Out & About Summer 2021

Out&About environment

welcome prey species for the trout and other fish, I am concerned about their impact on the long-term health of these important riparian trees. Fishing is in full flow now and the great spectacle of the mayfly hatch is imminent. These large and beautiful insects will begin to emerge from their larval home in the substrate of the river over the next few weeks and each stage of their life cycle will be preyed upon by fish of many species. The scale of this phenomenon is awe inspiring and it will feed a great many of the river valley’s inhabitants. In numbers this natural spectacle will dwarf the great migrations of wildebeest on the Serengeti. Among other species, trout, chub, dace, wagtails, warblers, reed buntings, chaffinches, hobbies, mallard, gadwall, mandarin duck, woodpeckers and kingfishers will all benefit from this abundance. The fishermen will also hope to profit from the temporary greed of the trout. Even the larger, older and wiser fish will be tempted out into the open to feast on this glut of vulnerable insects. Artificial flies with evocative names such as the French Partridge, the Royal Wulff, the Mosely, the Shadow May, the Pink Lady, the Green Drake,

O&A SUMMER 2021 While there is a myth about the mayfly living only one day, their adult life is brief and dangerous, but one cannot argue with 280 million years. The system works. I will never tire of any of these sights. It is a privilege to do what I do. 79 growing in the muddy sands and gravels of the river-bed, a hurried and hazardous swim to the surface, an explosive and no less fraught moult into the first winged stage and a hopefully brisk escape into the air and the safety of the trees combine to bring our mayfly to the sub-adult stage. There is yet more to do. They will moult again into their gorgeous long tailed adult form and the males will begin their courtship dance in vast swarms. If there are no trees to provide shelter from the wind they will dance around the angler or even the docile suckler cows cudding in the water meadows. The females inspect these swarms and are mated. This is the final act of the male but the female must now deposit her eggs by delicately and repeatedly dapping her abdomen on the water’s surface. She may be carrying in excess of 8,000. This will be her final act and she will fall spent on the river.

the Haystack and the Deerstalker will all be deployed with great enthusiasm and varying levels of success. The fishermen and the insects will all be hoping for some warm still weather, the former to facilitate casting and the latter to allow them to dance. The dance of the mayfly is one of the great natural spectacles. Countless thousands of these living jewels will obey the same urges that drove their ancestors to dance over 280 million years ago, rising and falling in the lee of the trees in the hope of securing a mate. Up to three years living and

May flies