Monday 27th November : On leave

Tuesday 28th November : All day working on catch records for the presentation to the Tweed Council on Monday, on the sizes of fish  being caught this year and how it compares to the past. Have many computerised catch records, but none right up to date, so have asked permission to look at the recent records of The Lees and Upper Floors and add to the previously computerised data from those fisheries that we already have. Fiona is working on The Lees books and I go down to Floors at lunchtime to collect their books - we have Upper Floors to 1988 already, and start abstracting the figures soon as I get back. Also today put out a request to the bailiffs for a dead kelt for the BBC to film a (captive) Sea Eagle feeding on next month.

Wednesday 29th November : Abstracting records almost all the day. It's easier with two, one person reading out the numbers, the other tallying them, so get on quicker with Shaun doing the reading. In the afternoon, interviewed for a BBC Scotland radio programme called "Grass Roots" on crayfish and other alien species. This is recorded on the banks of the Leader just below the office and represents my break in the fresh air for the day.

Thursday 30th November : Still transcribing records, get the Upper Floors books finished and Shaun takes them back to the Roxburghe Estates offices at lunchtime. Start the analyses - interrupted by a long telephone conversation with the BBC in Birmingham. They are doing a natural history programme, in the format of a journey down the Tweed and want to know about what other wildlife interest there is other than Salmon

Friday 1st December : Catch record analyses all day. An over-the-phone interview with BBC Radio Scotland on Gyrodactylus (the fish parasite that has exterminated Salmon from over 30 rivers in Norway) and what the implications of its introduction to Scotland would be. There's a bill going through the Parliament today which would set up contingency plans to try and deal with any outbreak, hence the radio's interest. Working late on the catch records- Fiona has got the transcription of The Lees books finished.