Well here we are, the last day of the season for river salmon and Tarn trout.  True to form, after a lovely sunny day it clouded up and came on to rain at about 4pm yesterday.  We had less rain in the night that previously, but the river still looks in good nick for a final fling.  The club Shaman benefited from his manipulation of the weather with two fine salmon on Monday.

I have already seen a couple of members flying through Newhouses on their way up to the Tarn so no doubt we shall be fairly busy today making the most of this final opportunity before rods and lines are packed away and thoughts turn to plans for next season.

Gavin P emailed me yesterday to say that the trees for our planting schemes this autumn have been ordered and will be with me around the 24th of November.  If any member would like a few hours helping to plant these saplings then just ring or email me.  It's not hard work, you just open a slit and literally throw the bare rooted whip into the slit and close it with your boot.  The mature saplings will take a bit more digging in, but nine of these will hardly break a sweat and just think of the offset in your carbon footprint!

There was a review of travelling fly rods in Sunday's Telegraph which I will summarise tomorrow before I move to a weekly diary starting on Sunday.

I'm not too sure at present what the weather holds for today.  It looks showery with a fairly full cloud cover drifting on a westerly breeze.  There are occasional blue breaks though so it might fair up later.

Ian

You know, when I wrote last week about the delights of Autumn little did I realise that the club had its own shaman with the power to shape the weather here at Horton.  If I had known this I would have summoned his services much earlier this summer and certainly invoked his powers to lift the drought last year.  As I said last week, on reading my ode Alan M immediately emailed me to ruefully reflect that whilst the Autumn was indeed a good one what we really wanted was a lot of overnight rain before the close of the season.  I don't know to which rain God Alan pays homage but strange to relate that since Sunday overnight rain is exactly what we have had here - consistently!  For the past 3 days we have had bright, sunny mornings and early afternoons with the cloud building by late pm to produce rain just as it turns dark. It did so last evening so that the river remains in good shape and certainly fit for salmon fishing.

I think we owe a debt of gratitude to Alan for his remarkable intervention.  I only hope that he can get up here to enjoy the fruits of his labours. 

As you can tell from the above it's another stunning morning here with plenty of sun, blue sky and virtually no wind.  I haven't been to look at the river yet but my guess is that the rain we had last night which had stopped by the early hours will have lifted the level a bit without putting too much colour into the water. 

Ian

I have just got back from an early morning visit to the Tarn.  It looked stunning in the early sunshine and it's so good to see both cygnets still thriving and now almost as big as their parents.  There is a light westerly breeze rippling the water so not much sign of surface feeding trout.  A quick check of catch returns for last week shows that the fish are still taking well and Geoff B got a big brownie yesterday.  I do wonder just how many times this big brown trout has been caught now or whether there is more than one lurking in the depths of the Tarn.  I haven't stocked brownies for a couple of years so clearly some fish do manage to overwinter here.

We had a fair drop of rain again last night so the river is bank full this morning and whilst it's still coloured it does seem to be dropping back.  This should give good enough water for the last three days of the season to make a trip to Horton worthwhile for those who want a last shot at a salmon.  Geoff was going to try his luck yesterday afternoon on a falling river.  I haven't heard yet how he got on.

We seem to be set for a fair day with plenty of sun and a scattering of cloud drifting slowly on a westerly breeze.  The forecast here for the next couple of days looks good so not a bad end to the season.

Ian

After a thoroughly wet, windy and miserable night I can now see just a glimmer of blue  in the northern sky as I sit here typing this at 8.30.  The upside of the rain is that the river is currently rising and might provide some reasonable salmon fishing later in the day when the colour drops out and the flow begins to fall off.  The stiff north west wind is also moderating fast and should be just a gentle breeze in a couple of hours. (I hope!)

It's good to see so many of our new members fishing regularly.  As I was walking back from the Tarn yesterday pondering the problem of how to round up a dozen gimmers that had broken through the lane side wall at Cow Pasture I met Edward M on his way to try the Tarn.  It was a misty, still and deathly quiet morning with nothing moving in the water so it will be interesting to see how he got on when I check the returns later this morning.  As for the gimmers, after being driven up the lane towards Birkwith by a van they were shoved back where they came from.

Why is it that after spending an extra hour in bed on account of the clocks going back last night I wake up feeling like I slept with someones foot in my mouth? It happens every year and even going to bed an hour later to compensate seems to make little difference.  Perhaps I should just get up an hour earlier and gradually adjust by rising 10 minutes later every day until I catch up.

