Monday 22nd March - Was revising the talks I'm giving this week, when  a most interesting "casualty" fish was brought in from the river. In very good condition, but part silver and part red, with a pronounced kype - and running milt. Checked the scales which showed very smooth edges, so the fish had not been very long in the river and was, basically,  fresh run. Obviously a "Spring-spawning Autumn fish" of the sort we get on Tweed, but very late with the spawning. Even more interesting was that the scales showed a spawning mark, so it was a repeat spawner. I have often wondered what a spawning mark would look like on one of these Spring spawning fish, which come in to the river very late and spawn immediately and so have little time in fresh water for any mark to be created. As is known from tagging,  repeat spawners spawn for the second time around  the same date they spawned for the first time, so this fish would have been a February / early March spawner last year as well. The mark was well defined, but not a gross disruption of the scale so it is now clear to me that even fish that spend little time in the river can have well-formed spawning marks. The fact that this fish was a  male was also unusual - very few repeat spawners are. This is because while females "spawn and go", the males hang around on the spawning grounds in the hope of further females turning up, until they are too weak to get back to the sea.  Spent the rest of the day on admin, including trying to find out if a fish farm in Norfolk from which someone wishes to stock a trout pond here, is in a high risk area i.e. has Signal Crayfish, Zebra Mussels, Topmouth Gudgeon, Australian Stonecrop or any other alien invasive species in its catchment.

Tuesday 23rd March: In the morning off with Kenny to Appleby-in-Westmorland, where the Eden Rivers Trust was holding a two-day Trout Stream Management workshop and  there just before midday. I gave my presentation on trout stream trapping in the afternoon, while Kenny had a poster on trap construction on display. A new model of electric-fishing machine on display too, the first real advance in design and technology of our most basic tool that I've seen in 20 years. In the evening, the Eden Trust held a "How Good Was My River" session to which veteran Eden trout anglers had been invited to be quizzed on their memories and experiences and reveal the location of any written club or personal records that could be collected for analysis.

Wednesday 24th March: At the trout workshop in the morning, then back at Drygrange by late afternoon. The Wild Trout Trust launched their new DVD on Upland Stream Restoration at the meeting, which looks as if it is going to be a very useful tool.

Thursday 25th March: Talk revisions and e-mails in the morning, then the annual staff eye-check up in Gala. Cleaned the Peebles trap afterwards.

Friday 26th March: Weekly staff meeting in the morning, then to Edinburgh Airport and down to Exeter to give a talk at the AGM of the South-west Rivers Association.