to ensure you are certain of what you have captured.

A couple of these a month and we will do okay. These being twenty four hours of rain and a rise in the river water level sufficient to bring any fish in the bay or lower river up to us. The forest streams were over the fords, which also gave a good tinge of colour, which provided as good a conditions as we could have asked for. More rain is forecast for later in the week that will hopefully sustain these levels for a further few days so make the most of it, if you want a February Springer that is.

Early morning in the valley.

I've been walking a great deal of the woodland in recent days as I assess the next phase of our woodland work. I was visiting the chestnut coppice I had briefly passed on one of our recent shoots and wished to see how our crop of fence stakes were doing. I was pleased to see they had established well and were now out of the reach of the deer population. Whilst out and about I thought I would have a look at how the regeneration was doing in some of our recently thinned or cleared woodland. Much of the natural woodland of the acidic sandy soils of the hilltops is dominated by silver birch with an under story of bracken making regeneration difficult. The shot of the birch trunks is an area we thinned two or three years ago and whilst our work has allowed light to reach the woodland floor the bracken has prevented most of the regeneration with only holly and honeysuckle present in any volume.

Almost all of the many hundreds of large oaks on the Estate have been planted by our predecessors, mostly between two hundred and fifty and four hundred years ago. Contrary to the popular view, very few are self set. Most of the self set oak springs up in the grassland surrounding the woods as jays and squirrels bury their winter stores of acorns and forget where they left them.

Other areas of the woodland has commercial stands of douglas fir that tower above us at well over one hundred feet. Where light can reach the soil new seedling spring up and race for dominance over the surrounding bracken and rhododendron. Always assuming the escape the attention of the fallow herds that now occupy many of the woods. One further area I visited was the Larch and deciduous mixed plantations. Bracken has not estabished in this woodland and where the light reaches the woodland floor regeneration is progressing well. Beech and larch where the ground is broken up and sycamore as closely spead as wheat where it can get established.

One of Brenda's firsts of 2021. Below is a link to Brenda's full Mockbeggar nest report.

Brenda's Mockbeggar Report 2021

Brenda has produced another great report recording her efforts over at the lake. Her work over the last five years is now building into a really valuable and interesting record.

As coincidence would have it I spent several hours today strimming around the reedbeds out on the islands in preparation for the return of Brenda's warblers.

Lifelands Pool with St Peter and St Paul in the background, surely one of the most quintessential lowland salmon river views. The view upstream from the same spot showing the geese have found a use for that gravel bar I put up the other day.

Gorse brightening the day beside the lichen lawn.

The world looked well this morning as I headed across the Estate to work. The first shot captures the mist spilling off the Top Park and flowing into the restoration hollows. An hour later and the mist was lifting in the valley and by mid morning the sun had broken through completely. The third photo also shows the extent of the gravel that is now visible down at the southern end of the Estate as the water levels drop.

Spot the Buzzard. Actually he's quite easy to spot as he drops his wings to soak up the warmth or the early morning sun. I have to say I was pleased to see him sat atop the willow pollard I cleaned up last week. This old willow is in a fragil state these days having lost its top a decade ago it is now hollow and threatening to split asunder. Lets hope we get another decade to enjoy the shade this ancient specimen provides and the wildlife that hide inside and shelter in its hollows.

I spent a very trying morning removing several extremely large chestnut boughs from the weirpool. These limbs that were up to thirty feet in length and a couple were well over a ton in weight had fallen from the massive chestnut before we recently pollarded the tree to make it safe. Fishing the weirpool had been spoilt by the presence of these huge boughs and getting them out had proven problematic. The main problem has been getting machinery close enough to deal with the size of them. Today I backed the truck over the first weir to within forty meters of the pool, rigged a block in a neighbouring chestnut and ran a steel cable down to the snags I was hoping to remove. Waders on and out in the pool as far as I could reach to get a strop firmly attached and back to the truck to drag the offending timber clear. Unfortunately the snag had a different take on matters and when the pressure was on the truck skidded sideways and slid gracefully into the ditch beside the track. Cable off and wriggling out of the ditch before back to the snag to reduce the weight by as much as possible with the chainsaw. Second shot was a repeat performance, requiring further extraction from the ditch and another lump cut off the bough. At the third attempt, it reluctantly came and crunched its way out onto the bank. A further half dozen lumps dragged out and half an hour with the long handled rake hopefully has seen the weirpool back in action.

I was keen to see how effective my efforts had proven so after I had finished my commitments with the timber cutters at lunchtime I headed home to grab the rods and a few lobworms to see if the perch were investigating the disturbed corner of the pool. The result was some good news and unfortunately some bad news to temper the success of my efforts. The good news was that the perch were there and I found a lovely brace to meet my perch fishing needs for the season. The bad news, there are still a couple of snags in the pool that cost me a couple of hooks. These snags were well out in the pool beyond where I could get at them to with the cable. There have always been snags in the pool that we have lived with for years and these are manageable with care. Having said that if anyone has any contacts with a scuba club that wants its freshwater ticket get them to get in touch and we'll sort something out in the Summer to deal with the snags that are left.

Don't get over excited, this photo is a couple of decades old, not the first of the season. You can tell that because I don't look grey and haggard as is my current appearance, well grey anyway! Its also an extremely rare shot as I don't catch many fish these days! I have put this shot up as an example of what we like to see in the way of a salmon pix. A rested fish briefly held safely out over the water, see the piece below.

