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