Ian

It's what might be best described as a soft morning here at Horton.  We had a little rain in the night, too little to improve the fishing prospects, but enough to make everything soggy.  Just the sort of weather that a goat might well choose to avoid by staying in a dry goat house, but goats being goats that's too straightforward.  My lead nanny has decided that now would be a good time to start looking for billy goats so is roaming the croft, getting wet, shouting and generally being a damned nuisance.  Milking time becomes a battle of subterfuge and a question of who can outwit who.  We start with an eyeball to eyeball confrontation whilst we both size up the prevailing level of intelligence and will.  Then we begin with a sudden jink to the right or left and a rapid trot off down the croft with frequent looks over the shoulder to see if I am following.  I have learnt over the years not to participate in this part of the proceedings, but to wait for the game to become all a bit of a bore then to approach steadily and with a wide flanking movement as if I am making for the sheep sitting off to the right.

Then we move into the end game which can involve a repeat of stage one if we are feeling particularly capricious or a victory for human ingenuity involving either a cornering in the croft, trapping in the goat yard or a quiet slip of the hand under the collar.

Whichever, the outcome is always the same, a rapid gallop towards the milking stand in the barn as if it's me that has been buggering about and it's all about time we got on with the job.  The final act in this performance (repeated every three weeks throughout the winter, folks!) is a careful scrutiny of the barn for the billy goat that must be hidden there somewhere. 

There must be a psychologists explanation why humans find it a challenge to try to outwit dumb animals.  I remember long, long ago seeing girls doing it at disco's, it remains the basis of all country sports and we males never quite seem to get the full hang of it.

Ian

It's a rather quiet end to the season.  The lack of rain this autumn has meant that fewer members have travelled to Horton this back end to fish for salmon and the number of visits to the Tarn have dropped considerably over the past few weeks.  It all makes for a quiet life, but leaves me wondering often just what to say in this diary when I sit down at the keyboard after checking emails each morning.  One good bit of news that I can report is that Chris S has agreed that we can plant a few trees below Cragghill and will clear this with the Phil and Steven.  I can now get on and order these from our benefactor.

It has been suggested that we put a few native trees in at the bottom end of the Tarn to replace or at least disguise the Christmas trees that look a bit incongruous in this landscape.  Given that the ground here is almost permanently wet a few alder and willow should do well and provide a better mix of habitat than we have at present.  Who know what the deciduous cover might encourage to colonise this corner.  The fence that keeps the sheep out of this area needs a bit of attention, but that's a job easily attended to over the winter.

We plan to meet here on 10 November to draw up a comprehensive map of the fishery, name all the runs and pools and identify all features of importance to members such as hazards, parking places and access points.  This work has been a long time in gestation and it will be interesting to see just how many arguments there are about names of pools.  Of course, not all the recognisable features on the river have known names and the plan is to find suitable names for some of these which may well pass down into posterity.

This meeting will be a good opportunity to identify and agree all those little maintenance jobs that need doing, but somehow never get completed.  The closed season will be a good time to get some of them done.  If any member has spotted a job that needs my attention please do phone or email me and let me know. (stiles down by Penny Bridge have been on my list for months and will be done before next season).

Ian

My ode to autumn yesterday clearly touched a raw nerve in some quarters as I had an email lamenting the lack of water in the river over the past few weeks and wishing for nightly rain.  Well, it's pretty dull and overcast here this morning, but it looks showery rather than the prelude to a deluge.  Sorry.

It's not often that crayfish make it into the pages of the national press even battered and served with chips, but there was a short article in the Telegraph on Tuesday about how police in Stuttgart had to round up a cluster of crayfish that had escaped from an Asian food shop in the City and scuttled down the street.  It just goes to prove that these crustaceans are brighter than they look.  If anyone sees a posse of whiteclaws legging it down Newhouses lane please let me know.

The same paper reports that we are in for a severe winter.  It seems that migratory swans (Bewicks) are arriving in Britain early this year which suggests that weather conditions in arctic Russia are unseasonably cold at present and we are in line to get some very low temperatures and some snow.  In fact the long range forecast for Horton gives snow showers on Saturday week.  Makes a change from the tropical conditions we experienced last winter and will help to keep Blue tongue disease out of the north of England.  We do sometimes get transitory Bewicks on the Tarn so keep a watch out for them.

The rather saccharine programme on the BBC about British wildlife is a bit 'cuddly bunny'  (especially the presenter).  However, next Wednesdays programme is about fresh water life and the trailers seem to indicate that it will feature aquatic invertebrates with some stunning shots of cased caddis so it may well be worth watching.

I'm off now to administer to this stinking cold that my young nephew gave me at the weekend.  It's the first one all year - thanks Alex!

