<![CDATA[Fly Fishing & Writing - My Blog]]>

<![CDATA[Fly Fishing & Writing - My Blog]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 05:38:22 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Scientific research in the Wensum]]>Tue, 24 May 2011 08:37:00 -0800http://www.terrylawton.co.uk/1/post/2011/05/scientific-research-in-the-wensum.htmlI went to the second annual Conference of the rather inelegantly-named River Wensum Demonstration Test Catchment Project at the University of East Anglia last week. The Wensum is one of three similar projects in England, of the other two one is on the Avon in Hampshire and the third on the Eden in Cumbria. The Demonstration Test Catchments is a joint Defra, Environment Agency (EA) and Welsh Assembly Government project.
            The overall objective of the project has been described as ‘to provide evidence to test the hypothesis that it is possible to cost effectively reduce the impact of agricultural diffuse water pollution on ecological function while maintaining food security through the implementation of multiple on-farm measures across whole river catchments using local expertise to solve local problems.’ Long winded?
            The theme of the conference was Progress and next steps in the Wensum Catchment. Everyone who attended was encouraged by the amount of progress that has been made. Unfortunately there was – as at last year’s inaugural conference – only one farmer present and not one single owner of land in the Wensum valley, so the conference was a bit of a student/academic/scientist’s mutual admiration session.
            Two high-spec monitoring kiosks are on-site in the headwaters of the river Blackwater, a tributary of the Wensum, which sample and transmit data every half hour to the UEA. These state-of-the-art measuring devices will be used for long-term monitoring to both identify and record pollutants and to evaluate the effectiveness of measures to reduce them. Students make site visits twice a week to check and service equipment as necessary. One problem is that as water levels drop and silt builds up, the water flow meters function less efficiently, or if there is enough silt, stop working altogether.
            It was interesting to see a map showing all the field drains on a significant area of land – there were hundreds! It is little wonder that silt getting into the Wensum is one of the major problems to be dealt with. While buffer strips alongside ditches, field drains and streams help reduce silt inputs, these strips need managing. The project hopes to develop methods of slowing surface water flows to allow sediments to drop-out and settle in areas where they can be prevented from entering the water course. Part of the study will aim to improve understanding of how to predict and control diffuse pollution from agriculture.
            We were also shown how data can be analysed to show farmers how much of their expensive fertilisers they spread on fields draining into the Blackwater is literally going down the drain. Reducing this wastage has obvious cost implications for farmers as well as helping to improve the local habitat.
            To find out more go to http://www.wensumalliance.org.uk/index.html

The slacker water between the large wood debris - a complete alder tree - and the bank is ideal habitat for juvenile brown trout.

The river Wensum is proving a popular site for scientific research into various aspects of river management and ecology with other universities. Murray Thompson, who is with the Entomology Department of the Natural History Museum, London, is researching for a PhD. studying the effects of river management on invertebrate populations and the wider in-stream community, concentrating on the input and removal of large woody debris (LWD). While there is a mass of anecdotal evidence, there is a lack of scientific data, hampering the development of restoration techniques and allowing for the continued belief within some groups that LWD is a problem that needs to be removed, rather than a potential benefit to the riverine environment.
This project developed into a study of LWD restoration, a technique that has received mixed publicity but which presents a method for increasing biodiversity, increasing habitat for both inverts and fish whilst reinstating natural processes that are sustainable. It has been shown that well-placed and secured LWD can avoid problems of flooding, benefit fishing and present a quick, inexpensive and ‘natural’ method for the restoration of the hydrology and ecology of modified river channels.

The site on the true right-hand bank where Murray Thompson is doing his regular sampling of invertebrates and fish.

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Adult pond dipping

Pond dipping for grown-ups! Dave Pitchers, left, and programme co-ordinator Mark Rylands sorting and classifying our finds.

On Saturday fellow club member Dave Pitchers and I carried out our second Riverfly Life survey in the river Wensum. We are part of the Wensum Riverfly Recording programme which is being co-ordinated by Mark Rylands who came and helped us on Saturday. A month after our first survey and with an extra pair of eyes, we increased our score index by just over 50 per cent.
    In our second survey we found more species - BWOs, flatbodied upwings and olives - as well as increases in numbers of insects found in April. The only indicator species that we have yet to find is a stonefly. I am pretty sure that I saw an adult stonefly recently but stonefly nymphs are still conspicuous by their absence.
    The kick sampling process doesn't take long but sorting out everything produced by the kicking certainly does. It is amazing how tiny some of the nymphs are and little bits of twig suddenly start moving and you realise that it is a cased caddis. And is that little nymph an olive or a small Mayfly?
    It's all good fun and very rewarding as well as building a database of scientific knowledge of the invertegrat

]]><![CDATA[First Post!]]>Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0800http://www.terrylawton.co.uk/1/post/2011/04/first-post.html I got back from a day on the river that reminded me of those days that you get at the start of the Mayfly – when fish rush at your fly and miss, or come short. Are they frightened of the big flies on the surface of the river? Or are they not sure what they are? Anyway, today’s day did not concern Mayflies. But more of that in a minute.
            Last season I had a day on the river Bure as the guest of a friend and when we left the river I had risen nearly 20 fish, all of which had missed my fly. An extraordinary number. But I had caught fish as well. But why is that so many fish were missing my fly? Little wild brown trout will often fling themselves at flies that are probably too big for them, and other fish seem determined to drown Mayflies by swatting them with their tail. But whatever the cause, the result of all these missed fish is very frustrating.
            But back to Saturday on the Wensum. Over the years I have fished when the air has been full of Hawthorns – drifting in the air legs dangling – but I have only on about one occasion seen fish feeding on them. The late Oliver Kite was someone who always caught a lot of fish on Hawthorns. But the last week or so the fish have been gorging themselves on Hawthorn and I saw my first fish caught on an artificial Hawthorn – by my elder son! We have had a strong north or north-east wind, blowing downstream, which has made live difficult for anglers but has had the benefit of blowing the Hawthorns onto the river. But only in certain areas it would seem. And in those areas fish were rising with real enthusiasm.
            Anyway, I started the day with a nice fish caught on a nymph which I managed to lose just as I was about to net it. The next two hours were nothing but frustration. Fish after fish threw itself at my Hawthorn artificial. And missed! Others rose and had a jolly good look. One, I am sure, touched my fly with its nose before turning away in disgust. But nothing hooked. I tried various Hawthorn artificials, some small black sedges and even a big brown one. Nothing. I then tried a black gnat artificial, with white wings. More a pair of mating gnats which are much loved by grayling in Swedish Lapland. At last I hooked a fish. And there were more to come.
            I decided that the trigger the fish was looking for were the translucent wings that were quite distinctive as Hawthorns floated past me.
            This must have been the best April on the Wensum for many a year. We haven’t had a drop of rain, we have had some very hot days and for the last week or so, strong winds. But an extraordinary number of fish – both wild and stock – have been caught. And to crown everything, the first Mayfly were seen on the Royal Wedding day.

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