Monday 26th May : On leave.

Tuesday 27th May : On leave, but an informal meeting at the Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory, Faskally to give our experience of controls on fish stockings. The lab are putting together interim policies & protocols on consents for stockings for Scotland.

Wednesday 28th May: The whole day spent getting my talk ready for the 25th Anniversary meeting next week.

Thursday 29th May: More talk preparation in the morning, then a visit,by helicopter, from the Warden of the Fishmongers Company, a London Guild with some supervisory powers over the supply of Salmon to fish markets. As they had been signficant funders of the Tweed Trout and Grayling Initiative, Kenny gave a presentation on the work he has been doing and then showed them the taking and analysis of an insect sample down on the Leader. James and I then demonstrated electric-fishing. Already there are major size differences in the salmon fry that emerged last month - some are thriving and fat, while others have grown little and are thin and obviously on their way out. The first three months after emergence from the egg are called the "critical period" as in it around 95% of salmon fry will die. This is because vastly more eggs are deposited in a river than can possibly survive as juveniles - it only takes around 200 average sized females to produce a million eggs, so there has to be this massive mortality to reduce the numbers down to the carrying capacity of the stream. It is not just the survival of the fittest, it is the survival of the super-fit, the Black Belts of a salmon fry population. Tiny variations in fitness count, and this intense competition is the engine that drives the adaptation of salmon to their local conditions. Genes that give a few percentage points better fitness in one part of the river can give a few percent less in another with slightly different environmental conditions, enough to determine life or death and mould genetic composition to fit local environments.

Friday 30th May : Joint RTC & TF monthly staff meeting this morning, the stocking policy and its enforcement being the main item. No particular main topic in the Biologists meeting afterwards. Rest of the day catching up on admin and preparing my talk for  next week's meeting. James getting his presentation ready for the Fish Counters' Conference in Cardiff, also next week & Kenny out surveying for medium-channel electric-fishing sites to sample this summer.