Perhaps the beginning of the salmon season is an opportune time to mention the care needed if a photo of your fish is required. We should start with salmon as they are the species that set the limits by which all fish should be considered. Our objective at Somerley, which is obviously total catch and release of all species, is to ensure all of our fish are safely returned to the water with the minimum of stress and disruption. With salmon the process of resting in the soft, rubber meshed net before unhooking is the start of the process. When your capture has got its breath back and settled, the removal of the fly or hook whilst still in the water can be dealt with. Hook out and resting fish laying comfortably thoughts can now turn to getting your photo. At Somerley we do not want to see fish photographed anywhere other than in the river, over water, so that in the event of dropping your catch it has a safe landing and as it has been rested can disappear into the depths from whence it came. You may have lost your chance of a photo but at least you have not harmed the fish. Hopefully matters will run smoothly and once you feel safe and composed, briefly hold your fish clear of the net to record the happy event. If more than one companion is on hand the net can be whipped out of the way and two or three cameras can record the scene, to minimise the chance of a cock-up and your memory will be immortalised on film, or at least digitally, forever. Unfortunately "selfies" are not an option with salmon and to avoid the need we are always on call to ensure you get that important shot. The fish will be fine resting upright in the net, in a good clean moderate flow, whilst you give me a call and I come to your assistance. That's the ideal, which will be complicated by nerves and excitement but take your time and both you and your fish will be none the worse for the experience.

Having run through the routine for our salmon it should not be forgotten that many of our coarse fish are also a great deal more delicate than some anglers may be aware. At certain times of year they are also at increased risk, times such as when heavy with spawn or having been exhausted by the rigours of spawning. At such time even carp and barbel, thought by many to be as tough as old boots, need to be given maximum consideration. Pike, chub, roach and particularly grayling are easily harmed if handled badly. Almost all carp anglers now have unhooking mats and take considerable care when dealing with their fish, tucking in pec's and pelvic fins to ensure nothing is folded or broken. Given the time constraints our salmon anglers work with it may be worth just considering the time your coarse capture is exposed to the air. I'm not aware of any conservation meshes currently in use in the coarse world nets but hopefully these will become the norm to avoid split fins and damaged scales, they certainly have revolutionised the salmon world catch and release. If your fish is resting in the margins, in your net, it is recovering and safe. The key here is to get any photos sorted out before it is restored to fighting fit and gives a good account of itself all over again. We all have seen or suffered the good slapping or the juggling scene, or at worse case dropped on the bank as it bounces back into life. That's the reason sacks are banned other than for brief, which means brief, five or ten minutes whilst you sort out your gear. Certainly no fished sacked overnight for daylight shots or your buddy to climb out of his scratcher and answer his mobile.

Perhaps the most important aspect is the time the fish is out of the water in an alien atmosphere. I do not see many prolonged photo shoots these days but perhaps a good measure might be to try holding your breath for the time you have the fish out of water. In the salmon world such an extended period of time is totally unacceptable, anything more than thirty seconds and your salmon is unlikely to survive, especially if its a very fresh fish just in the river. Pale rigid bodies and fixed eyes are a thankfully a much rarer sight than they were when were establishing the handling methods thirty years ago. I do still see carp and other large fish on the bank for several minutes, which needs to be reduced. Before any photos are attempted ensure you are ready and organised. Scrabbling about for cameras, rinse water etc with a fish on the bank needs a little more thought and organisation. Certainly no checking you have an acceptable shot to decorate your album with whilst the fish is still out on the bank. Selfies for coarse fish are difficult but not impossible if you are organised, so do your best to have everything ready and at hand before lifting the fish from the water, the next couple of minutes are extremely important, not for your photo but the well being of the fish.

A rather strange photograph taken at first light this morning that clearly illustrates the extent of the worrying freeboard we are currently experiencing. This is the run into Coomber Pool that is roughly halfway down the Estate and a couple of miles above any artificial impoundment or draw down. I did stop and measure the freeboard at the point thirty meters from the head of the pool and we have over 800mm, or 32 inches, of clear bank. The reason I chose that spot to measure, apart from the lack of artificial interference, is that is the spot Danny landed our first fish of 2020 on the 7th March. At the time there was sufficient water over the bank to release the fish out in what in the photograph is the field, making the water height difference close to a meter. When Colin landed the first fish last season we were once more stood in over six inches of water flowing over the bank at the Breakthrough. We are certainly in a different position for the start of the 2022 season, only time will tell how it pans out.

I got around to cleaning up, Below the Cut Through, on the right bank this afternoon, which combined with above and below the weir, The Humps, Above the Cut Through and Lifelands Pool provides a good hour or twos fishing. Plenty of pools now fishable and Michael Gubbins, down on the lower fisheries tells me he has been out and about, busy cleaning up the Lower River so it won't be through lack of access we don't see a salmon or two grassed in the near future.

Opening day and a great turn out to greet the new salmon season and catch up with everyones news. The valley had its best winter coat on and the river fished well, in reality a fish on the bank was expecting a little much but you just never know. The consensus of the day was that a foot more water would have been ideal yet with the current water height we might expect the odd fish to creep through to us. Perhaps of more concern was the fear that should the rains not appear we will be struggling for flow this year. This is definitely a case of, damned if you do and damned if you don't, if the rains don't come we're done for and if they do its going to be a rubbish Summer. The moral of that bleak outlook is to make the best of what flow we have and keep your fingers crossed.

The importance of our salmon is two fold in that it is vital to the viability of the fishery it is also the primary indicator of the health of the river, if our salmon are failing things are amiss. Definitely a worrying time ahead.

On a brighter note whilst out and about, meeting and greeting, I did spot one of Steve's eagles that joined us for an hour at lunchtime, a Marsh Harrier drifted by and three Great White Egrets were dotted about the water meadows. Seven GWE and fourteen Little Egrets were in the roost this evening making it a pretty good day despite the lack of a salmon.

