Monday 31st August: Out with Kenny to electric-fish the Holms, Fruid and Talla systems. Started at the Holms, but though doable, just not right, the water very heavy to work in and the fish all in at the sides, so not a normal situation to sample. Went on to try the Fruid, which is regulated below the dam, but found it too high as well. Tried the Menzion Burn, and found a situation needing further investigation - good trout fry numbers upstream of the water offtake, but very little below. Looks like the flow levels downstream of the abstraction are too low to support a normal population. On to the Talla, and found even it in spate, with large amounts being spilled over the dam - the first time I've ever seen this reservoir really spilling. After that, gave up and back to the office. James and Sean managed to get samples on the Biggar system done, however.

In the evening, fishing at Dryburgh with Fay. Water a bit high and dirty but when eventually worked out I wasn't hitting the bottom and that it was actually fish taking,  caught four six to eight ounce Brown-trout and lost a couple more. It would have been one of my best trout fishing evenings on Tweed, if I hadn't been salmon fishing - there must have been a shoal of them getting out of the rising water.

Tuesday 1st September:  Everyone indoors, not even worth attempting electric-fishing. Spent the day producing materials for the 150th Anniversary exhibition of the Kelso Angling Association. I'd thought I had their competition records well sorted but found, in fact, that I hadn't re-formed them after the transition from Apple to PC, so a major job. Out at lunchtime to have a look at the Ettrick cauld and see how the fish are reacting to its newly collapsed state - the repaired baffles are still in place, directing water to the entrance to the fish ladder and all the fish I saw jumping were near the entrance. Water still too high for good passage though - could see fish showing downstream of the cauld, which is a sign that they are hanging back from the rough water at the cauld face.

Wednesday 2nd September: Back to the Holms Water, with Sean, to try electric-fishing again. Not really any lower than on Monday, but went ahead this time. It still didn't feel quite right, the fry in clumps and along the edges rather than being spread out. Anyway,  a good cup of coffee at the Glenholm Wildlife Centre to start the day with. Got the sites done, mainly trout, with salmon parr being well upstream of the first salmon fry. A few sites on the Stanhope to finish off with.

Thursday 3rd September: After checking the river levels, weather forecasts and making a phone call, decided to gamble on going down to the College Burn for the annual electric-fishing and tagging of the Whitling found there at the end of summer. A complete turn out of TF staff, a couple of Bailiffs and the locals needed for this, so a major effort. Thought the gamble might come off as when got down there, the small burns not up and the drizzle stopped. Almost as soon as we got to the bankside though, the rain poured and the wind put it horozontally into our faces. Also found the last major spate had massively altered our measured kilometre for sampling - now a totally different burn. It used to be a lovely, highland, stream, with rocks and heather, Bluebells and Bracken - now a scar in the landscape, with raw, open, banks all along its course. I had thought of it as a very stable stream, of bedrock and huge boulders making a series of pots and pools, like a natural fish ladder up a steep glen - now long stretches of gravel rubble. Called off the sampling and the others went home, while Barry and I walked the section to see where we could now get hold of fish - looks like there being three places where we could electric-fish up to a natural fall and "trap" them. There is a very interesting population here, purely of Whitling, nothing larger - and no Salmon get over the Hethpool Linns - but where do they go and what do they do outside their home burn ? Do even these little fish make the long migration to Denmark, with other Tweed Sea-trout or are they just local migrants ? This is what the tagging is to find out about. Their actual spawning area, above the steep section, has been much less affected, being on flat ground, so the fish still have the same place to head for, even if their way there has been much changed.

By the time we'd finished our survey, we were both pretty wet and cold, so had to head for the nearest tea-room to recover with hot soup and coffee. Back to the office, where I started on the bits of the Code of Good Practice in Fisheries Management  that I'm drafting for the Fisheries Forum.

Friday 4th September: Monthly joint RTC / TF staff meeting in the morning, then the rest of the day on various bits of admin and writing.