A dank, damp mizzely sort of morning with mist shrouding the fells.  I went up to the Tarn early on to look around and do the Turn Dub invertebrate check.

Wildlife abounded.  A pair of black and white duck that look like goldeneye from a distance have a chick.  If they are goldeneye then the fact that they are breeding is noteworthy as they do not normally nest in the UK.  The swans are still sitting and looking thoroughly bored with the process.  I almost stood on a curlew hidden in the sedge between the tarn and the river.  Its mate took off from deep cover a few feet away so I suspect that they have a nest in the sedge.  On approaching the rather stagnant looking ditch that passes for the river at present I disturbed a grey poacher that hauled itself into the air and flapped off down river.

The check was surprisingly fruitful given the dreadful conditions and I found  good numbers of baetis as well as most of the other key families.  Netting was a challenge and rather tedious as most of the flowing water is liberally dosed with algae and filament weed.

Most of the trees we planted here in February seem to be growing away well tucked down in their little micro climates within the tree guards.  Perhaps we won't have to wait a lifetime after all to see a good deal of cover on this beat.

The Tarn will be stocked on Saturday at about 9am.  This is the main season stocking that will see us through to July and I am promised 180 rainbows of the same quality as we got in March.

Finally, I got a call yesterday morning from a contact who offered me a supply of willow stakes and withies to use as willow spilling bank protection.  By chance the Hon Sec and I were looking at length of river opposite Studfold where the bank is being heavily eroded and we were contemplating doing a bit of work here.  After a couple of phone calls to check that landowners were OK with the work the willow was delivered to site yesterday and the plan is to get it put in on Saturday morning.  If any member fancies playing in the river for a couple of hours then meet at the bottom of the big field below Cragghill farm at 10.30 on Saturday.

Ian

Despite a little rain early on Sunday morning the river remains at summer drought levels.  But with a series of low pressure systems scheduled to cross the country this week there is hope that by next weekend we should see a drop more water coming down through Horton.

For some time now I have searched the Internet and other likely places for an image of the old MAA hatchery that used to grace Douk Ghyll.  This was abandoned in about 1906 so I had pretty well given up hope of ever finding out what it looked like.  Folk round here may hang on a bit, but even at Horton 1906 is a bit beyond living memory.  Imagine my surprise and delight when late last week I was visited by one of my regular contacts who's wife has produced a wonderful painting from old and very indistinct photos that he has of the Douk Ghyll hatching house.  The image is so vivid hat I can almost see old walker going in through the door to tend to his ova and hatchlings.  rather than selfishly keep this to myself I will hang it in the lodge so that we can all appreciate this iconic piece of MAA history.

I have been holding off doing the April invertebrate check in the hope that some rain will give me a little more than a puddle to play in, but with the end of the month fast approaching I can't delay much longer so come rain, wind or continued drought tomorrow will have to be set aside to kick around at New Inn and Turn Dub.  At least the result should show what manages to ferret away in the boulders when the H2O is in short supply.

Ian

Still no sign of an end to the current drought and the river is really not fishable now.  Unusual for so early in the season.

I went last night to a talk given by an entomologist on the subject of aquatic invertebrates and very interesting it was too.  I learnt that I know more about these creatures than I thought I did, but also had answered a few questions that nag away at the back of my mind when sampling the river here.  For example I have regularly turned up a creature very similar to a caseless caddis, but fatter and usually much larger.  I had been unable to positively identify this until last night when we looked at crane fly larvae and all was revealed.

I also learnt a good deal about the life cycle and morphology of the stone fly that this such a vital part of the trout diet on the upper Ribble.  Our experts are to run a practical session on the Wenning in July and I plan to use this opportunity to question them on steps we can take to raise the populations of our main invertebrate families on the Ribble.

Last evening a member dropped off a fish he had netted from the Tarn that appeared to be blind and showed some sign of trauma around the head.  I am getting an expert opinion on the state of this fish, but first inspection suggests that the trauma is the result of cormorant predation.  However, better to be safe than sorry so we will check for disease.  If any member sees any evidence of other distressed fish please try to net it out, knock it and give it to me.  Don't count this as one of your brace and a half.

Ian

The Tarn looked stunning this morning bathed in early sunshine and if it were not for the chilly breeze blowing down river conditions here would be very pleasant.  A drop of rain overnight has freshened the grass, but made little difference to the river which remains very low.

Rather than me witter on today I thought that you might like to see the note I received yesterday from a brand new member recounting his experience of his first visit to the Ribble on Saturday.  Conditions were far from ideal, but Chris did not return a blank.

It's a rather gloomy day with a chill breeze coming in from the north east, an ideal day for turning the sod which I have been doing all morning out in the veg plot.  There is little sign of fly life about and no sign of any rain either so fishing remains a challenge.