They won't get around me that easily! Whilst its an amazingly inventive solution, closing the A338 for three days and opening the watermain to add stream support flow to the river at the Bridge Pool to compensate for that shameful barrier to passage at Knappmill, it still doesn't cut any ice with me. Despite the low flow we are currently experiencing I am still not a fan of stream support. The real danger is that if we do not see significant rainfall throughout the coming months we may well be looking at a long, low flow Summer. The fact that known migratory species such as barbel are not able to get over the Great Weir in any numbers is a disgrace, particularly when aided and abetted by the EA. The counter is set up to register fish over 500mm, which a great many of the chub and barbel that would and should be moving upstream to spawn if allowed to behave naturally are unable to do. We know from repeat captures of these species that they move freely up and down the weirs at Ringwood and Ibsley a pattern repeated by barbel all over Europe, yet they are not recorded moving through the Great Weir. many of the Lower Avon coarse fish turn up in the Lower Stour and at times of low flow when unable to access the Avon many of our salmon also wait in the lower Stour in the deep lower reaches. I'm just thankful we are a sufficiently large fishery, with many miles of main river and even more miles of carrier, to support a sustainable population. Were I having to manage a fishery in the lower river I would be even more disgusted with the treatment of our fish as these slower, deeper lower reaches are where our salmon should be waiting, not in the Lower Stour.

We are not the only species that enjoys the arrival of the growing season signalled by the snowdrop. Honey bees and hoverflies were busy working the blooms about the garden today, even a Red Admiral visited briefly to check out the activity.

The EA at it again.

Paid from the public purse, obligated to serve the public, determined to conceal the truth, destined to be superseded. The sooner a publicly elected board and truly accountable system is implemented to replace this embarrassment the better. A good starting point would be for Bevan to go.

Woodland regeneration.

I've put this link up as support for my apparent devastation of some of our uniformly planted woodland enclosures and hedges that are suffering from ash dieback. The felled trees afford the new growth a patchwork of light filled clearings and protection from the deer, allowing the naturally regenerated species to establish.

I was pleased to see the overgrown chestnut we coppiced a couple of years ago has survived the attention of the local deer population and has established an even regrowth that bodes well for the future. I must try and find time for another visit to produce a better record of the work.

Always good to see the snowdrops announcing the arrival of the growing season. Light at the end of the grey old tunnel! The second shot is of the Egret roost that was counted tonight as part of the HOS survey. Having thought they had all moved off a few weeks ago it was a pleasant surprise to see eight Great White Egrets and seventeen Little Egrets are still with us. All eight GWE are in that murky photo, several of the LE arrived when it was too dark to take any further snaps. The GW's are relatively easy to distinguish, the one that is tricky to see is on the left above the easily seen pair. The other difficult bird has its neck extended just right of centre.

For ten minutes a pair of otters intent on increasing their population were kicking up a right old racket immediately beneath the roost, which the Egrets totally ignored. I bet that despite being over one hundred meters away if we had so much as snapped a twig the entire roost would have abandoned ship.

Dog Kennel is a lovely looking pool and it is altering every year for the better, the tail is now widening and steadying down making it a really inviting piece of water, all it needs now is or the salmon to agree.

Thursday night was certainly the coldest night of the Winter to date and personally I hope it stays that way, my blood seems to be getting thinner by the day. One or two of the shallower lakes froze and the muddy fields and tracks became overnight ankle breakers. The grass in the valley remained frozen all day curtailing the activity of the large flocks of geese that have been about in recent weeks. The large flock had broken up into smaller family flocks that were spread the length of the Estate. Overnight the valley filled with Snipe, forced in from the widespread feeding across the forest and farmland looking for the shelter and softer marshland to be found in the valley.

It wasn't only the wildfowl and waders that were forced to move as the number of birds on the feeders increased dramatically throughout the day. Along with the usual Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Siskin we spotted the first Redpoll on the sunflower kernals, once more photographed through the double glazing.

We still have three or four Great White Egret about the place with three still at the roost and one other heading north up the valley heading for the Bickton roost late this evening. The grey Heron in the middle shot are giving the local frog population a hard time. Just as they feel the urge to spawn the water levels fall leaving them exposed in shrinking pools. The Great-crested Grebe along with three pairs of Canada Geese and three or four pairs of Egyptian Geese are convinced Spring has arrived and are establishing territories.

I gave the nest platform a Spring clean yesterday, which involved cutting back the branches in the south east quadrant to allow the birds an unimpeded vertical drop to launch from. Will this be the year we get something a little more exciting than the local Buzzard using it as a dining table to devour his rabbits on?

The river continues to drop and clear, it at least makes tidying up the salmon pools easier. Under the powerline at Ashley was at one timed deemed to be one of the best early season lies on the river. I think it has been several years since a Spring fish was taken from that lie yet last Autumn there were at least two good fish in the pool.

A frustrating morning with the chainsaw that conspired to make life awkward with jammed bars and broken pull cords. A far better afternoon cleaning up the bridge pool, a view downstream, from the bridge and back upstream. A very satisfying result to the extent I even picked the chainsaw back up and cleared the regrowth willow from the phragmites bed. As we no longer cut them the reed beds need tidying up before they are lost to willow car and brambles. If we get a dry week in early February the reeds need burning off to clear the accumulated weeds and rubbish and to re-invigorate their growth.

A day off to chase the Channel whiting about on what was forecast as slight sea state that turned out to be a considerable SW swell with a fresh northerly making for a very bumpy day. With an hour to go the wind dropped, the sun came out and as we got back to harbour it was just perfect!

A hard frost this morning meant a cold start that required warming the gloves on the manifold cover of the strimmer every quarter of an hour to keep the fingers from dropping off. The pool cleaned up and ready for the start of the season in a fortnight. Worryingly the water level is already a little low for this pool, we are in need of a good top up, so fingers crossed we see a good downpour in the very near future.

