A glorious autumn

November has been a relatively bright, dry month with the odd wet spell to get the fish moving. So, in between the many meetings that inevitably occur at this time of the year, and the associated paperwork, we've taken the opportunity to get out where we can.

A Christmassy view within Stack Wood

We were asked to re-survey Stack Wood for evidence of deer grazing. The wood was opened to deer

last winter and the Trust undertook a preliminary vegetation survey of he wood. The plan was to repeat the survey the following year and assess the impact. This would then be used to determine the future management of the wood. A bit out of our comfort zone, but an interesting project and one that, given the call for more riparian planting throughout the country, is very relevant to the work of the Trust.

Finding the original sites was interesting to say the least, and involved stumbling around in the wood looking for wooden posts. Much to our surprise, if we're honest, we found 7 out of the 10 - which was great. There was, of course, a fair bit of hilarity as we fell down slopes and rolled in the mud! The results have now been sent to the client and will hopefully provide help with the forestry management throughout the Estate.

An amazing location for a mink raft

The mink rafts also had to be checked so that was another trip around the area. While a couple had been washed away, the rest were fine and thankfully no mink traces seen. There were a decent number of rodent tracks though! As well as checking our own rafts we have a number of volunteers helping to monitor rafts and tunnels throughout the area and we help where we can by supplying materials and advice as asked. Without these individuals it would be impossible to cover the area and we are extremely grateful to each and every one of them. We have to be thankful that we seldom find anything (no mink is good news!) but that can make it harder to keep checking. We think they are all stars.

A redd in situ

Other trips out have been to look for fish and redds. It's really encouraging, given the poor year for
anglers, to see a number of redds in the river and a good number of fish fighting for and holding territories. We haven't been out often, so to see that level of activity each time is great. Reports have also been coming from others of spawning fish - both trout and salmon - being seen in good numbers. Here's hoping for good juvenile densities next year!

We've posted a new video on YouTube showing the salmon moving about in the river. Why not have a look and enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_JvKrWpPjs

A taste of Sutherland

The Trust auction is going well, although there are still a few bargains available so if you haven't already registered, click here and pick up that unexpected or unique offer. With hind stalking in 3 different areas, and a range of different budget fishing packages on offer, this is your chance to explore this exceptionally beautiful area and help the Trust at the same time. Don't shoot or fish? - never fear, you can buy the venison or smoked salmon instead - and some whisky or wine to go with it. Click on the link to get your very own taste of Sutherland  http://www.melandphil.com/geo/index.php

The trout season has come to an end and we're looking for progress reports on the 'Alphabet of Scottish Loch' Challenge. How did you get on? We're looking at this a bit like 'Munro bagging' for the fishing world, so you don't have to complete it in one year but we'd love to hear what you managed in 2014.

Before....

The field season is definitely behind us now, and with high flows experienced likely to remain that way - far to high even to look for spawning trout! These before and after pictures give some idea of the amount of water going down the rivers.... Still hopeful that we'll get something of the salmon if not the tail end trout.

...and after

October saw the first signs of mink recorded by our volunteers on their rafts and tunnels. Definitely

Mink prints on the [ad

not a call for celebration but they were fantastic and quickly had a trap out to see if they could catch him or her. Unfortunately no joy there, so we have to hope that it was a roaming animal that has now moved on, preferably southwards. Thanks to all our volunteers for their work monitoring the rafts and their never ending support of the work in the face of bad weather and few signs.

We are now into the paperwork season and the report writing is under way. The Achriesgill Management Plan is now complete and, with some very simple recommendations (and a few more complex ones), it will hopefully be picked up and go a long way to helping the fish in this lovely wee river.

The next couple of weeks are going to be taken up with meetings - yep, it's that time of year again - and hopefully getting some of the work for next year confirmed. More on that as things get finalised, We'll also be