Why bother ??
It has been estimated that under normal egg laying conditions the failure rate is extremely high (as with most things in nature extremely high numbers are produced to compensate for very high natural losses) The aim of this project is to try and ensure that losses are kept to a minimum with hopefully a success rate being increased by eighty per cent plus.
Obviously it will be some time before any results become known What improvements can be made to BWO habitat ? A question which at present we are searching for. There are many things that are not understood regarding fly life. Habitat may be one of the reasons for its overall decline Other ” Grey areas” include diapause in egg development towards the end of the hatching period. This is a natural process and eggs lay in diapause during the winter months in cold water emerging from this condition in March Water temperature can have a dramatic effect on fly eggs from perhaps a small rise in temperature causing a faster development of the eggs but possibly a smaller percentage successfully developing, There appears to be only a small window in water temperature where maximum success occurs.
After hatching, natural phenomina such as ” Natural Nymph Drift” may come into the equation Do Baetis nymphs and Serratella nymphs behave in the same manner ? What determines this behaviour ?are there other factors to take into account such as day or night drifts , diseased nymphs etc. etc. the questions seem endless !

Dr. Cyril Bennett of the Riverfly Partnership has been extremely helpful with both information and advice concerning the the Dorset project now underway.My thanks go to him. Any person concerned with Flylife and water quality in our rivers should be very gratefull for the existance of such an organisation and I hope to be able to provide them with relevant and useful information gained during this experiment in return for their support

POTENTIALLY 100,00 NYMPHS DESTINED FOR THE RIVER

ROD CRANE

A FEW SPARES IN THE LABORATORY

Ten years ago the Dorchester Fishing Club devised a plan to improve the habitat and the fishing on one of their beats just north of Dorchester. The reach was devoid of any fish holding structure, very limited cover, and totally uniform in flow and depth.

The plan was hatched and consent obtained from the Environment Agency (National Rivers Authority back then).

Six upstream flow deflectors were constructed using Hazel and Willow bundle’s, upstream facing to push the flow into the middle of the river, washing and scouring gravel on the bed of the river, giving it the energy required to create a much needed variation in depth and flow.  Equally important, slowing the flow down along the banks, allowing for a certain amount of silt build up and in turn a huge increase in marginal vegetation and habitat.

This picture shows the Dorchester Fishing Club working hard on their flow deflectors over ten years ago.

As the years crept on, the in stream, marginal, and bank side vegetation increased as did the wildlife, and as a result of this the fishing improved.  There is also proof of Salmonid spawning in this area, observed in our annual redd count, and a massive increase in all year classes of fish, visually observed when wading and recorded when we electric fish.

All habitat improvement work needs looking after and from time to time re instating; well we identified this as a worthwhile and very affordable project to fund, the stretch had become fairly overgrown and the flow deflectors need some attention. Consent was obtained from the Environment Agency and works were carried out over the first week in August to complete some tree trimming and re building of the flow deflectors using all the willow on site.

Re building the flow deflectors using live Willow, just laid from the bank and wired to posts driven into the bed of the river.

Nothing more rewarding than working with natural products knowing your doing a huge amount to help the entire aquatic echo system.

Anyone who would like to chat about this and other projects, or would like a site visit please contact me.
john@riverworks.co.uk

Follow this link for an epic story of one of the salmon that was tagged in 2008 Click Here to view the story

As always in this line of work there is always something else to learn, we headed down the Frome into Poole harbour, passing where the Piddle comes in, the scenery was absolutly stunning, and the wild life was amasing, what a valuable ecosystem.

As we went about our work, we heard, and discussed in great detail the on going poaching problem in Poole harbour, and more disturbing than the poaching is the fact that NOTHING is being done to protect our dwindling Salmon stocks……………….

The window on each tide for netting is about 15 minuites, slightly longer on the neap tides, could the areas at risk of poaching be watched during these short spells of slack water, apparently not!

Please email the Chairman if you have any comments on this subject Chairman@RiverFrome.com

Vice Chairman
John Aplin