Ibsley garage, up at Gorley, came to my rescue this morning when I had a puncture that requiring fixing. Whilst I was waiting I enjoyed the sounds drifting across the road from the rookery in the tops of some tall, skeletal oaks. Despite the hard frost this morning the inhabitants seemed convinced Spring was on its way and were disputing nest sites still in situ in the tops since last Summer.

An interesting walk a day or two ago in that I had the opportunity to see how the Penmeade Carrier was getting on. The culvert linking the Ellingham to the Penmeade, just above the Pipe on the main river, was blocked and required clearing. The branches blocking the culvert had cleared and swept away downstream so I set off to follow them and see what I could haul out in an effort to avoid blocking downstream gates. Thirty years or so ago, when I arrived at Somerley, this stream had been allowed to become completely choked with weed and silt, with only the bottom couple of hundred meters having clear water. It was solid phragmites from bank to bank and the flow was completely impounded. The link from the Ellingham Carrier had been deliberately blocked for reasons I could never fathom and the Woodside link had closed completely. Both the Ellingham Carrier and the Woodside that are interconnected with the Penmeade were sluggish, mud filled ditches. At the time I couldn't justify the expense of cleaning them out for environmental reasons and I couldn't afford the time to get involved with the regulators sorting out the required consents. In an effort to set things in motion I simply removed the blockages that had been put in the Woodside and Ellingham links, which turned out to be a couple of sheets of corrugated iron and a circular manhole cover, the latter was an absolute sod to get out! Once removed I let a little more water in at the header hatches and left Nature to do the hard work. I wasn't expecting any rapid change but any return to clear channel had to be beneficial to the fishery. Within five or six years the weed and silt had gone and we had replaced the silt and mud bed with clean gravel. The Penmeade alone is over one thousand meters with clean, sparkling gravel riffles to six feet deep pools and bends. A thousand meters of mystery as in the intervening thirty years I could probably count the number of people who have fished it on the fingers of one hand. During the Summer I have spotted shoals of dace and roach, with double figure barbel and huge chub skulking in the deep pools. I did see a twenty plus pike landed about two hundred meters up from the confluence but that's about the total sum of our knowledge. I should add two salmon redds in one of the low flow winter spawning a year or two ago, which adds a further dimension to the stream.

The pool under the conveyor, just south of the drive. North of the drive one hundred meters of sparkling gravel immediately below the inception as it begins its journey with the feed from the Woodside Carrier. The pool has depths down to six or seven feet and in the Summer, thousands of dace, plus a scattering of roach and perch, enjoy the sanctuary of the tangle of branches overhead. Rushing out of the pool the stream hides under a tangle of sallow that is no barrier to the fish yet provides further protection from the ever present Herons and Cormorants. Clear of the tangled limbs it now takes on the appearance of a lowland brook as it wanders across the meadow, beside the Crack Willow pollards in need of some attention when I have time. Still narrow enough to jump if I were fifty years younger, although even then I fear the odds would have been just in favour of a dip! A hundred meters on and the Ellingham Carrier link joins after crossing the Snipe Marsh, immediately doubling the flow, adding real intention to turn from brook to stream.

A slight detour back along the Ellingham Link to find the bridge to allow us to continue out travels. The old wooden bridge remains in situ to add further cover when festoon in nightshade, trailing several meters downstream throughout the summer. We rejoin a stream that now takes on the air of mystery that so intrigues as it skirts an ancient pollard that adds a further twinge of guilt as it requires urgent attention to ensure it continues to reign over the restored pool. A deep glide back into the shade of the undercut alders before once more emerging with sufficient depth and flow to cross the meadows ahead without need of overhead cover. At this point the route takes us out onto Goose Meadow where we are looking to encourage the breeding waders, where tree cover is undesirable as it affords cover for the ever present Crows that so heavily predate out remaining Lapwing and Redshank.

Half way down and we reach the hump-backed bridge. I have often stopped in the Autumn to feed blackberries the chub in the pool below. It was just at the tail of this pool a fine pair of salmon cut their redd a year or two ago. As I head on at the foot of the bridge a tell tale patch of chublet scales shows where an otter dined last night, which is a clue in itself as to the productivity of the stream.

Now out on the flood plain a couple of the woody debris deflectors the rivers trust added a year or two ago to undo the historic dredging and straightening the carrier had suffered in its past. They are looking well and adding to the diversity of the habitat with several new gravel bars and restful slacks to encourage further diversity and recruitment. Third shot is just a couple of hundred meters from the confluence where deep, reed flanked runs afford sanctuary for many of the inhabitants of the main river when it is in flood and backs up into the Penmeade to provide the perfect sanctuary. Finally the confluence with the parent river as it dives deep into the hidden depths of Penmeade pool. A pool that is pure Hampshire Avon, with a species and specimen list to make any river angler drool.

Thirty pound pike and salmon, eight pound chub, two pound roach and three pound perch, all to be found at various times in that pool and yet perhaps some of the greatest mystery is not out their but behind us, tucked away in the Penmeade carrier. If I ever had the time I would make a point of spending a day a moth throughout the season trotting maggot in that stream, to see how our juveniles were doing and to get a measure of what the future holds when they grow and migrate to the main river. I wouldn't be heart broken if I did bump into the odd specimen whilst I was discovering what lay beneath but just a bonus not and end in itself.

That's taken bloody ages to put together, all to the accompaniment of Swamp Dogg and his wrist slashing blues. There is more to discover and tell about that simple stream, hopefully I may get the opportunity at some time in the future to add a further instalment.

The EA at its very best

No surprise there then!

