A few days ago I was searching the Internet for some simple ephemeroptera identification charts and came across the website of the Truro fly fishers.  This contained information about their riverfly monitoring programmes on the Axe and Tone which are very similar to the programme we have begun here on the Ribble.  I emailed the secretary of the club suggesting that we share info about our observations and our experiences or riverfly monitoring.  Yesterday I got a very friendly and full reply back together with the records that they have assembled so far.  This is great stuff and offers a very helpful model for how we should record and display our data.  I'm immensely grateful to John for taking such time and trouble to reply and for all the interesting data he sent.  They are involved with the Riverfly partnership run by the Natural History Museum and pass on their findings not only to the partnership but to their local EA biologist.  The Truro club do a monthly check on the Tone and a bimonthly sample on the Axe.  This is giving them a very detailed picture of the development of invertebrates through the seasons and offers not only an essential indicator of water quality but also gives their members guidance on what the dominant invertebrate species is month by month.  I have yet to study their data in detail, but the range of species seems at first glance rather different to ours which is hardly surprising given the difference in geography of our respective rivers. We do appear to be getting more heptagenia compared to their large numbers of ephemerids and baetis.

Their experience has convinced me that I need to do a monthly bankside check as I had planned which will complement the more thorough 6 monthly survey.

It's pretty cold here this morning but fairly bright so far and quite still. The forecast is very unsettled with the promise of rain over the next week or so. 

Ian