This house has now returned to some semblance of normality after yesterday's invasion by my 18 month old nephew.  It's astonishing just how much mayhem (and mess) a human can create.  The lesson he will no doubt take away with him is that it's unwise to try to pick stinging nettles.  We all have to learn!

We had a lot more rain in the night so the river is still very high and coloured.  The forecast for today here in the valley is none too promising so don't expect the water to fall off too quickly.  The Tarn looks good and with only a light breeze at present fishing there should be pretty good so long as you don't mind getting wet.

I see from BBC news that our native crayfish are under threat again (mind you, the BBC in its infinite wisdom describes these crustaceans as 'fish').  The river Kent is a fine trout stream in the eastern lake district which flows through Kendal and hosts a good population of native crayfish.  Now it seems that this important population is under severe threat because some moron has dumped a load of engine oil in the river and the invertebrates including the crayfish are being wiped out.  The EA are trying to save the population, but we know from experience here in the Ribble just how much harm can be done to these vulnerable scavengers by pollution.  Pollution events such as on the Kent leave the population susceptible to disease such as plague and threaten the very survival of this fascinating creature.

Lets hope that the EA can save the Kent crayfish.

Ian