If you are surprised or shocked by this you must have been on long term sabbatical, or naively believing the annual reports churned out by the water companies and the EA. It's the level of protection the NRA/EA have been affording our river for decades. Since the division of the water authorities into the water companies and the NRA under the Water Act 89, deliberately taking the funding for the protection of our rivers off into private pockets.

Achieving the other elephant in the room, the perfectly synchronised emasculation of the regulators. In the early days it was embarrassing to watch how closely ex colleagues in the NRA and the Water Companies worked. Staff moved on and well meaning though similarly ineffectual replacements took their place and we were no better off in trying to protect the fishery assets. Priorities remained fixed, the well being of the fishery, with its measure of riverine health, somewhere well down the list far below, potable water, sewage disposal, flood defence, we were stuck in there somewhere along with navigation, whilst our rivers were flushed down the pan. Bearing in mind that the angling fraternity were the only body with a statutory requirement to actual contribute to this farce, twenty four million annually. By this time the landowners had sidestepped the fishery rates and the water companies had no statutory obligation to contribute.

The government of the day, through its lap dogs Defra, had no intention what so ever of restricting the flow of cash into private pockets by any self inflicted policy such as adequately funding the regulators. The treasury instructed Defra who dutifully obliged and looked about for easy meat to cut. The EA were and remain that easy meat, with a dutiful minister appointed board, there would be no boat rocking coming from that direction. Sit back, take your bung and await your gong!

When they first started cutting and shedding staff those that saw the writing on the wall quickly established consultancies to tell everyone what they already knew but at twice the price. The price didn't matter it was the fact there was someone to blame between the ineffectual EA and Defra. “We were acting on the best scientific evidence as supplied by, “Joe Bloggs Environmental Expert Consultants” blame them no one here is responsible!

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, the cuts eventually got so savage that the consultants also began to feel the pinch and a new way to achieve the perfect balance on the fence had to be devised. Enter the realm of the “Partnership” lots of various bods all sycophantically, bowing and scraping with their hands out for minimal funding available. Just perfect to deflect the blame. A screen to hide behind for years without having to tackle any of the real issues and keep those nice people up in Defra's head office in their pay masters good books.

If the direction from the top has no consideration for the environment this is the mess you end up with. Hollow sound bites and crocodile tears will not fix our rivers. It will require a government with a genuine will to put the environment, not mammon, at the top of the priorities list. We are desperately in need of fresh legislation and a return to the polluter pays as the first step.

In light of Bertie's success with findings yesterday's kelt I thought I would take a walk along some of the shallows to see if I could match his result. Unfortunately the added colour and water height resulting from recent rain has made spotting extremely difficult. The fact most kelts sink, if they die in open water, I fear many will be washed through the system without being found this year, likely to be a poor year for my head collection! An added problem in collecting the few that our obliging otters drag ashore are the number of scavengers waiting to clean up the afters. The first photo shows three Red Kites and two of the four Buzzards that were circling, there were also two Raven plus various Crows and Magpies close by, waiting to dine. That wasn't even a kelt but a small Jack pike that some stupid Heron, with eyes bigger than its belly, had abandoned when it couldn't get it down its throat.
The second shot shows less than a fifth of the geese currently about the Estate, fingers crossed they stay as healthy as they looked today.

Master Bertie Cutts, proudly measuring a large salmon kelt found on the bank of his family's stretch of the Hampshire Avon at Folds Farm. A classic Avon salmon in its day still retaining an impressive depth, despite the best efforts of the local otter and fox population. Many thanks to dad, Alister, for letting me know about the fish as its exactly what we are looking for to further the research into the amazing travels of these incredible animals. Although the Crows or Magpies had removed the eys this remains a valuable specimen as the otoliths remain intact. Please remember I am looking for them for my head collection, if you're out and about and spot one a call or a text and I'm only too happy to drive over to collect them. It would be great to think that such research may just add to our knowledge enabling us to safeguard these fish, making sure that Bertie may look forward to landing such a Springer from the Folds beat in years to come.

This is well worth a listen, my favourite subject!

Feargal still hard at it, doing an absolutely brilliant job, "Flushed Away".

It has been a long time since "Hoodies" could be fished safely and I'm delighted to report the "TreeMenders" were in yesterday sorting out the horrendous, tangled mess. The first shot is how we've become used to seeing it in recent years with the windblown poplar resting on the horse chestnut under which Hoodies used to be fished. With the amount of dead wood precariously balanced overhead and the tottering nature of the inter-twined trees not somewhere to spend a day relaxing as you watched your nodding rod tip. The middle shot captures the removal of the poplar canopy and the third and final shot the finished horse chestnut pollard, hopefully now safe for a good many years to come. The swim now has to be approached from the south as the old northern route is blocked by the root plate of the massive, wind blown London plane that we removed some time ago. Fingers crossed we see a return of Hoodies to the magic of its historical past with a string of specimens few swims can equal.

The ash tree where the first Goosander in the valley bred way back in 2000 is slowly sliding into the river. It suffered the indignity of losing the top a decade or so ago, recorded somewhere on this diary. Being on the outside of the bend the bank beneath the root plate has now been eroded bringing about the inevitable collapse.
The second shot is a great deal more alarming showing a dead swan washed up on a gravel bar below Blashford. The reason for the alarm? The high incidence of bird flu currently being experienced across the country. With cases ten miles to the south, twenty miles east and ten miles west we are dreading its appearance on the Estate. With a resident population of about one hundred and twenty Mute Swans and currently a goose population of between five and six hundred birds an outbreak with us could be devastating. The bird in the photo was hopefully a powerline strike washed down by the high water over the weekend, we see in the region of ten birds hit the cables each year. If its either of the cables at Hucklesbrook or Ellingham, which they hit as they cross the river, they usually drift off downstream before the foxes are able to drag them out. There were a pair of Raven doing their best to dine of this bird but its semi submerged state was making progress difficult for them. As can be seen in the photo there were over thirty swans in the field immediately opposite the site where it was caught up, the sooner it goes on its way and clears the Estate the happier I will be.

