On Sunday, 5th November, the Tweed Trout & Grayling Initiative (TTGI) held an educational invertebrate sampling and identification day with volunteers from Hawick Angling Club. The first half of the day was held on Hellmoor Loch with the anglers being shown how to collect loch invertebrates using pond nets. Having collected some invertebrates the anglers transferred them into white trays and used identification sheets to separate their invertebrates into their different types (shrimps, mayflies). The most common types of invertebrate found were shrimps, water slaters, damselflies, mayflies, alderflies and various types of snails.

The second half of the day was held in the Hawick Angling Club's clubhouse. Here the anglers were treated to a talk from Craig MacAdam on the lifecycles of freshwater invertebrates and on the Riverfly Workshops and how they train anglers to use freshwater invertebrates to test for pollution. The anglers finished the day by using microscopes to study some invertebrates they had brought back from the Hellmoor Loch. ID keys were provided which instructed the anglers on how to identify the different types of mayflies, stoneflies, caddis flies and true flies.

The invertebrate Sampling/Identification day is a spin-off from the TTGIs River Invertebrate Monitoring Scheme where anglers are taught how to sample, identify and count river invertebrates using equipment provided by the Initiative. The results allow the TTGI to monitor the Tweeds river invertebrates.

Craig MacAdam is an expert on freshwater invertebrates. He co-ordinates the National Ephemeroptera (mayfly) Recording Scheme, is involved with Riverfly Workshops and runs his own Aquasurveys business.  KG