Monday 28th May : Goosander count in the morning, my stretch being from Rutherford down to Kelso. Not much in the middle river expected at this time of year. The breeding females are on the upper river and the tributaries while the males (which take no part in rearing the young) and the non-breeding birds move downstream to where there are still smolts to be found. In the afternoon, Steven, my summer assistant gets on with putting the estuary trap together while I do various bits of admin and even some analysis of the of ages of the Salmon smolts trapped on the Yarrow.
Tuesday 29th May : Down to the Whitesands fishery with Steven & manage to get in to the old shiel, which is surprisingly sound and dry after six years of disuse. Mark where the tide line is at half full tide, which is when I am thinking of setting the trap. Put in a marker and find that it will take an hour for the water to cover the trap on its way in. A lot more seaweed than I remember from when it was an active netting station - obviously the sweeping of the nets kept the foreshore clear then, but not a problem. Get more shackles, ties etc. in Kelso on the way back.
Wednesday 30th May : In and around the office all day. Tackled some difficult scales left for my attention by Barry.
Thursday 31st May : Working on the Management Manual most of the day, putting together a time chart of the rod fisheries as an index of how angling effort has increased over the years. Surprised to find that even at the beginning of the 20th cent., there was angling right down the river, in amongst the netting stations. Some fisheries are registered both as rod and net.
Friday 1st June : Monthly all-staff meeting in the morning, with all the bailiffs & then the monthly biologists planning meeting. In the afternoon, get on with a lot of minor admin, read some journals etc. while Steven gets on with making up the estuary trap's nets outside.
An interesting old photo handed in this week to Kenny. It shows the Philiphaugh Cauld in the days before the removal of the Selkirk Cauld below it that resulted in the river bed upstream dropping by around 2m. The photo shows how, before the river bed dropped in this way, the downstream edge of the Philiphaugh Cauld ran gently into the river bed, giving the fish a single, smooth, run up the face of the cauld which was therefore by no means impassible at the right water flows. Nowadays, the fish have to first jump onto the face of the face of the cauld and then try to make it up the slope, which is almost completely impossible for them.
Next Week : James is continuing preparations for netting in the river to sample trout and grayling populations and getting the chemicals required for using the sex-test kits. He'll also get some farmed trout to practice the technique with. Shaun will continue with the trapping of crayfish on the Till, combined with checks on ponds for other populations. Kenny has a day with TweedStart, teaching children about fly life and general river ecology and will also be involved in the netting.