It's a glorious autumn morning here in the valley.  The sky is almost cloudless, there's hardly a breath of wind and the sun is already taking the early chill from the air.  I plan to take a wander up to Low Birkwith this morning to check on the trees at Nanny Carr's.  It's been a while since I last visited the site and no doubt there will be a bit of running maintenance to do.  The sheep here do seem adept at breaking into the buffer strip and they regard the tree stakes as handy scratching posts.  This results in broken stakes and happy sheep.  I also want to look for evidence of the mink that have been seen from time to time just downstream from Cam Beck, near the footbridge.  This spot is too remote from me to satisfactorily set a live catch trap, but from reports they do seem precocious enough to be got with an air rifle.  Brian S called by last weekend and told Sheila about an encounter he had just had with a large mink here.  It watched as he hooked the best fish he has had on the river and Brian found himself trying to play the fish with one hand whilst throwing stones at the mink with the other to prevent it from stealing his fish.  That's a pretty precocious mink!

It's a shame the trout season has closed as the river is just about perfect for them today, but rather low for good salmon fishing.  We are due a few settled days so it will be touch and go whether conditions will be favourable for next weekend after the annual supper.

Ian