A good start to summer 2012

With the exceptionally dry weather we have had over the last couple of months electrofishing and netting is well underway and we have been very busy here at the Trust since the last posting.  It is great to be out and about on the rivers and we have seen lots of lovely fish. To date we have completed electrofishing surveys in seven catchments starting with Bhadaidh Daraich and Badnabay, although the Bhadaidh Daraich sites looked quite different compared to last time due to the extensive growth of trees.  Fewer minnows were present at one of the Bhadaidh Daraich sites which is always a good sign. There was a good mix of fish from the Garvie, Culag and Geisgeil catchments, including one very large trout from one very small burn! Today saw the completion of the Achriesgill sites where there were nice fat salmon and trout parr as well as a few fry. Given the suitability and condition of the habitat more fish were expected although one or two did manage to escape.

As well as the usual sites the Trust has been busy surveying in the Hope catchment as part of the work for the potential hydro electric schemes on the Reay Forest Estate.  This is a beautiful area and some trout were present but far fewer fish in the upper reaches of the system. Many thanks to Don for helping to fish some of Gober sites and ensuring we were in exactly the right place! Overall the walks to sites through jungles of over the head bracken, falling into holes and climbing wobbly deer fences were definitely worth it, not to mention that Shona and Kate are now practically superfit.

Sweep netting on the Kinloch and the Kyle of Durness is now finished for this year with a lot of smolts from the Kinloch on the first sweep but no fish on the second sweep. Most of us got stuck in the mud when trying to take the net out, much to Kate's amusement. A fair few sea trout were caught in the Kyle, all in good condition. Netting on the Polla and Laxford continues monthly and so far there have been lots of fish with varying numbers of sea lice. Some particularly good looking fish were found on the Polla including the recapture of J77 (sea trout) last seen seven years ago as a wee smolt, the oldest on our records. A beautiful fish! According to the scale reading we think she has spawned three times so will have a fair few offspring. Following the processing of all fish and tagging of sea trout as part of the ongoing sea trout project all fish are released back into the water. Many thanks for the help of all our many volunteers including Andrew and the polaris, without whom the netting would not be possible. Sweep netting is a lot of fun and if you are interested in helping please see the website (http://www.wsft.co.uk/) for details of upcoming times, any help is very much appreciated.

June was a busy month with the Scourie Detectives and an electrofishing demonstration in Achmelvich. Despite a lower turnout of people than hoped, the Scourie Detectives was a well received event introducing people to the amazing wildlife and geology of Scourie, and the role of the Gaelic language within the area. The Friday was a day for local school children to learn more about their environment and included a rock pool ramble and seaweed safari. A series of talks were given on the Friday evening followed by various nature walks, craft stalls and quizzes on the Saturday, all rounded off with a ceilidh. Overall people seemed to enjoy themselves and it was a good opportunity for the Trust to promote themselves. The electrofishing demonstration turned out to be very successful with four native species (salmon, trout, eel and minnow) found as well as several wee beasties from the freshwater invertebrate kick sampling.

Shona has recently completed her training in Aberdeen and is ready to start plankton sampling to monitor juvenile sea lice movements in Eddrachilles Bay. This will be part of the sea lice project in conjunction with SAMS and the fish farm so hopefully the fieldwork will begin soon.

Currently preparations are well underway for the Moy Games on the 3rd and 4th August where the West Sutherland Fisheries Trust will be sharing a stall with the Ness and Beauly Fisheries Trust. It is hoped that this will be a good opportunity to further promote the work of the Trust and to raise awareness of the importance of fish conservation. This annual event is very popular with a wide range of stalls and activities. It is well worth a visit if you are in the area and there will also be the opportunity to buy one of our lovely new Tee shirts and hats.

Over the next few days (assuming it rains) we will be pulling Himalayan Balsam at Nedd and Clashnessie as part of the control of invasive non native species. Fortunately there is a lot less this year due to the hard work of our volunteers last year. Kate has been monitoring mink tunnels and rafts around Scourie once a week on behalf of the Scottish Mink Initiative. So far there have only been a couple of prints thought to be pine marten and small rodents, good news for us. These rafts will be monitored throughout the season.

Hopefully the weather will improve after next week so we can continue with the electrofishing programme, however we cannot complain too much as it has been pretty good so far with few midges!

Glorious May

Sweep netting is finally well and truly underway, with the first sweep on the Polla and Kyle of Durness completed. Both the Laxford and Polla were spectacular - particularly the Polla where we had the biggest ever sweep for the system with about 180 fish, all in excellent condition. Unfortunately we were let down by the Kyle, where a couple of hard pulls resulted in no trout, although there was a nice collection of flatfish and brown shrimps! I think that this one might cost us in chocolate for the volunteers who went home tired and sore. Without their help we couldn't do the work so its a price worth paying.

