Sampling season starts

It's been an interesting start to the 2011 sampling season and we're already ahead of last year! The weather for the last two weeks has been kind and the rivers low so we've managed to get out electrofishing, as well as continuing with the sweep netting.

Electrofishing-wise we've completed 5 catchments - 3 of which involved quite large walks to and from the sites. Sandwood probably took the prize for that, with the 2 Biologists + 2 intrepid volunteers heading out into the moor for a 6 mile-ish round trip. The company was good and the midges and clegs relatively kind but we were all glad to see the van on our way home! Gleann Leireag and the Polly were similar, without the volunteers, but these were interspersed with the more biologist friendly Laxford and na Thull. Saying that, the clegs were far from friendly on either of these 2 and we ended up with 2 rather lumpy biologists from all the bites! The results from the electrofishing will be worked up at the end of the season and the reports produced, but there was at least one happy chappy from all of the eels seen, while fry populations also looked good.

Our sweep netting for the Aquaculture Project is now finished. We managed to get all of the fish required from the Laxford, Kyle of Durness and Polla, with the results passed on to the project officers who will coordinate for the whole of the west coast and report back. Unfortunately we didn't manage to get sampling on the Kinloch following a misunderstanding on the part of the keeper, but keep our fingers crossed for future occasions should the project continue. There certainly seemed to be a reasonable number of post smolts in the pool we would have sampled and it is a lovely little river. Always nice to go somewhere different as well.... Next week is the Aquaculture Project Steering Group meeting, where we will get a preliminary idea of the results and other news from the project.

We will be continuing with the WSFT monthly sweeps of the Polla and Laxford until October. There have been a few recaptures to date and these are always nice to see. From this we can work out growth rates and compare differences between years and systems  often with interesting results. While most of the recaptures were from 2010, there have been 3 from 2009 so far. Not quite beating our record of 5 years since original tagging (taken in 2010) but providing interesting results.

Looking forward to the next few weeks, we hope to continue with the electrofishing programme, building up a picture of the juvenile densities within the area. We also have scale reading to get on with, should the weather change and preparations for the Moy Games where we will be sharing a stall this year with the Ness & Beauly Fisheries Trust. Plenty to be getting on with and nice to get out and about. Hopefully the weather, and the midges, will remain kind and this will be a successful year.

Into summer

June was an interesting month for the Trust. We managed to get out sweep netting which was great. Unfortunately there was a bit of a snag with the Kinloch, but things are now smoothed out so we'll give it a try next week, weather permitting. In the meantime we managed to complete the Kyle of Durness nettings and also the Laxford. We still have a few fish to get from the Polla and that will complete the RAFTS project from our end. Its then back to our regular nettings on the Polla and Laxford. There should be a report coming out of RAFTS in the next month detailing all of the findings from the west coast sweep netting.

Crabs Claws was also completed. The P4 and P5 classes from Achfary, Durness, Kinlochbervie and Scourie were out on 2 separate occasions looking in the rock pools, completing a seaweed safari, crab fishing and shell collecting, ogether with a lot of games and art projects. Hopefully the children have learnt a lot - they certainly seemed to while on the beach, naming a large number of different species over the 2 days. The seaweed total also increased to 12, bettering the score for the P6 and P7.

June also saw the start of organising for the Wet and Wild Weekend in Kinlochbervie. Plans are still in the early stages but are likely to showcase KLB and the Sutherland environment. There are a range of activities being explored and it looks likely to be an excellent, fun weekend. The provisional date is the 27th August, sharing a venue with the annual KLB Raft Race.

Mink continue to be an issue in the area. More and more sightings are being reported and the Trust is helping to coordinate the provision of rafts and traps to the various estates. There is a mink officer employed within the area, but the Trust is the local contact for any issues and reported sightings. There are few non-native species present within the area but we are surrounded by a large number. It is therefore only a matter of time before they appear, as with the mink, and vigilance is required at all times. Thanks to all those helping with the monitoring.

In between this, the Trust have been helping to prepare grant applications for a couple of large projects. Fingers crossed that they are successful - with the potential for a large scale sea lice project within the area and the development of 'Pearl in the Classroom' within the next few years.

The electrofishing season has now started - and we're already ahead of last year!! Unfortunately today's fishing was undertaken in between the showers so everything is crossed that the rain doesn't get heavier. It has to be said, however, that the weather change, which has also brought winds, helped by keeping the midges and clegs away. So - dry but windy please, then we can continue with a successful fishing year and build on the findings from the Polly and Gleann Leireag!

May overview

Well, what can we say. May acted as a reverse to the traditional April and came in like a lamb and definitely left like a lion. The month started dry and we were worried that the smolts wouldn't get out at their traditional time.No need to worry about that - a massive spate on the 15th took out the smolt trap and gave plenty of water to get the smolts out to sea. Unfortunately we were supposed to be netting on the week of the 15th.... Needless to say, that was cancelled and continuing high flows have meant that we weren't able to reschedule. Fingers crossed for June as these nettings are part of the West Coast Aquaculture Programme and include additional nettings in the Kyle of Durness and the Kinloch River, with everyone looking forward to the Kinloch which is new to the Trust.