A short article in the paper yesterday caught my eye.  Research carried out by Cyril Bennet down on the Test and Avon suggests that the chalk stream trout are becoming less fussy when feeding.  It would seem that the dramatic fall in riverfly numbers down south has resulted in trout taking whatever they can get so the southern fluff tiers are not having to create such works of precision as in days of yore.  Our northern trout seem never to have been that bloody fussy.  Life in a freestone river is always at the margin so any trout that was too picky about its lunch would stay hungry.  Ransome once said that Horton trout had seen so many tied flies that they were in the habit of awarding points for style, colour and finish and would jeer anything that fell below a given standard, but he also reckoned that they were just as likely to take a rats nest of feather and silk as the highest work of the dressers art.

Feeling generous?  Then head here www.justgiving.com/monnow and help the boys on the Monnow to raise funds for the further conservation of their river.  The latest wheeze is a 40 mile fishathon were two members plan to fish the entire length of this ditch river in one go.

It's time to begin thinking about the main riverfly check that takes place next month.  An email will go out shortly to all those in the riverfly group, but all members are welcome to come along, help and learn about the invertebrates that sustain our wild brownies.  Just email or ring me to book a place.

Ian

The Hon Sec called in this morning and as it is a cracking day with low water we decided to have a go at getting the old wire netting out of the river down opposite Studfold.  First though, we put in a stile on the east bank just above Penny bridge.  This will give access to the long run up to the right hand bend so that salmon fishers in particular can fish across to the deeper water under the west bank.  The stile is about 20 yards up from the bridge to discourage walkers on the footpath from using it as a hop over to pick nick on the river bank.

Then we turned our attention to the netting and after an hour of heaving, grunting and general assault with a pair of bolt cutters we got the whole lot out and heaved up onto the high bank well above flood level.  It's now accompanied by a Balfour Beattie road barrier that was festooned on a tree just up stream so if any one want a perfectly serviceable plastic barrier it's there waiting.  This beat now looks like nature intended once more and should present less hazard to those wading in high water.

Met one of our new members fishing up from Penny Bridge.  He had blanked so far, but since the Hon Sec had landed one and lost one by the pipe pool this morning and we had seen a good few young fish about on our wander up the river we raised his hopes for a take before long.

Ian

The river is looking pretty miserable now with just a trickle going over Settle weir and a lot of exposed boulders up at Horton.  The forecast for the week ahead shows little sign of rain so the Tarn remains the only really viable venue for fishing at present.

There was quite a good clip about riverfly monitoring on TV last night in the programme on the Natural History Museum.  From what I could see of the invertebrates that came out of the River Monow which was featured our stocks of riverfly are pretty good.

A few days ago I mentioned the pending court case involving the native crayfish gourmet.  A report in the Telegraph yesterday tells me that this chap was fined £4,000.00 for eating native crayfish out of the River Kent.  A very expensive meal that should send a clear message to others who illicitly trap our native white claws.

It will soon be time to restart the Ling Ghyll crayfish project for this year.  Last time I saw Paul B he told me that as soon as the big diesel powered pump was available from the EA he would begin drawing down the site for the first time since last summer and we will see how many creatures have made it over the successive weirs.  With relatively few big spates this winter hopes are high that very few will have washed down into the canyon beyond the waterfalls.

Ian

This dry spring weather has rather curtailed good river fishing for the time being.  Whilst not yet down to bare bones there really isn't sufficient water to tempt our wild brownies out from the deeper pools into the depleted runs.  The warm sun is producing good fly hatches though and up at the Tarn the other evening I sat and watched a veritable feeding frenzy of rising trout.

The swans now have nine eggs and this must be a near record for this pair.  If they all hatch and survive we shall have a major flock of swans on the tarn come summer.  I think after all these years the cob is getting used to me as he made no attempt to see me off when I approached the nest to check on the eggs.  We still have a couple of golden eye on the Tarn and I can't remember seeing these birds here so late in the season.  Perhaps they will nest as they seem particularly attracted to the wildlife area at the Tarn foot that we will fence next month.

The latest edition of Salmo Trutta, magazine of the Wild Trout Trust is now out.  It's filled with good articles.  Tales of far places interspersed with sage advice about the care and maintenance of wild trout fisheries.  I shall come back to this over the next few days.

Finally, plans are afoot to try to provide some all weather parking down at the bottom gate.  Gavin P has been in earnest negotiation with the National Park planners with the aim of developing a hard standing here that will provide much needed safe parking.  There is a way to go yet before we know the outcome of the application, but fingers crossed.

Ian

Conditions here are now fairly good with some promising weather over the coming weekend.  The river is a touch low, but should give few problems even high up by Lodge Hall.  There was a good hatch of dark olives this afternoon that got a few rises down by New Inn. 

I understand that the Environment Agency have at last got a case to court involving the taking of native crayfish.  There was an incident a while back over at Staveley on the river Kent where a couple of numb skulls had trapped a fair haul of native crayfish and filmed themselves having a gumbo.  When approached by an EA enforcement officer they departed quickly leaving behind the camera.  The film is such good evidence that they are pleading guilty to charges under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and the crayfish bylaws.  The maximum penalty is £5000 so we will await with interest the outcome of what the EA regard as a case to send a warning message.

Also over in the lakes are two of our Ribblesdale female crayfish.  They left last night for a new home in an ecology habitat tank at the Brockholes visitor centre.  The idea is to help educate the quarter million visitors that pass through this centre each year to the plight of our little white claws.  Both females were replete with eggs so by early summer there should be a thriving population in the tank.