The smolt traps were also successful and gave excellent data. We had a good mix of species and some lovely fish - and a few minnows which wasn't so good. These are non-native and haven't been seen in that part of the system before so unfortunately we're showing a spread. Both the traps are out of the water now and being re-vamped for next year. Thanks have to go to Scott for manfully building one trap and for his advice with the reconstruction of the other - Kate and Shona will be testing their joinery skills over the next few weeks!

Scourie Detectives are progressing well, with most of the planning now completed and all systems go for the 8th and 9th June. It should be a good weekend and fingers crossed that this weather continues and we have a good turnout. The Ceilidh in the evening  will bring out the troops anyway, and will be a great round-up. That's being organised by the Scourie Village Hall Committee, who have vast experience, and on past record will be well worth attending. Kate and Shona will be taking the hardy souls out to collect invertebrates and look in rockpools and basically learn as much as possible about the rivers and sea and why we should be looking after them.

Mr Clive Halnan, angler and artist, has kindly donated the proceeds of a limited edition print of the Gorm Track to Ben Stack, painted in acrylic on canvas to the Trust. He has also produced a greetings card of the same scene, also with proceeds to the Trust. Visit http://www.clivehalnan.co.uk/ to see and purchase the picture or cards, which are also on sale in Scourie Hotel. It is a lovely picture of a Sutherland scene and we are extremely grateful for his support and this kind and generous donation.

In addition to Scourie Detectives, June will also see us undertaking a couple of electrofishing demonstrations - one near Kinlochbervie and the other near Achmelvich. Done in conjunction with the Highland Council Ranger Service as part of their walks programme, we will be giving the public a chance to catch fish and sample invertebrates. If you're coming along on the 26th (KLB) or 28th (Achmelvich) then be sure to wear wellies and get involved.

Other than this, there will be the usual sweep netting surveys, with additional sites at the Kyle of Durness and Kinloch. If you're feeling fit then check out the website for times and locations (http://www.wsft.co.uk/) and come along to help. We're always grateful for assistance and are happy to discuss the work.

July will see the start of the electrofishing. Kate has now undertaken her Introductory Electrofishing Training and we're ready to go. Hopefuly the weather will be kind to Biologists this year (less so to Anglers but...) and we'll get a good run through the sites. It's always tricky trying to complete surveys when they're so weather dependent and Sutherland is reknowned for its rain, but we can but hope for dry with few clegs and midges! Again, if you're in the area then look out for us or get in touch and come along to help.

New beginnings

The past months since our last post have been busy. Sweep netting has started, although only one netting managed as a result of very high rivers, and the Annual Review is reaching completion. We have also been involved in checking a couple of rivers for potential small scale hydro-electric developments. Both schemes are small and unlikely to affect migratory salmonids, although brown trout and eels will have to be taken into consideration. While these schemes are still at an early stage of development, and are yet get planning permission, we'll keep you posted. It was great to get out of the office and see some rivers though!

The start of March saw Shona in the Kinlochbervie Fish Market eating fish and judging the adverts and displays produced by the local school children as part of 'Fish2Dish'. This project was undertaken over several months and involved the P6 - S2 pupils learning about the fishing industry, techniques used to catch them and how to cook different fish dishes. Working in teams they then had to devise a product, package it and market it to the judges. The standard was very high and the dishes imaginative and well prepared and packaged. As for the marketing - we have a new range of advertisement producers in the offing, with excellent, witty adverts tempting us to buy their product. Well done to all involved and we can look forward to next year when the emphasis will be salmon.

March also saw a trip down to Battleby for the RAFTS Conference. This was a joint venture with the Association of District Salmon Fishery Boards and involved a number of expert speakers on a range of topics - Policy and context; Genetics; Practical management and mitigation; Promoting access and use of fisheries. The day was well organised and the speakers excellent and informative. Full details are available on the RAFTS website (http://www.raft.org.uk/).

Organisation of 'The Scourie Detectives' is also underway. Working in conjunction with the Geopark and Community Council, this will be a 2 day event on the 8th and 9th June promoting the wildlife and landscape of the area. It will involve the schools before opening to the public for a series of talks and walks, ending with a Ceilidh on the Saturday night. Scourie is a unique area with a fasinating natural history and well worth a visit. If you're here, or planning a trip, make it for that weekend and learn about the fish, plants and geology of a lovely area.

April saw preparations for the Ghillies Seminar, held on Friday the 13th. A bad omen for the superstitious, this was a well attended event with some great speakers. The general theme was 'Fish Farm Interactions' and 'Stocking' and the speakers more than met the requirements. With 2 talks on genetics there was some concern that it would be over many peoples head but there was no need to worry and both speakers explained the subject clearly and well. As those talks were on work that was carried out in Sutherland, with one being the first airing of the results, it was perfect. The notes from the Seminar will be available on the website shortly.

