The day has started in a very autumnal mood with swirling leaves a stiff westerly breeze and the last gasp of the rain that has fallen since yesterday lunchtime.  It seems to be calming and brightening now, the rain has stopped so it should be a reasonable day with good water once again on the river for those in pursuit of salmon.

I had a request yesterday from Nick Everall to include our survey results in the national riverfly database.  The data sheet is almost identical to the records we are keeping so I will arrange with Nick's colleague, Dr Cyril Bennett, to forward our results as we produce them.  The next set will be the monthly bankside check from New Inn and Turn Dub which I will do in mid October.

I now have a reasonably complete analysis of the river flies that were seen month by month on this river about a hundred years ago.  This attempts to identify each fly and correlate it with its Latin name and whether it is still present on the fishery.  If anyone wants a copy just email me.

Looking a bit further afield I hear on the news this morning that Hilary Benn the Environment Secretary is gracing Skipton with his presence today.  The markets reopen this morning for the autumn gimmer sales which should have started a month ago but have been delayed because Benn's department managed to infect the country with FMD.  Prices are likely to be miserable because there will be a glut of lambs now so I hope our local farmers give the Secretary of State an earful of sound and forthright Yorkshire advice.  It's hard enough to make a living from farming this hill country without the incompetence of DEFRA added to the mix.

Ian