Ian

Sorry about the late posting this morning.  For my sins I am Chairman of the association that supplies broadband Internet access by wireless connection to this remote community.  Since yesterday the network north of Newhouses has been out of action due to a fault where our radio system meets the BT exchange.  So far nothing we have tried has worked to fix the problem and I was busy this morning attempting once again to get the problem sorted.  The miracles of modern technology!

The forecast was right about yesterday.  By mid morning we had a glorious sunny day with a cloudless blue sky and we have a repeat performance this morning.  The river is now very low and probably unsuited to salmon fishing even at the most likely spots.  A shame as judging by the evidence from the Foss there are plenty of fish up here.

The autumn colours this year are amongst the best that I can ever remember with the valley awash with golds and reds and looking a real picture in the strong sunlight.  We also seem to have a bumper crop of robins in the garden.  These have taken to lining up on the fence by the goatyard waiting for me to scatter corn for the hens in the morning.  I was clearing leaves yesterday and had to stop frequently to avoid stepping on one precocious individual which found the grass under the fallen leaves irresistible.

Isn't autumn a wonderful time of year?

Ian

I knew that i could count on you lot out there to solve my fungus conundrum.  David m emailed me within a few minutes yesterday to provide the answer to identifying the 'yellow fingers'.  The culprit is clavaria fusiformis and you can see for yourselves what this looks like by following this link Fusiformis. 

I was talking to a local historian late last week who asked me if I had ever spotted any evidence of the two mills that are reputed to have operated at Horton from about the 12th Century onwards.  Apart from the obvious evidence of the house called Mill Dam alongside Brants Gill I have to confess that I have not seen any sign of structures etc whist walking the river or becks.  Ariel photographs do show some earth works that look suspiciously like an oblong structure alongside a wheel pit down by the river directly opposite Brants Gill and we have photo's that show what looks like a mill structure on Brants Gill itself.  This is now buried under a garage by Mill Dam and has been used in living memory as a water powered electricity generating plant with a wheel that came from Helwith Bridge.  I can recall no reference to any mill in any of the old club records.  So the mystery continues.

It's dull and overcast this morning, but the forecast suggests that it will brighten later.  It's not so cold as it has been probably due to the heavy cloud cover and we have no breeze to stir the mist that's hanging in the valley and cloaking the fells.

Ian

I was in Halifax all day yesterday so have little to report on the fishery this morning other than that the river is now quite low and unlikely to rise much this week. 

As I walked down across Tarn pasture to the Tarn yesterday morning I was struck by the number and variety of mushrooms growing here.  The most striking is a variety that i don't recall seeing before, but is growing this year in some profusion.  It looks like a bunch of bright yellow fingers reaching up out of the sward about a couple of inches high and each 'finger' about 1/4 inch across.  I can't find this in any of my books so if anyone has any bright ideas as to what it is I would love to know.

My plan today is to get hold of Chris S who owns the land at Cragghill and get his permission to do some tree planting this autumn within the buffer strip down towards Studfold.  Just the occasional specimen tree to provide a bit of habitat variation on the open banks here.  Incidentally when I was up at Turn Dub on Saturday I noticed that there are a few young trees beginning to show that we haven't planted.  It would seem that keeping the sheep off this area is allowing stuff that has been grazed back to start to find its potential.  Just like the bluebells at Nanny Carr that appeared this spring within the buffer strip.

Ian

The Tarn looked magical in the heavy hoare frost, mist and sunlight this morning.  The moorhen were diving and sending ripples through the mist rising off the water which even at 7c was warmer than the ambient temperature.  The swan family did there best to ignore me by staying down near the duck wall and a trout rose a couple of feet from where I was doing a water check.  I don't know who was the more surprised.  me seeing an iridescent nose right by mine or the trout seeing a rather squat red one.

The bankside check at Turn Dub went well with all the usual suspects present.  There are a lot of gammerid present here as well as more cased caddis on this upper part of the river.  Yet again the samples are dominated by heptagenia (over 35) and baetis (over 25).  There are a few stoneflies up here as well which is encouraging since the old records suggest that there should be more of these creatures present on the fishery than we have found so far.  Since the bed on this beat is very stony and difficult to sample I think the results are pretty encouraging.  If you consider that the findings represent what came out of an area the size of my boot times six the river as a whole must be teeming with invertebrates.

The find of the morning was a rather sheepish looking bullhead with butter yellow fins.  This came out of the sample taken at the river margin which also produced the only true mayfly nymph (ephemera).