Ian

After a very wet night that has put a good flow on the river this morning is much brighter and drier.  The forecast for the next few days is for building high pressure with clear skies and light winds so fishing conditions should be much better than of late.

I was up at the Tarn yesterday morning in a bitingly cold south east wind that was whipping up some sizeable waves on the water.  Nothing was moving and even the swans were keeping low in the nest on the reed bed.  I have put a note from Gavin P in the Lodge about laminating your EA license.  These are getting flimsy and by the end of the season most will probably have turned to mush unless protected.  Gavin will professionally laminate your license by return of post so that it will remain legible until October.

The new signs for the fishery have arrived and very smart they look.  Over the next week or so I will get these put up at selected and discrete points along the river.  They won't do much to deter four footed poachers, but they should help to reinforce our legal ownership for those two footed poachers that can read.

I spent last evening installing a new document library on the member's website.  This should be not only easier to use than the last version, but also has the advantage of enabling us to upload video and sound clips that can be played using the library's own built in player.  I will have a play with this when I next get time, but if any member has shot any video clips in MP3 or MP4 format that they would like to share then just email them to me and I shall upload them to the site.  The same applies to sound clips.

I have not yet checked that all the document links have been reset so if you find a link to a document in an article that's broken please let me know.

Ian

I suppose I should have realised that a bank holiday weekend here in the Dales could not pass without a daily shower or two of rain.  The promising conditions at nightfall yesterday had turned decidedly damper and draughtier by this morning.  Its cleared a little now and we have some sunny breaks to bring a touch of warmth to the valley, swell the buds and make the lambs leap about.

Just as I finished the blog yesterday an email arrived from the Secretary of the Ribble Fisheries Consultative with some very interesting news about an Atlantic salmon conservation study.  It seems that the University of Southampton are conducting a long term study to try to map the feeding grounds of Salmo salar and relate the fish feeding at these grounds to their home rivers.  The method they are adopting to identify where fish feed at sea is to study scales.  Here is where you can help.  Details will be on the club's private website but all that's needed is the careful removal of a couple of scales from the shoulder of any fish caught this season.  These can be sent to the study group for analysis. 

Apparently each scale holds chemical clues to the feeding ground frequented by the fish and over time it should prove possible to draw up a map showing which Atlantic feeding grounds are frequented by fish from each of our British salmon rivers.  This work will contribute enormously to our understanding of salmon migration and help to influence international salmon conservation work.

Whilst on the subject of fish scales, if any member catches what they believe to be a sea trout this season I would welcome a couple of scales if these can be obtained without harm to the fish.  These scales can tell us much about the life cycle of our migratory trout and I have the means (if not necessarily a fully developed skill) to read them.

Happy Easter

Ian

I can't guarantee the weather tomorrow, but the forecast here is good and after a dismal start today that saw hail and heavy rain Fishing conditions now are near perfect.  The sky has cleared, the wind has dropped to nothing and the river is full of almost clear water.

I now have a date for the delayed work at the Tarn to install the new fence and gates in the cross walls.  The weather has played hell with the schedule of work our contractors had booked so they will now be at Newhouses on 4 May.  Rather later than I hoped, but this should still see the work completed before the cows go out in mid May. 

Tarn fishing has been a bit slow at the end of this week due mainly to the cold, windy weather that has put the fish down deep in the water, but the onset of better conditions will get them back surface feeding again as there are plenty of fly about.

I think that the old gas ring in the lodge has just about served its time so a new one will appear in the near future.  If it lasts as long as the old one it will probably see me out.

Ian

It's been a wet couple of days so the river is high enough now to make fishing a challenge.  This afternoon the precipitation turned to snow which has settled on the fells, but not so far down in the valley.  Fingers crossed as the pastures round about are now full of lambs and cold wet weather is a real challenge to their survival.  

I have not been out and about much this week due to a sever bought of man flu.  This is unusual for me as I seem to mostly avoid the ague when all around me are dropping like flies.

Despite the weather the curlews are now calling almost every morning giving a real lift to the start of the day.  Their call echoing across the valley to the house really adds a wonderful soundtrack to the visual splendour of upper Blessedly.

Once I get shot of this grotty cold the plan is to attend to the stiles down by Stud fold that have waited too long for some running repairs and replacement.  We have some new signs thanks to a member that will go up at the pressure points below the village.  Now that Settle Anglers are no longer issuing day tickets I am slightly concerned that we shall see an increase in speculative fishermen up at Horton keen to try their luck whilst no one is looking.  so a few discretely placed  warning signs should render the usual excuse of ignorance redundant.

Now back to a hot toddy.

Ian

Take away the bitterly cold north west wind that's blowing straight down the river this morning and conditions for fishing would be near perfect.  The water is now the colour of champaign and falling back after the flood we had on Friday.  I was up at Turn Dub a couple of hours ago doing the riverfly check watched by a very suspicious duck.  The results are very good and continue to show plenty of olives and flat mayflies.  I found more cased caddis than the last check at this point and the now usual saddleable stonefly.