A shot or two from about the fishery as I was out and about looking for redds and any kelts that may have been washed up. The first shot is the large slow run at the tail of Botney pool, the list of specimens from that spot is staggering. Too coloured for redd spotting and possibly too early for any kelts to be washed through the system. There are certainly kelts in several pools that are showing constantly, it would seem the exertions of their spawning have yet to catch up with them. The middle shot is just a record of the sad demise of yet another old oak pollard that has finally given up the ghost. I have walked past that tree for decades and it is sad to see it fall, which is an increasingly familar sight as our ancient oaks struggle with the stresses of climate change. I did bump into Tim when I visited the lakes who was doing well on the waggler with a roach a cast with the occasional bream to add a little interest. The weather was mild and overcast, fish were moving and feeding freely, a pleasant way to spend a few hours watching a float. Back to reality tomorrow as I believe the cold weather is about to return!

The first daffodil to welcome the New Year, lets hope for an improvement on 2021.

When I looked yesterday the weather forecast was favourable for this morning so I felt my annual pilgrimage to trot the Bridge Pool at Ibsley seemed like as good an idea as any to welcome the New Year on the river. When Manny was filming back in the Autumn there were plenty of dace and roach both above and below the bridge so I was hoping one or two may still be there. It wasn't an early start as I only wanted a few hours to give the tackle a run out. The water looked well, fining down and off the banks, I decided to start above the bridge and trot maggot, as I had a couple of pints in urgent need of using up. I was soon set up and running the float through an almost perfect trot, fifty meters down to the bridge. Half an hour and nothing seen other than salmon kelts throwing themselves clear of the water every ten minutes or so. Kenny dropped by to exchange seasons greetings on his way downstream and told me the forecast was now for rain at eleven o'clock, which was a complete pain, as I hate trotting in the rain, especially with a pin without a line guide. Kenny went on his way and sure enough in half an hour, at eleven, the skies opened and it poured. I was thinking of packing the gear away and heading for home but as Kenny said it was only due to last an hour I took the opportunity to move downstream, below the bridge. The rain stopped on cue and I fished down the left bank, opposite the hatches, in three different swims with just one sucked maggot and the small dace in the photo that saved the day. At mid day a large dog otter came swimming up the middle of the river and disappeared over the spillway into the weir pool below, which was signal enough for me to call it a day and head for home. Hardly the most exciting few hours yet I thoroughly enjoyed the few hours on the bank watching the river enter the New Year.

It doesn't look as if the cock fish managed to spawn, the infected, saprolegnia coated vent looks as if it was just too much to cope with. Sad as it is, hopefully it will not have died in vain as his head will go into my collection for the further uni investigations of his life style. Don't forget I am collecting heads so if you come across any kelts that have given up the ghost please don't forget to give me a call.

The year is ending on a high, where the water level and temperature are concerned anyway. The recent rains have coloured and raised the water level preventing any further attempts at finding redds. I did get one or two messages from upstream letting me know thay had fish on the redds in the headwaters, which is always pleasing to know. I do appreciate such feedback as it at least allows us to believe that the future generations are safely in the gravel. The tricky bit is getting them back out and onto smolt stage to allow sufficient numbers to run to sea to safeguard the future of the fisheries. As mentioned in the piece below there are changes ahead, one being the trees that can be seen in the three shots are all threatened by disease and climate change. The ash just showing on the lefthand side of the first shot already has die back and will be lost. The ash beside the hatches that can be seen in all three photos remains healthy and it will be interesting to see how long it stays that way. The tangled mess of polar, chestnut and London plane i the middle shot will hopefully soon be sorted out and made safe. It really is an ugly job for the Treemenders as the tops have to be taken down bit by bit to ensure the rotting timber does fall on passing anglers. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, we will get back to a pollarded horse chestnut that will once more be a safe place to fish that classic Avon swim "Hoodies"

At my age there is nothing quite like looking back to, “How it was done in my day” a bit of nostalgia is good for you. My arse, I bloody hate it, particularly in light of the fact it is my generation that has got us into this environmental pickle. Reviews of the year are all well and good, unfortunately other than one or two lessons learned, hold very little value. Its what's around the corner that matters. There are many side issues such as a coloured old cock salmon that still holds the sea trout record to distract. That actually says more about the rod caught record committee than the fish! Its the influence that you can bring to bear on major issues that will undoubtedly impact on us all that should be the focus of our attentions. Ask what you can do for your river, rather than what your river can do for you, sounds familiar? Real issues such as the extent to which the Environment Act 2021 will improve on the WFD, as promised by the Somerset gnome. That's not the ugly little sucker at the bottom of the garden, more the ugly little fuckers sat on their filthy lucre in Zurich.

Will Section 5 of the act see “Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plans” actually achieve anything in my lifetime? If so they'd better hurry up as I'm no Spring chicken! Will the Secretary of State be up to ensuring the plans are firstly produced by competent authorities, that bring integrity and understanding to the issues. That's not as simple as it may sound, especially if the advice behind the plans is to be produced by the water companies themselves. Probably better the water companies fund the plans and independent agencies and NGO's, with executive powers with regard to what is included, produce them. Will the plans Impose a time frame that has meaning, perhaps more importantly, with significant penalty clauses for failure to meet any such targets? I can already hear the cries of poverty and diverted infrastructure expenditure. I wouldn't mind the resultant enforcement undertaking if I thought the subsequent bonus payments to the water company exec's and share dividends wasn't as a result of the fines avoided. I look forward to seeing the plan for our area completed and published in the near future. Hopefully we won't have to wait until September 22, by which date the legislation states it has to be published.