There is a long book review in yesterday's paper which will be of interest to anyone who has a passion for country pursuits, especially fly fishing.  Sir Richard Heygate and his cousin Mike Daunt have unearthed rural tales and traditions as well as recounting their own experience of fishing, wildlife and shooting.  Mike was for a long time the fishing partner of the great Hugh Falkus and has taught many fishermen to cast on the southern chalk streams, especially the Itchen where he and Richard have a beat.  Another one for the Christmas list.

Ian

It's a beautiful cold, crisp, bright morning here in the valley.  The sun is just breaking over the eastern fells and bathing the dew soaked pastures in a golden light.  One of my goats is in season and is providing a raucous soundtrack to this otherwise tranquil scene.  This will happen now every 3 weeks until April as the little tart runs round eagerly seeking billy goats.  Some hope! the nearest is in Chapel le Dale so she will have to wait until I decide whether or not to mate her this year.

I spotted a strange article in New Scientist yesterday about a small South American fish that has been discovered living in trees.  Apparently, when the tidal swamps in which this fish lives begin to dry it makes its way into insect burrows in the trees and survives there until the waters return.  A large number of these creatures have been found lying nose to tail in the burrows and no one is yet sure just how they manage to cope with such long periods out of water.  So next time fishing is slow on the river and there seem to be no fish in your favourite pool just check under the bark of the nearest tree.  Who knows!

I had an email this morning from Phil Holding at Spiders Plus announcing his latest special offer.  This is a series of three full length DVDs by Oliver Edwards.  These include Wet Fly Fishing on Rivers, Big Dry Flies For Fast Waters, and Czech Nymphing, Upstream Nymphing & North Country Spiders.

We are hoping to get Phil to speak at the 2008 AGM so watch out for more on this in due course.

I'm off this morning to try a bankside check at Turn Dub.  This will be the first survey at this site so it will be interesting to see what (if anything) turns up and how it differs from the other survey sites.  I'll report on this tomorrow.

Ian

I spent a thoroughly enjoyable hour down on the bankside at New Inn yesterday morning doing the monthly invertebrate check.  This gave a quite positive result with a good range of beasties and good numbers of animals in the families most commonly found here.  The most productive habitat at this site is the gravel bank just downstream of the bridge where the flow from the east arch drops over the bank to join the intermittent flow from the west arch.  In low water this bank dries out, but with the moderate flow we had yesterday it was well watered and has been for some days.  Upstream from here the substrate is rather bouldery for good sampling, but it does produce some heptagenia and Baetis nymphs so I guess that they are there in greater numbers but buried down in the gravel under the stony layer.

What I got from a 3 minute sample in total at 6 sites is a s follows:

Heptagenia - 70+,  Baetis - 30+, Stonefly - 2, Gammerid - 5, Cased Caddis - 10, caseless Caddis - 7, Ephemerellidae - 3.  No Ephemeroptera (mayflies), bullheads or minnows this time, but I did find 2 leeches, one big sod that clung to everything and measured about 2 inches when extended.

I plan to do a similar sample at Turn Dub on Saturday to see how the results compare.

I haven't yet managed to get down to Stainforth Foss to see whether the salmon are coming up, but Andy from the Post office has and the photo's he took on Wednesday are, once again, superb.  Follow this link to see them http://www.flickr.com/photos/andy_rush/1621430452/.

They seem to be coloured fish, but Andy tells me that they were leaping the lower falls at regular intervals.  He did not spot any on the upper fall so it's possible that we need a little more water for them to clear the Foss and get right up to Horton.

Ian

Sorry about the silence from here yesterday.  I forgot to mention on Tuesday that we had to leave at the crack of dawn to go to a funeral in Ashton near Wigan.  Still, there was not much to report as fishing activity is fairly low at the moment and nothing much else of not happened on Tuesday.  

It's very cold this morning with a sharp frost, the first for nearly 12 months.  The day is showing signs of being bright and sunny so the frost should melt away quite quickly on the sunward side of the fells.  There is still a reasonable flow on the river.  Certainly enough to do a bankside check for October. So if I can get some work done early on this morning I may well take the kit down to New Inn later and see what a 3 minute sample shows up.  I might even get a sample done at Turn Dub which is the other spot I planned to do a monthly check.  There are one or two things that need attending to at the Tarn so a couple of hours up there this afternoon should be well spent.

With the Tarn closing on 31 October I think I will scale down the blog again this year to a weekly report interspersed with occasional observations and reports.  The daily diary will pick up again after the AGM next March.

Ian

It rained a lot in the night and whilst the river is not bank full there is a pretty healthy flow this morning which should encourage a few salmon to move up.  The forecast for today is for showers.  It's dull and overcast, but the clouds don't look particularly threatening so I doubt if we will get any substantial rainfall.

