Kate and Shona were also to be found at Nedd and Clashnessie pulling Himalayan Balsam during August and September. While there's not much left thanks to the hard work of our volunteers in recent years, it's still important to get the last few plants and stop the spread of this highly invasive plant. We're on target to get it more or less cleared in the next couple of years, however, which is great news for the rivers and the Trust.
Kate is also continuing to monitor mink rafts on behalf of the Scottish Mink Initiative, although thankfully has not found any mink prints yet. As part of this project 'mink dogs', specially trained to find mink traces, were brought into the area during September. Thankfully no traces were found within the area, although it will continue to be trapped and/or monitored by the SMI and its volunteers to make sure of the findings.
The first weekend in August saw Kate and Shona standing in a tent on Fishermans Row at the Moy Games with the Ness & Beauly Trust. It was a really enjoyable 2 days and great to talk to the many people who came in to see us and ask about the Trust and the area. The Moy is a very good field sports event and has lots for all the family. Highly recommended for next year, where we will hopefully be attending once again, if you are looking to plan your holidays.
The Moy Games also saw the launch of the WSFT merchandise for sale - polo shirts, t-shirts and baseball caps - as well as a selection of the Sutherland Trust flies. The latter was designed for the Trust several years ago by Stan Headley and has since been featured in the Trout & Salmon. It has proved itself to be a good all round fly and been responsible for the capture of many salmon, sea trout and brown trout. All items are still available for sale at www.wsft.co.uk/merchandise.html.
Sampling for the sea lice dispersal project (in conjunction with SAMS and Loch Duart Ltd) has now started with the first samples taken at the start of September. We plan to sample the 12 sites monthly - that will definitely be weather dependent!! - and we have to say a big thanks to Loch Duart Ltd for the use of the boats and help with the trawls. This project will run for 2 years and has the potential to be really useful in the management of our sea lochs - if we can find lice.
Unfortunately it looks like many hours will be required looking down the microscope for the analysis. There's certainly a lot of plankton in most of the samples (thank you OCB4 for being relatively clear!) and it's a slow task, but hopefully we'll get faster. While we don't really want to find lice in the area in another way it would be nice to see just one or two. There are some amazing looking animals out there however, and its interesting seeing them all.
As well as looking at plankton samples, Kate and Shona have also been updating the Website, as well as dragging the Trust further into the 21st century by establishing a Facebook page. That can be viewed at www.facebook.com/westsutherlandfisheriestrust and hopefully you'll like it. We are, however, always looking for comments and suggestions for improvement so please have a look and get in touch. We can be contacted at wsft@btconnect.com or via the website (www.wsft.co.uk).
Over the next few months we will hopefully get the sweep netting and electrofishing completed and then the reports written. The sea lice dispersal project will continue over the winter and proposals for other projects developed. It looks to be a busy winter in the far north!
