One thing I have noticed when doing the monthly invertebrate checks on the river is the regularity with which bullheads turn up in the sampling net.  I get a wide range of sizes of 'miller's thumb' small jobs not much bigger than a minnow all the way up to large thumb sized specimens complete with fan shaped fins and quite stunning colours.  Our focus tends to be on the game fish in the river, the salmon, brown trout and sea trout, but gobio is a fascinating fish in its own right and seem indigenous to most clean British waters. 

Scientists believe that the bullhead originated in the Rhine and migrated here up the river systems after the last ice age so it's interesting to speculate how it got into the Ribble which now flows westwards.  Of course, that's not always been the case and there is considerable evidence that the river has significantly altered its course over the past few millenia and may at one time have followed a course eastwards as does every other Yorkshire Dales river.

I plan to do a short article on the bullhead for the next Horton Parish newsletter so will spend some time finding out a little more about this delightful little fish that seems so prolific here at Horton.

Typical bank holiday weather here this morning, dull, overcast, cold and a little damp.  Still, we are forecast a run of good weather from the middle of the week as an Azores high locks down over the country so we may well yet get some decent late summer sun.

Ian