Monday 13th April : I'm on traps this week again, so out early to do the rounds. No great numbers, the burns are falling. Back in the office caught up on e-mails and Admin & sent off the Lamprey report finished last week after a final read-through.

Tuesday 14th April: Traps in the morning, then out with Kenny to a Habitat Pilot project site at the top of the Jed where we have planted alternate sections of a burn with Willows, to see if such cover could encourage larger trout to live in an area. The burn had been well shaded by conifers and has changed shape considerably, now being wide and shallow due to the extra erosion caused by lack of binding vegetation on the banks. Some of our Willows have taken well, planted about 10 years ago, but in other areas they have not - and the stream has changed course in other places, so we need quite a bit of replanting. A bit late for this year, but putting in cuttings right down by the water line, into damp ground, so should be OK. . Quite a lot of natural regeneration as well, blurring the distinction between planted and unplanted areas - Whins are particularly good at coming into bare ground and give protection from browsing to trees that seed under them.  Changed techology since just 10 years ago - we can now take GPS readings of the section boundaries which we couldn't do then

Wednesday 15th April: Very early out to the traps, some real Salmon smolts in the Yarrow trap now. Back for some office work then on the bus up to Edinburgh for the AST Sea-trout workshop tomorrow.

Thursday 16th April: AST Sea-trout Workshop in Edinburgh. Give my 5 mins update on the work on Sea-trout that we are doing here and hear all about what is going on elsewhere. A general acceptance that Sea-trout need a higher profile and better coordination between those working with them.

Friday 17th April: Out very early to get the traps done - no big smolt runs yet, but 20 to 30 a day at the Yarrow. Back in time for the weekly staff meeting, then get my presentation for the Norwegians coming in the afternoon - a group of fishery owners & local authority people from the Gaula and Orkla rivers in central western Norway. Talked to them about our management set up here and what we do and heard about their system, which is based on consultants rather than locally based biologists. As this is the one part of western Norway with Beaver, interested to hear of the problems that Beaver cause to fish in the Orkla system and of how they remove dams with bulldozers there. Also, what I hadn't heard before, of the damage caused on the banks of large channels where it is too wide to build dams.