Gavin P emailed me at the end of last week with the offer of more trees which Council have gladly accepted.  I will now go and get landowners agreement to put these in within the existing buffer strips on the river.  My plan is to plant some more mature saplings on the lower river between Cragghill farm and Helwith Bridge.  There are a number of old trees here which are reaching the end of their natural life and some long open stretches that could benefit from a little cover.  This will also address another of the recommendations in the WTT report we had done back in 2006 so we continue to make steady progress with this.

Brian T seemed delighted with getting so close to his first salmon on Saturday.  It seems to be becoming a club tradition that new salmon fishers get teir first tast of success the morning after the Hot Pot supper.  A good way of driving out the hang overs and muzzy heads.

Ian

It's a grey and gloomy start to the morning with the threat of rain later so we will have to wait and see how much we get and how far the river rises.  The rest of the week is forecast as being bright and sunny here so if we do get a significant lift in water levels the salmon fishing come Tuesday or Wednesday might be good.

I understand that at least one small salmon was landed on Saturday.  Mike H wrote to tell me that he had some success with a 6lb fish after the Council meeting so despite water levels being low there are certainly fish to be found in the lower reaches of the fishery.

Edward M mentioned in passing when I saw him at the Tarn yesterday morning that his students might be interested in doing project work there.  We agreed to talk more about this on his return from Devon as a structured scientific study of the Tarn can only help us to understand how we should manage and nurture this unique site and thus preserve its integrity that members value so highly.

Ian

The Tarn looked absolutely stunning this morning in the early sunshine with a good number of rises pricking the surface.  Just right for our newest member Edward M who planned to put in a couple of hours before heading off to Devon.  There's devotion for you.

We had a very productive and constructive Council meeting in the Crown yesterday morning and the main issue to report is that regrettably Council have had to conclude that there will be no extension to the Tarn season this year.  After a full examination of the issues involved in extending to the end of November it was realised that insurance and other constraints made this impossible this year.  Arrangements for 2008 season will be discussed at the AGM which is on Friday 7 March 2008.

It was also agreed to prepare a detailed and comprehensive map of the fishery with every pool named and information such as access, parking, hazards and fishing limits and restrictions marked.  A small group will walk the river in November in preparation for this.  The aim is to have a draft available at the AGM. (Brian T has already made a good start on this)

No salmon were caught yesterday as the river was really rather low, but Brian T got into one that managed to slip away.  A shame, as I understand that this would have been his first salmon.

Finally, let's spare a thought this morning for our Gallic cousins across the channel.  It's less than gentlemanly to gloat, but what the hell!  It's been a truly astonishing turn round in England's fortunes in the past fortnight so let's enjoy it while we can.

Ian

What a thoroughly convivial and enjoyable evening we had yesterday.  About 40 members, guests and farmers crammed into the dining room at the Crown for the Hot Pot and judging by the constant din of conversation throughout a fantastic supper everyone was busy recounting fishing exploits or putting the world to rights.  The conviviality continued in the bar afterwards and I eventually got home close on midnight.  It was particularly good so see so many new members present and being welcomed into the brotherhood of the MAA.  They do seem to have given the club a real injection of enthusiasm over the past couple of years and certainly added much to the rich mix last night.

We had much talk about the health of the fishery and the river generally and what we should do to engage with other bodies to conserve and enhance the Ribble.  Some of this will be followed up at the Council meeting this morning so more later.

It's the first year I have known the bar become so warm in October that many members repaired to the forecourt of the Crown to get some respite from the heat in the bar and unusually for the Crown there was no fire alight!

Some success was had with the rod yesterday too and Alan M got a 6lb salmon down near Row End in far from ideal water.

A delighted Gavin P came up to me early on in the evening to show me the receipts for two books he had just bought.  A set of Anglers' Evenings and the book by Hutton which I mentioned yesterday so it's nice that this wandering volume has at last found a home close to the MAA where it originated.

It's another grey and damp day with a thick mist shrouding the fells above the valley and a lot of damp leaves littering the pastures and verges.  It's not really raining so the dampness will do little to lift the river and make for better fishing.  But the local forecast is for rain over the next few days so we yet get some decent water before the end of the season.

Ian

It's the Hot Pot Supper tonight at the Crown hotel and as I reported a few days ago we seem to have a goodly number attending so it should be an enjoyable and convivial evening.  Sandra's Hot Pots are renowned.  Full of meat and spuds and a real trencherman's supper.  By 10pm tonight waistbands will be tight and the 'crack' should be in full flow.