We've also got the bright, shiny new Agriculture Act 2020, promising to work with farmers to ensure that further desecration of the countryside is prevented and funded properly. That's not desecration that's funded properly, its the measures to prevent it of course! Under ELMs (Environmental Land Management) will we see less winter brown fields as cover crops provide protection for the soil and potentially food for the wild birds? It won't help the ancient grasslands that covered the downs in walking distance of my ancestral home. They disappeared under the plough decades ago and any true reversion to downland seems highly unlikely. Potentially a step in the right direction if its supported in sufficient numbers. Banning winter sown cereal and mono-cultures might also be an option worth considering.

With the new filters being developed for washing machines will the discharge of micro-fibres into our rivers be prevented? Will the extent and implications of this invidious pollution be fully investigated? Alternatively will we see materials made from these previously heralded man made fibres banned or large sanctions placed on their import. Possibly a resurgence in the price of wool to make it once more the valuable product that shaped the South Downs, Salisbury Plain and Cranborne Chase. As opposed to it costing almost as much to get it sheared than the farmer receives for the fleece. Could that once more see those historically important downlands that now go under the plough each year restored to ancient flower rich grasslands? Considerable thought may need to be applied to stocking densities to avoid a return to economics of scale yet under ELMS anything is possible. I know meat is out of favour in the dietary requirements of many in Middle England but what's better, monoculture cereals destroying the soil structure and causing siltation of rivers, or a return to ancient grasslands? Isn't it odd how so many issues are interlinked.

As well as ridding the countryside of the menace of subsidised winter arable perhaps our greatest concern on the rivers is that of pesticides. Under ELMS we are assured we will continue with the EU's efforts to limit the indiscriminate use of herbicides and insecticides we have become accustomed to. With the current government looking to reverse the ban on neonicotinoids for sugar beet growers I fear it's not looking very promising.

Failure to meet the ELMs requirements, losing subsidy payments is perhaps insufficient incentive to adhere to the rules. A significant fine or potential stay at her majesty's pleasure might focus the attention. Whilst inside they could attend environmental workshops with the water company exec's they may well meet!

I suppose we could all go for “re-wilding” and run tourist trips around the place to show the urban population what we do and the yokels that sit on the village wall watching the world go by. Mind you very few yokels can afford a village home any more, accountants, lawyers, media exec's, retired Middle Englanders and second home owners, seem to have the sway these days where rural properties are concerned.

In reality the idea the countryside can be saved by re-wilding on any significant scale is pure nonsense. Unless of course the government intend to nationalise land, in which case anything is feasible. Otherwise land is an asset and has to be managed as such. If outside finance can support the abandonment of the land all well and good, otherwise it has to produce a financial return or rent.

Lots of other issues to get your teeth into if you feel so inclined and its a good idea if you do. The self regulation of the water industry has proven not to work, it requires honest regulators with teeth and an independent over sight. Carbon offsetting, a real alternative or a developers charter? Climate change and how we can adapt to its reality. Short sighted planners and how do Highways England get away with the run-off from the roads entering our rivers without filter?

Having got that lot off my chest I'll stop there. That's quite enough to add to this depressing, grey old weather without sending you all in search of the Prozac. I dare say the aforementioned will crop up many times in the coming year and I bet a good many more will be added to the list. I just hope there are enough of the younger generation, who care, out there to look over the shoulders of those impacting our rivers to keep them honest.

When you next have occasion to be sat across the table, or on the phone, to someone in the water industry bear in mind the truth behind what you are being told. They are concerned about; antibiotics, microplastics, diffuse pollution, abstraction, nitrates, Tom Cobbly and all, to the extent they will obfuscate, delay, green wash and plead poverty, as long as you are prepared to listen. The water companies are a closed door, hiding behind the regulators, its those self same regulators that have to grow a set and prove they are fit for purpose.

A lovely Christmas Day with Anne, thankfully recovering from her latest work inflicted injury, family coming and going, the Perfect Day. Strictly has just started, much to Anne's delight, which seems an ideal opportunity to sort out next years diary files and enter the WeBS info. With a glass of good red to help the concentration of course. I should add my congratulations to the James Webb launch team that provided such an unusual tension to the day.

George has landed this lovely fully scaled before this year but its no hardship to catch her again for Christmas. Well done George, great result and thanks to dad, Nick, for sending through the pic.

I have received from the EA my section 25 that allows me to collect dead salmon for the ongoing salmon research.
Over the coming weeks we are likely to see the salmon kelts being washed up on the gravel bars as they die after the rigours of spawning.
Should you come across any casualties whilst out and about on the river please give me a call and I'll drop by to pick them up.

A Christmas Message

I've spent several days recently beside the river, preparing for the salmon season, which is just over a month away. Fear not I will sort out the renewals asap! This has also allowed me plenty of time to keep an eye on how the salmon spawning is progressing. Over the past week or so I have found about a dozen redds with fish actively cutting. Recent days have seen a slowdown yet fish are still moving slowly upstream, I walked beside a small hen today as she negotiated the Trout Stream by-pass channel. I only hope this current rain amounts to sufficient to give the water level a boost and enable the fish that have still to cut a helping hand in reaching their preferred destination.

I was somewhat surprised to see reasonable numbers of fish still cutting with us as I would have thought the rains of October and November would have seen the fish move into the headwaters without any problems. I was also surprised at the water levels in the river after the rains of October and November, the plug seems to have been pulled and the water has all gone. Much of the weed has been stripped away by the earlier floods and the swans adding to the drop in levels. Travelling fish will have trouble negotiating obstructions at the current height.

