I spent yesterday at the Malham Tarn Research Seminar.  This event is run every two years and brings together academics and amateur naturalists who are engaged in research projects loosely connected with the Tarn and its surrounding environment. 

We were treated to a series of well presented sessions that fired many thoughts about how our fishery is managed from an environmental and ecological perspective.  Much was learnt about the importance of reducing nutrient enrichment of shallow still water bodies and I had a very productive conversation over an excellent dinner with the UK's leading authority on shallow lakes.  This is likely to lead to some valuable research next year, not only on our Tarn, but also on the current state of the brown trout population of the upper Ribble.

One of the thoughts that's now exercising my small brain is what kind of environment are we trying to create when we carry out river corridor improvement works.  The fundamental questions must always be - why are we doing this and what are the anticipated long term consequences.  One of the things we learn yesterday is that the ecology of this landscape has changed significantly over past millennia and we need to have a clear vision of the sort of landscape we are creating as well as how the work will benefit riverine wildlife.  We can prevent grazing by livestock by fencing and just wait and see what grows or we can intervene to create something more quickly.  Intervention inevitably results in a man-made landscape. We need to ensure that this is as natural to its location as we can make it.  The trouble is we don't always know what "natural" should consist of or look like.

On a lighter note.  I was looking at the Tarn webcam last week when I spotted a large number of white objects floating on the water.  A quick visit revealed these to be ten whooper swans making a stop over.  I managed to get a few pictures that I will post up here later today.

Ian