It's a very cold start to the morning here in the valley with a deep freeze covering the fells and the ground rock hard under an azure sky.  Like last Sunday the dales look stunning under this winter sun which really lifts the spirits and makes working outdoors a pleasure rather than a pain.  It's also good to come in to warm cold bones by a log fire which fills the house with that faint and evocative aroma of sweet wood smoke.

This cold bright weather will bring the trout on to spawn and their cousins the salmon have been very busy this past week with good numbers of pairs seen down by Studfold, along by the Pipe Pool and up towards Cragghill farm.  There are certainly plenty of spawning fish about now so let's hope for a winter with few damaging spates and a chance to really build good numbers of young fish next year.

In fact next year looks like being a fairly busy one on the river especially for the future success of our native crayfish.  Building on the success of the crayfish handling courses that he runs from Malham Tarn Field Centre, Paul Bradley has now set up a Crayfish Strategy Workshop which will run during July 2009.  This aims to bring together all those who share an interest in the conservation of native crayfish and encourage them to develop a coherent national strategy and action plan to ensure the long term survival of this fascinating crustacean.  I have been asked along to put a fisheries managers perspective on the proceedings based on experience of balancing the needs of both anglers and crayfish at the Tarn.  The programme will include lots of field visits including a chance for delegates to see our own population of austropotamobius.

Turning finally to the hut refurbishment, I plan to get all the material to line out the interior this week so that work can get under way next week end.  The first task to insulate and board out the inside is fairly simple and should be completed before Christmas.  Then we can turn our attention to fitting out to provide a more comfortable and usable space.  I will post up photos as the work progresses.

Ian