There is some potentially good news for those of you who value sea trout.  It would seem that this rather neglected fish is to be the subject of some very intensive and extensive research this year.  Two main projects are planned for the north sea basin.  Celtic Sea Trout and Living North Sea are aimed at establishing data on the population and distribution of this wandering brownie on rivers entering the Irish and North Sea basins.  Find out more at www.celticseatrout.com and www.livingnorthsea.eu/ a further project will look at sea trout distribution in the south west of England and western approaches.

It will be interesting to see what emerges from these studies.

After a slow start last week saw a good number of members fishing the Tarn all with success.  The river also has begun to deliver up decent brownies and I know of at least two caught last week below Studfold that were in super condition despite the predations of a cold winter.

Ian

We had a lot of rain here on Thursday so by yesterday morning the river was in full flood and as high as it's been all winter.  The precipitation eased off last night and so this morning we have a falling river, but still very coloured water.  with the forecast giving a bright and sunny day my guess is that by late this afternoon we should see almost perfect river fishing conditions with plenty of water, less colour and a good fly hatch.

I had one of those moments on Thursday afternoon that make all the effort I put into this fishery more than worth it.  A long standing member and former Council member dropped by to say that he had just caught at the tarn the two finest brown trout he had ever seen.  Coming from someone of very exacting standards this was indeed praise and fully justifies the little extra we are now paying for our Tarn fish.  When I put them in at the beginning of March i was struck by how fit they looked.  A few weeks in the caress of our perfect Tarn has improved them still further.  Let's hope it all stays that way.

The swans are now nest building and mating so it won't be long before eggs are laid.  They are a little early this year so maybe they anticipate a good spring and summer.  The rookery in my giant sycamore is also in full belt and mornings are now a little fraught as letting out my ducks involves the risk of falling timber from frantic nest building as the duck house (not paid for by public money) is under the sycamore.  It beats me how a rook can carry stuff as big as I find under the nests.  It's not quite 4 by 2, but not far off.  The nests are very high in the tree, another sign that we are in for a decent summer.

Ian

It's time to begin more regular postings about life on the river and the fishery now that the season is underway and more members are making their way to Horton.

It's been a slow start so far with only 3 members fishing last week, but a visit to the Tarn this afternoon in the company of a prospective member found two hardy souls braving the chill wind and cloudy sky.  The forecast for the rest of the week suggests that we shall have a fair bit of rain with a slight rise in day time temperature.  So expect to find the river in rather more water than it has been so far this year.

The Tarn trout are taking well and have already received compliments on their condition.  I will now start posting up weekly stats on Tarn fishing on the club website.

This is something to watch.  The Environment Agency are consulting on proposals to simplify the process of permitting hydro schemes.  Now here I must confess to being a climate change sceptic as for my money there is still a proper debate to be had about the impact on climate of human generated carbon emissions, but what is clear is that unless these hydro schemes are properly evaluated for environmental impact then they will almost certainly risk damaging riverine ecology.  The EA are coming under irresistible pressure from a blinkered warmist central government to facilitate these schemes and we must be vigilant in ensuring that they are not fast tracked through the planning process to the wider detriment of our rivers.

Ian

It was a fairly quiet first week with low water limiting the opportunity for decent river fishing.  The few members who did journey up to Horton found the Tarn in good form and the recent stockies playing well.  I came across one member trudging round the east end of the water with a good sized over wintered fish.  She would have weighed in at well over 3lb, but was burdened with eggs that reduced her weight considerably once ejected.

The swans are now in courtship mood so the early days of the week saw a very dejected young pen mooching around the pasture by the lodge clearly confused as to why her parents had suddenly taken against her.  By Thursday she had got the message that she was not wanted and had left to join her brothers somewhere along the river.

First thing this morning I went down to New Inn and did the monthly invertebrate check.  This produced a very healthy crop of baetis nymphs as well as heptagenia, gammarus and another batch of massive stoneflies.  No hatches were seen, but then it was pretty cold with a thick mist after a sharp frost over night.  March browns usually appear on the wing around lunch time so a gentle jaunt down to the river a little later may find a few especially as it's now coming sunny.

Finally, we had a fair drop of rain yesterday that has lifted the river a good four inches.  Once the colour begins to fall out fishing conditions will be quite good.

Ian

Those members hoping to wet a line tomorrow for the first time this season may find conditions a little trying.  We have had little or no rain here for the past three weeks so the river is rather low.  We also have a cold north west wind blowing straight down most of the beats.  Casting will be a challenge and finding good water equally so.

There is better news at the Tarn where some shelter from the breeze can be found under the north west bank.  We put 160 of the bonniest rainbows in yesterday most at around 2lb, but there are a few at about twice that weight.  For the first time for a number of years a few brown trout have been stocked.  Again these are about two pound in weight and are unmistakable with bright gold bellies and vivid spots.

All the doors are now sliding freely so no more near dislocated shoulders trying to get into the boathouse or lodge and getting into the boat is now much safer without the accumulated tot lining the walk way.

