August seems all set to go out just as it came in.  It's wet and windy here this morning with a very damp low level murk blown along by a stiff westerly breeze.  Much more of a nuisance than a benefit to water levels in the river.

I ruminated yesterday about the role and duties of the keeper and purely by chance had a brief conversation with a member about the state of the Tarn.  Now, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the Tarn, it's fishing pretty well, the water quality this summer has been very good, there is no algae problem.  But, the amount of weed is increasing exponentially year on year with a marked step increase following last summers heatwave.  My predecessor tried to control it with a herbicide which perhaps was not the wisest course of action.  Weed does have significant benefits in keeping the water well oxygenated, but virtually the whole bed is now populated with a pretty luxuriant growth and fishing is getting more than tedious.  Cutting it seems to encourage vigorous regrowth so I think I will need to do some research and find a solution that has the minimum impact on the ecology of the Tarn, especially its crayfish colony, yet opens up the water a bit before the whole 5 acres becomes one large weed infested swamp. 

Ideas and suggestions would be welcome.

Ian