Monday 5th October: In the office all day, trying to catch up for being away so much last week.
Tuesday 6th October: At a meeting of the Steering Group of the FASMOP programme (Focussing Atlantic Salmon Management on Populations) at the fisheries lab, Pitlochry. Mainly admin and finance, the first results still to come, but it looks as if it will be highly efficient. One of the samples we've got in for analysis is from the 41lb salmon taken at the nets in September 2005. We didn't have a genetics programme going then, but I took the bit of tissue in the hopes that one day we would and it could then be found out where this monster fish had been bred within the catchment. That was the same year we saw a c. 45lb fish on the video at the Ettrick counter - was this other very large fish also an Ettrick fish or had it come from elsewhere in the catchment ? Watch this space.
Wednesday 7th October: On leave
Thursday 8th October: Get back to find a note on my desk saying that at long last one of this year's tagged fish has been caught, still at the bottom of the river. Not even a kilometre a day average movement ! Going by the catches on the website, the fish decided to break out on the tiny rise in water at the weekend, too desperate this late in the year to wait any longer. Still waiting for any of the fish tagged in August to be caught. Catch up on e-mails and attempt to get to grips with the admin for the first funding application to the Living North Seas programme, but don't quite succeed.
Friday 9th October: Weekly meeting in the morning as usual. Give reports on the genetics and Sawbills meetings I've been at and hear of the Hydro and Fisheries meeting Nick was at. Afterwards, all the bailiffs in and everyone given their own personal trackers so we can tracked when lone working in future - except mine didn't work. At lunchtime out to the Ettrick cauld to pick up the temperature loggers I've had in there to check the readings of the fish counter. Will transfer them to the Gala next week so we can see if the two fish counters are measuring temperatures identically or whether they differ. Back in the office get to grips with the Living North Seas timesheets and, this time, make some progress.