I was up by the Tarn first thing this morning having a pre season check round and to my surprise there were four swans milling about, two up by the reed bed and two down by the duck wall.  The old cob clearly took exception to the presence of what I assume are two of last year's cygnets as he decided to put on a display of petulant aggression and charged off down the Tarn running on the water with beating wings and outstretched neck.  The two interlopers kept moving just out of range which only increased the bad temper until the pen glided down to pour a little oil on troubled waters.  It won't be long now before the resident pair begin nesting.

Maybe I shall see you at the Tarn tomorrow.

Ian

The AGM was a bit like a rerun of the last supper with only 13 members present and a candle lit top table.  Despite the low turn out it was a convivial evening, good business was conducted and efforts made to clear a monumental buffet.  Brian T is President for this year and the remaining Council members were re elected en bloc.

All members planning to fish the river this season are encouraged to get a record book from the Hon Sec.  The purpose of these is to provide a fuller picture of the state of the fishery to assist future management plans.  This season there is an incentive to complete them.  Each book will contain a raffle ticket and if your number is pulled from the hat (creel) then you will get two days salmon fishing in Scotland with Neil H as a reward.  This initiative is being run in conjunction with Settle Anglers who have a large membership so the more MAA members who return booklets the more chance the club has of securing the prize.

A working party at the Tarn on Sunday was well attended and all is now ready for the season start on 15th.  The contents of B&Q has been removed from the boathouse, the boathouse doors rehung, the boat varnished and much tot removed from around the lodge.  The keeper can vouch for the continued low temperature of the water having spent a good half hour immersed up the parting of the ways helping to rehang the door.

After last week's blog I got a message from a member who is about as far from Horton as is possible to get.  Edward M left a message on the blog from the Falklands where he is currently carrying out a peat survey.  It's a strange coincidence as the last time Ed was on the Falklands was in 1983 and at that time I was in daily contact by phone with the team down there who were overseeing the construction of the airfield after the Falklands conflict.  Phoning the Falklands in those pre internet days was interesting.  You could hear your own voice echoing back and after a few seconds delay you might if you were lucky hear a disembodied voice from the bottom of the planet.  Since our staff were all housed in redundant shipping containers this only added to the echo effect.  Chinese whispers wasn't in it!

Ian

With March looming large tomorrow winter will soon be over and the balmy days of summer are not far off.  It's still perishing cold here today though, but dry so far unlike the soft south.

I spent a very pleasant evening on Friday as a guest at the Settle Anglers' annual dinner.  Plenty of good crack, good food and a highly convivial atmosphere.  Once we had got the after dinner speaker wheeled down the room so that those on the cheap tables could hear we found that he was Hugh Falkus fly tier and had a wealth of anecdotes about the great man not all of them complementary.  A late (very) malt in the bar rounded of a great night. Thanks Mike!

I did the Turn Dub invertebrate check on Tuesday and this turned in results very similar to the New Inn check a couple of days before.  The river is teeming with small baetis nymphs as well as heptagenia and shrimp.  I found no cased caddis on this check which was a surprise.  Once again I turned up a couple of very large stoneflies that sat in the tray and glared at me.  Alone on the river bank at this quiet spot these creatures can be quite intimidating, but they make a tasty meal for our larger wild trout.

Just for a change it's snowing here this morning.  Not heavily, but it is persistent and falling on a frozen ground so it's laying quite quickly.  If this keeps up for any appreciable time as it looks as if it might it may well put paid to tree planting plans for tomorrow.

On Thursday I met the contractor who will plant the thousand tree slips above Turn Dub that have been very generously donated by the Woodland Trust.  We looked at the site and agreed a detailed planting plan that will see the slips planted in pockets following the contours of the site to create a natural drift of trees with open areas where natural shrub regeneration can proceed unchecked.  4 yards above and below each weir will be left unplanted so that fishing the weir pools will be unhindered.  The plan is to begin work tomorrow, but as I say we shall have to see how much snow we get today.

It was good to see members of Council at Horton yesterday for the pre season meeting.  A constructive and convivial discussion resulted in a number of agreed actions principle of which is the agreement to accept the tender for re fencing the wildlife area at the tarn.  This will secure the site from the predations of sheep and cattle and means that we can get some native hard woods planted here tomorrow.  A gate will be installed in the fence to allow access for maintenance and Council has also instructed me to arrange for the replacement of the stiles on the cross walls at the tarn with self closing gates.  This will make the circuit of the Tarn somewhat easier for less mobile members.

Once again we will try to get a more detailed knowledge of where fish are and where they are caught on the river.  To enable this each member who fishes the river will receive a record book which they are encouraged to complete. There is an inducement to complete and return the records this season in the form of a prize draw.  Each book will have a unique number and should that number be drawn out of a hat at the end of season the owner of the winning number will get a significant prize.

Last week the crayfish tank at the old hatchery was drawn down and the resident crayfish checked over.  All are very healthy and the plan is to return these creatures to ark sites in south Yorkshire near to where they were rescued from.  The draw down was not without incident.  A pump was hired locally, set up and set running.  A loud "pop" ensued followed by an invigorating shower of ice cold water as the cap on the filler chamber blew off sending a jet of water several feet into the air. The cap traced a perfect arc and descended into the crayfish tank well beyond reach.  A trip to Settle secured another pump which behaved perfectly ensuring not only tat the residents could be checked over, but also that the wayward cap could be recovered.

