I did the August invertebrate sample at New Inn yesterday.  This is the first time that we have monitored the populations in August so as yet it's impossible to read too much into the results.  However, what we got seems broadly comparable with July's results so I think that all is healthy.  I am getting an increasing number of stone flies at this site and only continued regular monitoring will tell us whether this is seasonal variation or a true month on month increase.  The presence of the various families does seem to shift with the advancing months and I really need to learn more about how to interpret our observations.  This is where our membership of the Riverfly partnership can prove invaluable offering as it does access to experts who can help us to interpret our data and extrapolate these for the future health and recruitment of our wild trout.

There really are an incredible number of minnow at New Inn and their shoals make quite sizable clouds in the water as you wade under the footbridge up towards the road bridge.  They seem to love the warm, sandy shallows here and you have to tread carefully to avoid them.  Even so I collected a lot of litter here yesterday, all of it discarded food and drink wrappers and containers dropped over the footbridge by those too ignorant or bone idle to dispose of it properly.  It really saddens me that so many visitors to this village regard the river as nothing more than an open sewer into which they can chuck their rubbish.  We are a filthy nation and it should be an embarrassment to us all that it takes an American such as Bill Bryson to confront us with our unpleasant habits.  All strength to Bill and the CPRE campaign he has launched to clean up the countryside.

It rained hard in the night so water levels have risen a bit although not enough to make river fishing difficult.  It's now showery with some sun and a moderate westerly breeze so conditions are not bad.  I am going to try to get Turn Dub monitored today and will take a look at the Tay Bridge site tomorrow.

The New Inn results are on the Zoho spreadsheet so, as always, if you want access to this just let me know.

Ian