Out and About Spring 2021

Out&About environment

As the water recedes I will know more about the success of my projects and have a clearer picture of the damage to bridges and banks

High flows can also threaten the survival of these diminutive fish and will cause significant downstream displacement. These are among the reasons that trout produce so many eggs and tend to move upstream to find suitable gravel for spawning. The winter has been challenging in so many ways for so many people and I know how fortunate I am in being able to work in isolation. I have high hopes for my efforts at creating ‘sinuosity’ in a previously canalised stretch of the river, but I now have to sit on my hands and let the river and the fish tell me what they think of what I have done. The trout fishing season begins here on April 15 and I have been turning my attention towards opening day and hoping fervently that new and returning fishermen will be able to come and join me on the river banks and that we might all begin to return to a freer lifestyle. One of the greatest joys of being a river keeper lies in the positive impacts that can be achieved and one of the greatest challenges lies in the patience required in flood times. As the water recedes I will know more about the success of my projects and have a clearer picture of the damage to bridges and banks.

The river is now running very high and carries a lot of colour after the rain. There are periods of clearer water and in those moments of vanishingly brief sunlight this winter, there are signs that the trout have spawned in all of the habitual places and that some of the habitat work of the last few winters is paying off and a few redds have been cut in new sites. To me, this is the highest accolade the fish can grant a river keeper. The redd is a depression that the female trout creates in the gravel bed of the river into which she lays her eggs before covering them with another layer of gravel. The process is brutally demanding on these hen fish, but the reward to the population might be as many as 1,000-2,000 eggs. By the time you read this the eggs will have hatched and the fry will be actively feeding on tiny insect larvae and defending their own miniscule territories from one another. The chances of survival for these fry are naturally slim and much of the wildlife that we delight in seeing on the river will be their undoing. Kingfishers and the larvae of the wondrous dragon and damsel flies will actively hunt these vulnerable and precious small fry.

For now I will continue to work in the drier areas, keep my fingers crossed for the durability of my winter work and for the prospects of the coming season and continue to revel in the unfolding glories of a British riverside spring. 67 O&A SPRING 2021