So is the river!  It's far from in spate, but we had a surprising amount of rain yesterday which has brought a decent flow to the river and should make it worthwhile bringing a rod for those staying over and planning to fish for salmon tomorrow.  It's started very foggy and damp this morning so the flow should not fall off too quickly.  It's incredibly warm for mid October and I worked up quite a glow mucking out and milking this morning.

I had a couple of emails from David M following our chat on Wednesday and I'm sure that David won't mind me sharing one with you as it intrigued me and may be of interest to others.
David writes:

If you want well known Manchester Anglers J Arthur Hutton is one of them. Joined 1884 and died Feb 1955.
He wrote several books including salmon fishing on the Wye (Abervergeny etc) and  his book on reading salmon scales to determine the life of the fish was most celebrated . This was published about 1909 and the ideas were mainly his own. Just looking now the book he presented to the M.A.A. is up for sale on the web. I never had the pleasure of rowing him round the Tarn but I did meet him from time to time but only as a youth tagging on to the great and the good of the club.

He was about the only angler who was talked about with "reverence" when I was young.You did not laugh and joke when he was around perhaps this was because he was above eighty.

I had a look at the book on the web.  It's available at only £20 and is probably part of the old MAA library.

Here are the details for anyone who might consider buying it:

Hereward Books (www.herewardbooks.co.uk)

Hutton J Arthur Salmon Scales As Indicative Of The Life History Of The Fish £20.00   1909. 1st. 14 plates, some foxing to contents, printed card covers, small circular paper label to top corner margin, Manchester Anglers Assoc. [12591]

The thought struck me that it might be possible to apply Hutton's techniques to the scales of our large trout which some believe are sea trout.  This might settle once and for all the question of whether these big fish are always resident in the river or are migratory fish which return from the Ribble estuary.

See some of you tonight.

Ian

I spent an hour or so up at the Tarn yesterday soaking up the warm sunshine and putting the world to rights with the assembled members.  It was a stunning morning once the breeze dropped away and at lunchtime there was a good hatch going on which prompted the resident rainbows to rise freely and take the dry fly.  The cygnets are growing strongly and are being given flying lessons.  So far this consists of a lot of effort and flap with little resulting upward movement, but the their true flight feathers have yet to develop fully so its really a triumph of enthusiasm over common sense.  Still, I guess that the main purpose of the exercise is to develop strong flight muscles and they certainly seem to be doing that.  As I walked down to the bottom end and approached the wildlife area I was met with a cacophony of shrill whinnying from the dabchicks.  Judging from the volume there must be a good number of these small birds resident at the Tarn now and they seem to have shifted home from the reeds at the top end possibly because the swans are still using the nest area here.

On returning to Newhouses I found that David M and his wife had dropped by and were talking to Sheila.  We repaired indoors and spent some considerable time discussing times past at Horton, the state of farming and much else.  I always learn a great deal from talking to David and the conversations we have frequently spark trains of thought and open up areas of enquiry that lead to a new awareness of the Ribble, our fishery and life generally at Horton.  For example it seems that last century an attempt was made to encourage members to record all that they observed during visits to the river.  The aim was to build a picture of the health of the fishery and the invertebrates that were present.  Very few returns were ever received fro members which surprised me as the general impression I had formed was that in times past members were much more involved both with each other and with their input to the management of the fishery.  I thought that our current failure to get members to record observations made during fishing trips was a modern phenomenon.  Seemingly not.

It's a good deal breezier this morning with grey skies and the threat of drizzle in the air so the Thursday brigade who chose to come up yesterday for a change made the right choice.

Ian

From time to time I get rumours and reports of otters in the Ribble catchment.  These are usually just glimpses of fast retreating animals or, in one case, the corpse of a female that seemed to have died of natural causes.  It's been some time since the last sighting and I was beginning to think that the sightings we had were just animals in transit which had stopped transiting!

Then Ian W stopped by yesterday after fishing the Tarn to ask if I had received his email.  I had to confess that either I had not or the system had helpfully dumped it in the junk email folder (thanks Mr Gates).  What Ian wanted to tell me was that a couple of weeks ago whilst fishing the Tarn he came across what looked like an otter spraint near the path that leads around the reed bed at the top of the Tarn.  This was far too big for a mink spraint, was fresh and contained crayfish remains and fish scales. This seems to indicate that otters are still around up here on the Ribble.  A conversation I had with Neil H a few months ago leads me to believe that there is a much larger population of otters on the Ribble that we have evidence for and is yet another indicator of the health and productivity of this catchment. 

I asked Ian how the fishing was yesterday and his response was "Too easy".  Apparently he had caught his quota in about an hour and a half so despite the predation of the cormorants (and the otter) we are entering the back end of the season with the Tarn fishing at its best with plenty of stock to see us through to the end.