Ian

A visit to the Tarn on a gloriously sunny, crisp and cold morning was an ideal way to ease into a Sunday morning. The ice is now receding and three swans are back; mum, dad and a cygnet.  The youngster is now looking almost adult with almost a full complement of white feathers.  Where its two siblings are I know not, but they are now well able to care for themselves so there is every chance that they too have survived the severe winter that we have had here and are somewhere down on the river.

As I approached the water a small flock of goldeneye scuttled away towards the wildlife area.  These little black and white duck are regular visitors to the Tarn and it's good to see them as they are quite rare in the UK.  I have a particular connection with goldeneye as my namesake called his house on Jamaica after this diminutive duck.

So the year turns and once again it's time for the annual Wild Trout Trust on line auction.  There are 203 lots this year up for grabs so why not visit www.wildtrout.org and grab yourself a treat whilst contributing to a very worthy cause that has helped our fishery immensely in the past.

It was good to see two friends on TV last Sunday.  I thought that the piece about Ribble crayfish came across rather well.  It's unlikely to turn Paul and Neil into overnight celebrities, but they got a good message over in a very clear way and the crayfish performed well too.

A winter newsletter is now winging its way to members letterboxes.  Do remember that I put this together twice a year and am always keen to get contributions from members.  Articles in any format will do, even scribbled on the back of a sandwich wrapper whist contemplating the capriciousness of fish on a quiet day by the river.

A more immediate way of sharing your thoughts, questions and ponderings is to put them on the club website.  Once again if you don't fancy getting your hands dirty with writing stuff directly on the site just send it to me and I will sort it for you.

Ian

It's been a quiet rather non descript week with not much happening.  The Tarn is still frozen making this the longest period without open water that I can recall.  It does have the benefit of deterring the cormorants which have been absent all winter so far, but it also prevents other more welcome wildlife from frequenting the area and visits to Tarn pasture are now typified by the almost total absence of anything living.  The river on the other hand is alive with duck and gulls and the absence of spates so far this winter has resulted in a more settled population of creatures in the river and on the banks.

Once again it's a frosty start to the day with the ground giving off a "crunch" as you walk the pastures.  The snowdrops here are now in full bud and should break within a week or so.  These diminutive flowers are the first signs that spring is returning to the Dales and they seem to thrive here multiplying year on year to carpet any ground once a handful of bulbs are set.

Yesterday I was reading an article on a website that reported strong evidence of the complex relationship between what we call sea and brown trout.  It would seem that observation is suggesting that there is regular switching by individuals between a migratory and non migratory state.  So for example a male returning from the sea may for reasons that are as yet not understood "revert" (if that's the right word to use) to brown trout state as may a female.  Clearly something triggers this action and my suspicion is that it's food related.  Most creatures instinctively opt for a regime of minimal energy expenditure for maximum energy input so it makes no sense for a trout to migrate down river expending energy when there are plentiful food sources available close at fin.  Anecdotal evidence suggests that there are now more sea trout in the upper Ribble than there were last century.  What changed here at the millennium was the disappearance of the river's crayfish that provided a convenient food source for larger trout so it's likely that once they reached a given size more fish began migrating to seek better quality feeding.  There is a PHD's worth of research here for someone.

On the subject of crayfish, don't forget to tune in to Countryfile at 6pm this evening to learn more about the project to get these creatures back into the upper Ribble.

Ian

And so this long rather trout friendly winter continues into another bitterly cold week with a severe frost this morning and a temperature of minus seven last night.  Our river invertebrates seem to thrive in cold water.  I reported on the very encouraging results from New Inn last time and these were replicated at Turn Dub on Monday.  Each sample at this site produced very good numbers of baetis and heptagenia many of these were small creatures that will provide good foraging for emerging trout alevins.  The real delight of the check at Turn Dub was a giant among stoneflies.  This creeper measured in excess of 3/4 inch and is the largest example I have yet found at this site.

Those of you with pachyderm like memories will recall that last spring we spent a lot of time up at Ling Ghyll working on a project to conserve native crayfish.  If you didn't manage to visit the site last year it's coming to a screen near you next Sunday.  BBC Countryfile spent last Monday at Horton in the company of Neil Handy and Paul Bradley filming at both Ling Ghyll and the old Bransghyll hatchery.  It should be one of the main features on the programme and will highlight the brilliant work that Neil and Paul have been doing over the past 10 years to preserve native crayfish in the Ribble valley.

Finally, it looks like the Woodland Trust will begin work in February on the conservation project at Turn Dub that we organised last Autumn.  This should result in a thousand native hardwood trees being planted between the Dub and the site of the new bridleway bridge at Far Moor.  They will also put some alder and willow into the wildlife area at the foot of the Tarn to act as a wind break and further enhance the cover.  By the time this is completed we shall be almost into the new fishing season.  How time flies!

