Monday, 28th May saw the River Tweed Commission and Tweed Foundation staff out on the lower and middle parts of the River counting numbers of goosanders and cormorants. Bird counts are carried out using a standardised method four times a year and form a vital part of our understanding of how these predators impact on the annual smolt run of salmon and sea-trout. Smolts represent the 'final product' after the egg, fry and parr stages where natural mortality is high. Only the fittest survive to reach the smolt stage and, with the high marine mortality rate at present, the numbers of salmon and trout going to sea needs to be maximised.

Although not all the data is yet accounted for from the May count, returned sheets indicate that numbers of both bird species in the main river, as expected, are at their lowest in May with most goosanders having moved to the tributaries to raise their young and cormorants to coastal areas. Results are consistently higher in April, which is when the migration of smolts reaches its peak (which we know from the Tweed Foundation's fish traps).