It's a rather strange sort of morning.  If I look out the windows to the south it's all bright and sunny with fluffy cloud. To the north it looks angry with dark, threatening cloud and a strange yellow glow.  at present the brightness seems to be winning, but time will tell.  We had a little rain last night.  Not enough to lift the river but sufficient to freshen things up a bit.  The river could do with a lift now as levels are falling too low on the runs and riffles to permit the passage of salmon.

On reading through some of the river reports in the Trout and Salmon magazines that Sammy left me I was struck by the fact that fishing life on the Ribble seems to stop at Settle and there is rarely any mention of conditions higher up.  This, I suppose, is hardly surprising since the waters from Settle to the source are all privately owned and there is very limited guest fishing.  It's always a difficult call deciding just how public you make your club and its activities.  There will always be a need to attract new members especially younger ones but at the same time there is not much point in giving detailed accounts of a fishing water that few can access and besides we now have to be cautious about the malicious activities of the sabs so circumspection is probably the best policy.

This is a shame as the clear message that comes across from these river reports over time is the immense sense of pride and responsibility that anglers feel for the waters that they fish.  Our water courses would be in a dire state if it were not for the actions of anglers and the fact that Britain has some of the cleanest urban and rural rivers in the world is largely due to the political clout of 8 million anglers and the army of dedicated individuals who get stuck in and do things.  Long may it continue.

Yesterday the latest edition of the Cumbria Water Vole Project newsletter landed on my door mat.  These creatures are in rapid decline in England due largely to predation by mink and destruction of habitat.  Yet they provide another vital indicator of the health of our rivers and becks.  It seems that there are still far too few populations of ratty in Cumbria, a situation that is mirrored over the border here in the West Riding.  My ambition is to establish a healthy presence wherever habitat is suitable on the Ribble and it is at Cam Beck so the work we hope to do here will take due regard for the needs of ratty.  I also see that Ruth Dalton who has been project officer at the CWVP is moving on.  I wish you well Ruth and thanks for all your advice.

Ian