Ian

Despite the bitter cold and fairly high water yesterday I managed to get the invertebrate check done at New Inn.  It seems that our native river flies thrive in very cold water as each sample produced prodigious numbers of baetis nymphs and very good populations of the other six families that are found at this site.  I got some truly enormous gammarus (shrimp) some of which seemed to be in the process of mating.  Water quality is superb with high levels of oxygen and a fairly neutral pH.  Conditions could not be better for nurturing trout alevins as they begin to emerge from the redds over the next few weeks.

Rain over night has lifted the river enough to make sampling at Turn Dub today too much of a risk so an early morning assault on this site is planned for tomorrow.

Readers of the Dalesman should look out for an article on yours truly round about March.  This will include some photos and focus on my work for the MAA and the efforts the club has made to preserve native trout in the upper Ribble.

It's always good to see other clubs achieving success and expanding.  I had a fairly long conversation with the Hon Sec of Settle Anglers in the local supermarket yesterday afternoon.  He confirmed the news I had heard they they have just signed a lease on a reservoir above Settle and are busy assessing what they have got.  It looks like a decent brown trout water, but since the reservoir feeds the Leeds and Liverpool canal draw down in summer may be a problem.  Settle Anglers are now hoping for a continuation of the wet summers we have had here over the past couple of years.

Returning to media matters, keep an eye on BBC Countryfile over the next few weeks.  You may see something familiar.

Ian

The stubborn fingers of the icy grip of winter have finally been prised from the valley and the Tarn is slowly returning to its normal fluid state.  It's been a month now since we saw much grass and the local rabbit population has been much in evidence around the house looking for those illusive bits of greenery exposed by the relative warmth from the buildings.

The river which had been down to summer drought levels was in spate yesterday.  Nothing too severe and not enough to pose any serious risk to the trout redds that we hope are now full of ova, but enough to clear the ice flows and debris that filled the back eddys and quieter beats.  It seems that we may be in for a warmer spell over he next week or so before a return to colder conditions with more snow.

A look at the crayfish in the hatchery yesterday revealed not a single animal lost over the past month which is remarkable.  In fact most of the females are now carrying eggs and barring any unforseen disaster this rescued population should return safely to their south Yorkshire home in the spring.

I am determined to do an invertebrate check this week. It's a couple of months since the last one was done which is far too long, but too much water in November and far too much snow in December prevented me from safely getting to the check sites.  It will be interesting to see what effect if any this icy weather has had on the riverfly population.  Strangely there were flies dancing in a brief sunny interlude this morning in the back garden.

Ian

Its been three weskit weather here this past week with night time temperatures reaching as low as minus 12 and daytime temperature not much better.  We still have a lot of snow lying with the threat of more today.  I went down to the hatchery on Friday just to check that everything was running.  Our founding fathers really did know what they were about when they established the old hatching house and fish ponds at Brants Ghyll.  Because the water emerges from its long journey underground only a couple of hundred yards above the hatchery site the water is always at a constant temperature summer and winter. The spawning channel and ponds are ice free despite the intense cold and there is even signs of life in the water plants in the channel.  I took a few photographs some of which you may see in a future "Dalesman" article that is currently in preparation.

The Tarn is frozen solid with a deep layer of duck egg blue ice right down to the duck wall.  How the overwintering fish will fare in this prolonged freeze up I can only wait and see, but there should be sufficient depth for them to descend to relatively warm water.  The big concern is that the dissolved oxygen in the water will become depleted and the fish will suffocate.  My normal method of combating this is to break holes in the ice with a sledge hammer, but this year the ice is far too thick to even contemplate doing this.  Time will tell.

As for other wild life the local rabbits are having a tough time and are coming in close to the house to feed.  This is much to the delight of the farm cats who now have ready meals delivered to the door.  I went to the woodshed on Thursday and found a half eaten rabbit on the log pile.  The top garden is alive with birds after the nuts seed and fat that we have been putting out daily.  We are now visited by a wood pecker whose orange legs flash like beacons against the blanket of snow.    With the pond frozen my ducks have taken to bathing in their water bucket and seem to enjoy the warm water so much that arguments break out from time to time when one outstays its turn in the bucket.  The good news is that I have found no fox prints in my local wanderings so it looks as though they are absent from this bank of the river this winter and the swans may breed in peace in the summer.  Summer, now there's a thought.

Ian

Right, that's Christmas over for another year and we are already into a new decade.  As you get older it seems to me that you only have to blink and you miss a year.  Childhood memories seem to be composed of interminable summers and long days spent in stuffy classrooms distracted from the wit of Shakespear or the nuances of Keats by the sound of leather on willow filtering through a dusty windows and counterpointing the drone of Mrs Ralph as she tried to instil in yet another gang of spotty adolescent boys the merits and joys of English literature.  We won't even mention Charlie Tofts whose approach to teaching maths was similar to the English abroad and to shout ever louder if you didn't get the point of compound fractions or calculus the first time round.  I never did and I share with Paul Merton the fine distinction of failing CSE maths which Paul asserts leaves us both less mathmatically literate than a monkey.  Old Charlie would often end a maths lesson a quivering, spittal drenched wreck looking like the aftermath of an audition for Nosferatu.