While the weather caused a bit of a slow down within the Trust - smolt trap washed out, elver traps washed out and no netting - this unfortunately changed on the 27th with a report of mink on the north coast. This has since been confirmed and has meant phone calls and visits to assist with eradication. Mink are not native to Scotland and as such can have a catastrophic effect on the biodiversity of the area. Bird populations, such as Black Throated Divers, already hit by a cold May, are particularly vulnerable although mink are not particularly selective.

We did manage to complete part one of 'Crabby Claws' however, despite the high winds and rain causing a re-assessment of the event. Day one was cancelled, as was the camping, kayaking and snorkelling. However the P6 and P7 turned up for Day 2 and seemed to have a great time despite the weather. Nine species of seaweed were identified, together with a large number of shells, crabs and shrimps. Hopefully the P4 and P5 days will be as successful. Courtesy of the aborted camping trip we were also well supplied with food and thanks have to go to the teachers for their efforts to pile the pounds on all involved! Thanks also to The Robertson Trust for funding this activity.

The Annual Review was also completed and is ready for posting. This can be downloaded from the Website (www.wsft.co.uk/publications) or copies obtained from the Biologist. The review details the results of work undertaken during 2010, with further details of the different projects also available on the Website or from the Biologist.

Looking forward to June, we will hopefully be able to undertake the sweep nettings with results going to RAFTS for analysis with those from arond the West Coast of Scotland. Then it is the build up to the electrofishing season and hopefully a good summer.We'll be blogging a bit more regularly during the main sampling season, giving an update of our activities. We'll also be giving a midge update, which could be useful...

Elvers

A total of 7 streams are now being monitored for elvers. Numerous traps are now in situ along with temperature loggers.
First real capture occurred today with 125 captured on one small stream....hopefully just the start. 90 elvers were caught in the first trap with fewer being caught upstream. Interestingly this stream is the warmest of all the streams chosen. It is not the most southerly either and is situated in a bay/inlet as opposed to the open sea. All apart from one were glass eels, the other was a very small yellow eel, possibly one of last years migrants.

Field season starting

The two smolt traps and inumerable elver traps are now in place and waiting for the appropriate runs. As well as the fish traps the flow rate is being taken beside each elver trap as its checked and constant water temperature recorders are in each burn. This will give some interesting data and answer questions about the smolt runs as well as the elver runs. its nice to get out and start seeing fish again after the winter.

The notes from the recent Ghillies Seminar are now online at http://www.wsft.co.uk/ if anyone is interested. It was a really interesting Seminar and hopefully the notes do it justice. If you have any questions on the different talks then please drop us an e-mail at wsft@btconnect.com.

Watch this space for updates on the traps, or follow us on Twitter @wsftrust.

Laxford Netting...16/04/2011

Netting went well, a very good sweep resulting in the capture of 283 Sea Trout of varying sizes. Kelts seemed to be mending well compared to last year, lots of Smolts and Post Smolts. Very few lice found with most fish being clean.
One fish in paricular was interesting, it appears it had no evidence of ever possessing an adipose fin. We have'nt seen this before and makes you wonder what purpose the adipose fin actually serves.

Smolt trappin has started on one of our small streams, although this has been slow, it is hoped things will pick up over the coming weeks. All fish will be measured, scale and genetic samples taken also.

Preparations are underway for elver and eel monitoring. Six catchments will be monitored over the coming weeks and it is hoped to get an idea of elver recruitment within the area. This also adds to the current project ( in its final year) looking at all stages within a particular catchment. Details can be found on our website...www.wsft.co.uk

Chris

Barrier/Obstacle Assessment Course completed.

WFD111(2a) Coarse resolution rapid assessment methodology to assess obstacles to migration. I attended this course on April 5/6/7 th 2011. Held at the SEPA offices in Perth. A really interesting and informative course which will prove extremely useful in assessing the various obstacles within our area. It certainly made me look at these issues in a completely different light, their complexities when looked at closely illustrate the often extreme difficulties fish have to endure to reach their goal. Although some may be time consuming to assess, once broken down and the order of assessment followed, a detailed idea of the obstacle and an idea of possible pathways for fish to pass the obstacle can be ascertained. This does not only cover salmonid species but all species/guilds and so may have further implications with regard to biosecurity where undesirable species need to be stopped. The course started with a brief introduction and a run through of issues and the protocol. This was followed in the afternoon by a field visit and a short practical session involving techniques and equipment use...a taster. The second day was spent in the office, with an in depth look at the actual protocol, and why we do it. The Third day was spent out in the field where we were split into two groups and assessed a number of man made structures of varying complexity and under different conditions. At the end of the assessment each obstacle is then given a passability score and it is often possible to ascertain which factor may impede fish migration, this could be depth, velocity, height etc. So a lot of data/information can be gathered from each structure. All in all a very good course and thoroughly recommended........Chris