It's a return to fine, dry and settled conditions here this morning after 24 hours of cloud and rain. Yet again we have a river that's annoyingly just right for trout, but too low for salmon.  I guess the trout are laughing.

Ian

It's a very grey, gloomy and damp start to the morning here at Horton and looks as if it will remain wet for some time to come.  The rain is steady rather than heavy so we shall have to wait and see just how much it raises the river level.  So far we have just an increased flow rather than a significant rise.

There is good news on the Hot Pot front.  Despite a number of regulars not being able to make it to Horton this weekend I understand that we have at over 20 members and guests attending and I have 12 confirmations from farmers with another 5 or so who usually turn up on the night.  So we should pretty well fill the dining room and make the event worthwhile.

The other day I was looking at the bank repair that the National Park did alongside their footpath just upstream from Tay Bridge.  Regular readers will recall that this involved driving in willow stakes with a wattle infill then back-filling with soil and topping off with a hessian mat.  This has worked remarkably well and now is virtually indistinguishable from the bank either side.  It has formed an very strong yet flexible and well blended repair to this vulnerable spot and shows no sign of damage after the summer spates we have had.  It's so good that I plan to use the same technique at the foot of Cam Beck where the bank is eroding.  Now that the fencing is in place and I have managed to prevent livestock from getting into the buffer strip it is feasible to attempt a repair here possibly in low water after the spawning season in the new year.  If anyone knows of a cheap source of wild flower meadow mix seed that we can use here I would like to know.

Ian

I suppose that it's another demonstration of Mr Sod's well known law in operation, but after enjoying a summer when the river was rarely unfishable because of low water we should experience the longest dry spell just as the salmon season should be in full swing.  I stood at New Inn yesterday looking at a very sluggish flow going under the east arch of the bridge and nothing at all under the west arch.  We are promised some rain tomorrow, but it's not clear just how much and we will need a substantial and prolonged downpour to bring the river to sufficient flow to encourage the salmon up to Horton.

It came over dull and overcast yesterday afternoon and remains so this morning in fact yesterday was really odd as about 6pm as I was just going out to milk the goats I thought it was drizzling hard.  On venturing out I discovered that there was a slight dampness in the air, but what looked like fine mizzle was really clouds of small flies or midges.  I have never seen so many.  It was impossible to breath without inhaling a lungful and I became covered in tiny black insects within seconds.  The damned things seemed to get everywhere - in your eyes, up your nose, in the milk and they really spooked the goats which had retreated to the back of the goathouse trying to get away from the invasive clouds.

The breeze came up later and dispersed them, but we really do need a prolonged cold snap this winter otherwise life here next year will be unbearable when the midges are breeding and feeding.  I have said before that I am allergic to the bite of these beasties and I have quite enjoyed this cool summer as the midge plague has been almost non existent until this week.  If we get a warm summer next year after another warm winter I will have to go round in an exposure suit.

Ian

I was working in the garden yesterday and a thought struck me - can you really have an Indian Summer in October?  After the miseries of the wet summer that has just gone the past few days have been  exceptional with warm sunshine, just a light breeze and no sign of rain.  Much to the delight of the local bat population the midges are out in force with literally clouds of them gathered in the shade of the sycamore in the garden.  Of course, the bats now have no daytime competition for this feast as the swallows have gathered and left for Africa.  I was puzzled by the lack of birds in the garden during the week.  They do seem to come and go, but the resident tribe of dunnock are always around and their shrill call usually forms a soundtrack to whatever you happen to be doing in the garden.  All was explained yesterday when a neighbour told me that a sparrowhawk has taken up residence in the trees as you enter Newhouses from the south.  Clearly the small birds are keeping their heads down.

I also learn that a buzzard is now living up at Fawber above Newhouses and this is probably the same buzzard that I have often seen soaring above the Tarn.  It's a pity that it has no deterrent effect on the cormorants which are gathering at the Tarn.  As I breasted the rise to drop down towards the hut yesterday three of them lazily took off like rags of black bale wrap lifted on the breeze.  With rainbows at 35p a lb and rising to 40p next year it's an expensive way of feeding cormorants.  It has puzzled me how a bird that's supposed to be either coastal or esturial in habit can find a fishery so far in land.  I suppose that they follow the fish up river and settle on any likely looking body of water.

Also for the past week or so there has been a heron stationed at the foot of Settle weir.  It seems totally oblivious to passing traffic and to all intents and purposes looks as if its a model that  has been planted in mid river.  It stands there staring intently at the fall coming over the weir never seeming to blink or move.