This past couple of weeks has seen us with the most snow I can recall here at Horton in the past 11 years.  In fact I was talking to a local farmer up by the Tarn on Thursday and he reckoned that this was the most prolonged spell of wintry weather in the past 20 years.  The Tarn is frozen solid and the swans have removed to the slightly warmer environs of Turn Dub which remains unfrozen as the water is warmed (relatively) by its journey underground from Ingleborough.  There are a number of hare tracks in the snow near the Tarn, but so far no evidence of the fox that left tracks here last winter.  The Lodge has really benefited from the insulation that we installed at the start of the year and it feels remarkably warm inside despite the sub zero temperatures just a few inches the other side of the wood work. If there were any waterfowl on the Tarn it would be a very comfortable place to sit and watch them.

The birds are flocking to the bird tables and feeders in the garden.  They seem to have set meal times with an early morning feed (breakfast?) followed by a mid morning snack and a much longer blow out at around 2pm.  I know when the raisin supply has run out as a large female blackbird bounces up and down on the roof of the bird table clucking, scolding and flapping her wings.  A re stocking of raisins restores calm.

I have seen very little sign of life in the river, but it's really been too difficult to get down to the bankside anywhere but at New Inn.  Our wild brownies will be well on with spawning now and I am very hopeful that this cold calm weather will encourage a bumper year for young trout.  There have been no damaging spates and provided we get a steady thaw the trout redds should remain undisturbed when winter loosens its grip.  In the meantime the conditions here are pretty well deal for spawning although how any creature can contemplate sex when it's this damn cold beats me.

Ian

I suppose that the main topic this week is the weather.  It strikes me as ironic that we should have the most snow I have seen here in the Dales in the past 10 years during the week in which our leaders failed to reach a consensus on tackling climate change.  Mind you, as a climate change sceptic I'm not much exercised by the posturing at Copenhagen.  I accept that I'm classed with flat earthers and other weirdos, but I remain deeply suspicious of scientific research that chases the easy money and scientists who regard challenge to their work as hysteria.

Be that as it may we have some truly spectacular scenery here this morning with the valley blanketed in over a foot of snow and more falling.  The river is a black ribbon winding through a white wilderness.  A robin is sitting on the bird table feasting on the seed I put out a while ago and the cat is playing silly buggers diving into snow drifts and sending the powder snow flying.  It's just come sledging down to the kitchen window and brought a fair sized snow drift into the house.

Coming back from Halifax on Thursday afternoon all was well until we hit Helifield on the A65 then it took a further five hours to get up to Horton.  Since no gritting had been done prior to a snow flurry just as it got dark the road was like the Cresta run with 45 ton lorries replacing toboggans.  Thankfully we had a flask of coffee with us so life was not unpleasant.

I have not been up to the Tarn this weekend, but may take a wander up there this morning to see how the swans are faring in this wild weather.  Water fowl do seem quite impervious to the cold.  My ducks much prefer to stomp about in a blizzard rather than shelter in the warmth of the duck house.  And no, I didn't claim for that on expenses.

A merry Christmas to you all.

Ian

It was good to see most of Council up at Horton on Saturday for what proved to be a highly constructive and productive meeting.  The Crown Inn was warm, welcoming and very comfortable reflecting all the hard work that Thomas has done recently to refurbish the lounge.

Stocking for the coming season will be similar to this year with 600 rainbows put in over the course of the season.  It was agreed that I should try to get some brown trout to go in at the pre season stocking just to add a bit of variety to the fishing.  The plan will be to treat these browns as catch and release fish so as to give them a chance to grow on over the next few years.  It's evident that Tarn brownies do over winter and can grow to quite respectable size and these big fish do provide a bit of a challenge when they mistake a bit of fur and feather for a Tarn sedge.

The wildlife area will be fenced before the start of the new season and the stiles over the cross walls will be replaced.  We already have a commitment from the Woodland trust to plant a thousand trees between Turn Dub and the Bridleway crossing and a planting plan has now been prepared and agreed that should provide for much improved habitat along this beat without compromising access to fishing.

Some while ago I mentioned Mike Harding's new book on North Country Spider patterns and a couple of copies of this book turned up on Saturday.  One is destined for the club library, but you really should invest in this guide if you are serious about fishing the upper Ribble.  It's a beautifully presented ring bound book with a potted history of North Country Spider patterns and those who popularised this style of fishing fast rain fed high gradient rivers.  The photos of each fly are stunning with enough definition to enable even a cack handed dresser like me to have a serious stab at an imitation.  a very great deal of thought has gone into the planning, writing and presentation and it deserves to become a classic.  It's not too late to get this into your Christmas stocking so do yourself a favour and get it ordered.

The 2010 Hot Pot Supper has been booked already.  So put the date of 1 October in your diaries now and get booked into the Crown whist rooms remain available.

I had planned to get out and do the invertebrate check this morning, but the weather Gods have put the kibosh on that by providing a morning of quite heavy and very cold rain. 

Ian