Wonders will never cease!  For the first time in over a week I have been able to go out this morning to see to my livestock and return as dry as when I left.  Not only has it rained almost continuously since last Sunday but just to make things a little more interesting we have had a permanent south westerly gale that's driven the wet into every nook and cranny.  Still, it's dry and quite bright now with a stiff breeze to dry things out a bit.

Apart from the wet it's not been a bad week on the fishery.  On Thursday I went down to the school to see the hatchery tank that Neil has set up in a classroom.  It looks pretty impressive as you can see from the picture in the "conservation" folder.  The installation consists of a large glass tank, shielded and insulated to keep out light and maintain a constant temperature and a recycling unit that filters, oxygenates and cools the water.  At present the circulating water is set at 6 degrees and the eggs have reached eyed ova stage so it shouldn't be too long before they hatch.  The children seem mighty pleased with the whole thing and are looking forward to the eggs hatching.  The plan is for the children to put the resulting fry into the beck near the school so that they can see how the young fish develop.

On Friday I took a prospective member for a tour of the fishery and despite the inclement weather and high state of the river he seemed pretty impressed.  So much so that he immediately phoned the Secretary to apply for membership.  It's always nice when ones own prejudices about the immense charm of this river are confirmed by someone completely new to its attractions.

The latest MAA Newsletter is now with the Secretary for distribution to members as is a copy of my keepers report which sets out all the work that we have been doing here over the past season and outlines our plans for the year to come.  I would really welcome comments from members as to whether you find these two documents useful or interesting and what further info you would like included next time.  Do phone or email me.

More next week.

Ian