We had a really thick mist this morning which is now being rapidly burnt off by the sun to give another glorious cloudless sunny day.  Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness it certainly is this year.

Ian

I'm feeling a little sore this morning.  Since the weather is so perfect I went up to Cam Beck yesterday morning to do a bit of running maintenance at the project site. All the work we did during the spring is still in good nick, but some of the tree stakes have been broken by the floods over the wet summer and by sheep which have entered the buffer strip via a broken wall down by the foot bridge.  I spent an hour and a half speed walling and made a reasonable job of gapping the 9ft length which had collapsed.  The next 4ft or so upstream really needs taking down and rebuilding to make the wall secure, but that will have to wait for another day.  I replaced all the broken stakes and checked the young trees all the way up the fenced strip.  Despite some attention from the sheep only three or four out of the 300 I planted have gone to that great compost heap in the sky and there is good growth on all the species, especially the alders.

There was a good hatch of what looked to me to be autumn duns by the river as I worked in the warm sunshine and these were dancing in the shafts of sunlight a good 20 yards from the river.  I walked back to the Tarn down stream past the island and Drain Mires and was struck again by the thought that this stretch of river really should be the next we attempt to fence.  There is a wide uncultivated strip along the east bank  and a fence here would allow the planting of  a few specimen trees to fill the long gaps between the existing willows and let the bankside vegetation flourish although there are a lot of the cabbage like plants here that make walking the bank from the footbridge up to Cam Beck such a challenge.

Water levels this morning are far too low for salmon, but the Tarn should fish well as it's currently not quite so bright as yesterday.  Returns for last week reveal that good catches were made and my records show that there are around 400 fish still resident of the 700 we have stocked this season.  

Ian

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

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

Whilst in Brixham over the weekend I spent some time looking round the harbour and it surprised me just how many trawlers still operate from the fish quay.  I spent an absorbing hour on Friday evening watching a gang refurbishing an old trawler, reinstalling the sheer legs that control the trawl and respraying the hull.  It looked an expensive undertaking so there must still be some money to be made from commercial fishing off the south west coast.  The sea anglers were out in force too on Sunday morning.  Not much evidence of success in a heavy swell but I had a v=brief chat to a lady angler who had just landed a 3ft garfish and was struggling to get it back to sea.  Clearly not much good eating on a garfish which is an odd looking eel like creature with a long needle snout.

The sea food in the restaurants was much in evidence and a good sampling had to be made.  I can well recommend the Brixham crab and the enormous tuna steak I had on Saturday night.  Sunday's swordfish was a little disappointing, rather small and a little overdone for my taste, but perfectly acceptable.

Back here at Horton things are now winding down with the end of the trouting season having passed on Sunday.  Gavin P found it hard graft on Saturday with a fast falling river and little to tempt the fish to take.  Members should remember that the Tarn is still open until the end of November and is well stocked so there should be some worthwhile sport to be had over the autumn. 

The river is now too low for salmon, but we are forecast some rain tonight which may restore the level a bit before a return to dry and settled conditions for the rest of the week.  Fingers crossed that we get some reasonable salmon water before the close of the season.

Ian

The trip to Devon went well and I spent the weekend in a rather surreal state of reminiscing and double take as a whole host of cousins some several times removed and who, in many cases, I hadn't seen for well over 40 years slowly registered in the conscience.  The distaff side of my family is extensive and over 70 of us assembled at the Brixham Rugby Club all related via my great grandmother who ruled her four daughters and one son well into her 90's and of whom I have very fond memories.

I spent quite a time discussing river flies with one cousin who is keeper of entomology at The Natural History museum then found that a fair percentage of relatives are fly fishermen so it became a bit of a busman's holiday especially as I spent Saturday wandering around old haunts on the River Dart at Buckfastleigh.  Standing on Austin's Bridge just downstream from the village I watched a large brownie lazily eyeing a large hatch of what seemed to me to be purple dun which danced under the trees above the water.  I understand that this seeming perfection is threatened because of increased abstraction from the Dart which is having a severe impact on water levels especially during the summer months.  Something that we don't have to worry about too much on the Ribble up here at Horton.  Despite the problems the Dart remains a most impressive trout river and gives a fair impression of how the Ribble could be with a bit more bankside cover.

My last posting about Paul's pups struck gold and the dog now has a new owner, a member of the MAA.  I'm really delighted that Alan M has acquired him and really look forward to meeting potential real bruiser of a blond Lab.

I now have a lot of reading to do as Rob has very kindly sent me a copy of the history of the Burnsall Club.  I'll come back to this over the next few days.  But now I'm off to see what has changed here whilst I have been away.

Ian