A fantastic Avon cock salmon

Recorded by Danny Taylor up at Northend, this is a thirty plus cock fish that would have been the fish of a lifetime when it was fresh upon entering the river. An astonishing fish that sadly is not looking its best, fingers crossed it makes it to the redds and finds a mate to pass on its unique genetics. Although touched with sadness it never fails to amaze that such fish are still to be found in the Avon. Thanks for letting me use the video Dan, much appreciated, see you in the New Year.

Different salmon video file

Several readers have said that Dan's salmon video above does not open so the second link is a different format that will hopefully solve the problem.

This fish should be a threat to all that enter his domain, “Finny bites your legs” that will be lost on the younger generation of readers. Instead we have a saprolegnia plastered lethargic lump just holding station in the shallows. They will spawn even with a certain amount of this fungus attached, see 18th December 2016, but he definitely is not screaming well being I fear. These incredible multi-sea winter animals suffer the maximum extent of societies indifference. Did the MSW cock fish in the video run the river immediately on reaching the harbour or did he wait in the Lower Stour, as many do before attempting to enter the Avon via the Great Weir? Irrespective of Avon or Stour they enter our river system in the Spring and as I said in a recent post, have to suffer the indignity of the abuse we heap on them. They are the first to arrive in our system and have the longest exposure to high temperatures and all the associated pathogens of aquaculture, agriculture and our own “flood event” STW releases. Then their progress is dependent on sufficient water to negotiate the previously mentioned barriers we stick in their way.

I see we have received the latest update from Knappmill that illustrates the problem of both salmon and our coarse fish when it comes to negotiating barriers. The update points out the chublets and juvenile dace that migrate up our river in their thousands mid Summer. It did not show many large barbel, chub, pike and roach that also naturally migrate many miles upstream during spawning migrations. They are certainly large enough to trigger the counter many being considerably larger than the seatrout and grilse that are counted.

When we were running the hatchery we were continually trying to understand the key to maturation in our stock fish, in an effort to avoid the need of pituitary injections. We kept them in black polythene shaded tanks, reducing light levels in an attempt to simulate natural photo-period. We ran coolers to try and stabilise water temperatures all with the minimum of success. I am sure some wizkid fishery scientist will now tell us where we were going wrong. It has to be remembered that at that time they were still destroying the ecology of the Avon cutting out the weed, frying our fish population with the “big boat survey” and chopping off appendages that had taken millennia to evolve.

Are they safer higher in the catchment or do the reduced flow and exposure to exploitation outweigh any advantages. Lower in the catchment where they have deep and hidden sanctuaries and a greater volume of water to await the autumn floods, if they arrive. Does the pollution burden of the river decrease with the greater volume of water in the lower river, as forest stream with less human impact enter the system. Despite the fwit planners in the National Park trying their best to bugger up the west flowing streams. Or is the additional pollution that enters the river on its way, from the huge trout farms and STWs at Downton, Fordingbridge and Ringwood, to the sea counteract this? If they are waiting in the Lower Stour, STWs at Throop, Wimborne etc still pour shite and chemicals into the water column. They also run back out through the Mudeford run and go back to sea, just how many of these ever re-enter the system we have little data.

A classic example highlighted in the FT today in that most water companies have slashed their infrastructure investment since the 1990s. These cuts have for the most part fallen on the STWs that have seen a reduction in the order of 20% over that period. Does that come as a surprise? What do you think? They should be in prison! It raises all sorts of questions that need to be answered by our regulators.?

I cannot say I was a fan of the previous Labour Party leader yet I have to agree with getting the water Companies out of private ownership. As for inspiring, encouraging and rewarding best practice, pay large bonuses to ALL staff, dependent of course on our rivers being in A1 Condition! As in all aspects of life a balance between idealism and realism has to be reached.

Bah Humbug!

Just keep your fingers crossed we see a rise in water levels to get the remaining fish to the redds.

In the true sense of Christmas may I wish all readers a very happy Christmas and a more peaceful and settle New Year than that we have all endured in the one just past. Take care and I look forward to seeing many of you in the approaching new seasons.

This mornings sunrise, the first after the Winter solstice, was cold and bright making the drive to work a joy.

Two very grainy, confusing shots taken as the light faded of one of the lake islands. This roost has been with us a couple of months and I have not mentioned it for fear of attracting unwanted attention. The roost has now broken up and many birds seem to have gone their seperate ways, which makes recording it on the diary safer. At its height it contained 26 Little Egrets, 9 Great White Egrets and 3 Cattle Egrets. I just hope the unseasonally mild weather of recents weeks hasn't lulled them into a false sense of security risking exposure to any cold weather that may return. We still have half a dozen Little Egrets and two or three GWE's but they tend to roost wherever they can find the most shelter from the wind.

A silhouette that we will hopefully become familiar with in the next few years as a White-tailed Eagle circled lazily over Ibsley this morning. Despite its massive size it is all too easy to overlook these huge birds as they drift silently by overhead. The spread of the finger like primary feathers at the wing-tips is the important ID feature.

The Starlings have broken up into two roosts with one at Blashford and the other further north at Ibsley. Over the next few days they may unite again as the southern flock were being continually harassed by a Sparrow Hawk, Marsh Harrier and a Merlin that came through at lightening speed on a couple of occasions. The poplar was one of the largest trees on the Estate towering close to one hundred feet and where it sheared off in the last storm over four feet in diameter. The strength of the wind to snap such a massive piece of timber must have been incredible and it all took place in about ten minutes on a Sunday morning a few weeks ago.