This is late again and today's excuse is that I have just got back from a check to ensure that the leg I broke back in January is still attached and working correctly.  Good news.  I have now been signed off and sent away with this months free offer.  Three ruddy great screws which I gather I will carry for the rest of my life.  All due to a moments lack of concentration on black ice.

It seem that right across the Dales fisheries are experiencing increased problems with toothed duck.  I have seen the population and distribution of goosander grow ever larger over the past few years and they now must be having an impact on the ability of trout and salmon to recruit.  I'm not sure just how many fingerlings a goosander and her chicks will take in a day, but it must run into double figures.  I suppose that the presence of fish eating duck is some indicator that the number of young fish is pretty high, but the numbers will almost certainly decline without some degree of control over duck numbers.  It seems that I am not alone in my concern as an article in the Craven Herald voices similar concerns and calls upon the RSPB (of which I am a member) to take a more holistic approach to conservation and look at avian predator impact as well as avian welfare.  We do need a wildlife conservation strategy that is ecosystem based rather than species specific I think.  Or am I being too idealistic?

Ian