Just for a change it's raining cats & dogs here this morning and just to add a bit of variety it's also windy. Roll on winter!

We did get a small window of relatively fine weather yesterday in which to run the latest crayfish course at the Tarn.  This went very well despite a heavy shower which turned up right on cue as we began bringing in the traps to record the contents.  Paul started with his usual discourse on native crayfish, how to handle them and how to efficiently record them.  He explained that in most habitats a good population is indicated by around one individual per trap.  Then I brought the first trap in from under the hut so that Paul could give a demonstration of handling and recording.  This rather put the notion of one creature per trap in the context of the Tarn as we fished out 53 crayfish from this one trap.  A very good mix of male and female as well as a wide range of ages.

The pattern was repeated with the remaining 11 traps and I think that the smallest number in any one trap was a dozen.

We found a couple of specimens with white porcelain disease, but this is entirely natural in such a large sample and probably represents a disease incidence of between 1 and 2 per cent of population which is well within the norm.

The students seemed highly delighted with the whole experience despite the soaking they got.

Turning to housekeeping matters I have put a lidded trough of Iodafor just outside the hut together with a note of explanation so that members can disinfect their nets, lines and boots between fishing the river and the Tarn.  Since we now know that we are host to probably the best still water population of native crayfish let's keep them safe.

Ian