Just back from a slightly delayed trip to the hatchery to install the new shrimp nursery.  As previously reported, this consists of a large onion net stuffed with barley straw and a few empty bottles to act as floats.  The idea is that the straw floods and sinks to the limit of the floats and as it begins to decompose slowly gammarus take up residence using the straw as a haven and source of food.  If this experiment works it can be repeated on both the river and the Tarn to increase the number of gammarus available to sustain large trout.

It was a delight to be down by the ponds in this glorious summer weather.  The song of the water babbling down the cascades in the spawning channel mixed with the song of birds and the contented munching of sheep in the nearby meadow combined to lift the soul.  I took the opportunity to clear some of the cress that is growing so strongly that the channel is becoming blocked.  There was no sign of any fish in the ponds, but the water is dark so visibility is limited.  Even in this hot weather the water is icy cold and seems to be very well oxygenated so if fish are present they should be thriving.

I will give the nursery a few days to sink and naturalise before attempting to introduce shrimp then check progress fortnightly so more on this later.

Ian