The 13th also saw Kate Batchelor starting work with the Trust. Initially on a 7 month contract, it is hoped that this can be extended. Kate replaces Chris as assistant and will be heavily involved in field work around the area. Here's hoping for a good sampling summer.

In the coming weeks we will be starting smolt trapping in Badna Bay and Bhadaidh Daraich. Hopefully with greater success than last year, when the traps were washed out, this should give good information on the smolt runs within the area. In the case of Bhadaidh Daraich, this is monitoring the natural regeneration of the sea trout population within the system following the removal of blockages several years ago.

Sweep netting will also continue, as will the Himalayan Balsam pulling, probably in July. Here's hoping that we're successful with the eradication of this lovely, but highly invasive, plant. We're also building up to the electroofishing season - as syou can see a busy year in store.

The Annual Review will also be finished and posted, hopefully by mid May, and will give an indication of the results from the 2011 sampling season. As normal, it will be available as a PDF on the website when completed.

We can also be followed on Twitter (@WSFTrust) for more up to date postings, and will continue to Blog over the season.

Launch into 2012

2012 has started, and things are beginning to get hectic. The electofishing and sweep netting reports are now available on the Website (http://www.wsft.co.uk/) and the Annual Review progressing well. Now is the time to start preparing the coming work programme, and that is looking ever fuller.

Thanks to the hard work of SAMS, we will be involved in a 2 year project to look at juvenile sea lice and their movements within the bays. This will involve taking a series of plankton tows and counting the juvenile lice found. We'll also be comparing these results to the counts on the neighbouring farm. Ultimately the results will be used to help in the better development of a lice dispersal model and provide information to help in the placement of fish farm cages. An exciting opportunity for the Trust and some very useful work.

We're also starting to develop our educational work for the coming year. There will be the Ghillies Seminar on the 13th April - hopefully as there are no speakers confirmed yet! - followed by 'The Scourie Detectives' on the 8th & 9th June. If you can get to Scourie for that I would recommend it - a day for the schools followed by talks over a glass of wine on the Friday evening. Saturday is the family fun day, with guided walks and a range of stalls. You can get your lunch there as well, before heading to the Ceilidh in the evening for a bit of a knees up. Funding is still be sought but we're hopeful.

The Assynt Rangers have asked the Trust to do an electrofishing demonstration at Achmelvich on the 28th June. Come along and follow the 'ghost busters' as we catch the fish and kick up the invertebrates. Learn what's present in the rivers and talk to the Biologist. The Assynt Festival in October will also have a Trust presence, although the details are a bit sketchy just now. Its a week long festival, so lots to do.

Other than that, we'll still be electrofishing, sweep netting, trapping and pulling Himalayan Balsam if you're here and want to join us. Contact Shona to find out what's happening while you're in Sutherland as she's always happy to meet people and would love some vounteers.

To the end of 2011

Firstly, apologies for not posting before but in the absence of Chris things are getting busier.

September saw us attempting to get the rest of the electrofishing completed. We managed to complete one catchment, thanks to Iza, and undertook some electrofishing in another 2 which left 5 not touched. That wasn't too bad given the weather over the past 2 years and the number of catchments left to catch up on! Certainly there's a happy Biologist now. As well as that we managed to get some more genetic samples from the Laxford catchment. These will be tested for fish farm genes as part of the RAFTS Managing Interactions Project. More on that when the results come in.

The end of October saw the first ever SNH/RAFTS Invasive Non-native Species Conference. This was a really good meeting with thought provoking talks and some resulted in some good action points. Hopefully these will be followed through and the native Scottish environment given a helping hand. It will take some effort to ensure that the next Conference is better, so thanks to all for their time and effort in getting this going.

November was spent on Broodstock netting. The Laxford came first and the timing was perfect. It was fantastic to see the number of fish present and the size and condition. All of the broodstock and more were collected in one morning, with a large number missed by the backpacks. The fish were determined to move upstream or retain their territories despite the dropping water and us! The salmon were all in good condition and most were large. As normal the DNA was collected and this work forms part of the Reay Forest project to assess the effectiveness of the hatchery operation.

Unfortunately that was where the luck ended and while a call be the Inver team for help with their broodstock collection saw several attempts in freezing conditions, we drew a blank. All attempts were then cancelled as the fish started to spawn naturally in order to avoid walking over the redds.

Unfortunately November also saw a repeat of the pollution incident reported in August. Yet more communications with SEPA and SNH were undertaken in a bid to get the issue sorted. We live in hope that the farm will get itself sorted and that there will be no repeats next year. However it is for SEPA to enforce and we can only monitor and report.

December saw the Fishy Fayre at Kinlochbervie High School. Part of the Fish2Dish programme and involving P6 - S2 pupils, a range of people from the fishing industry attended to give talks and demonstrations on their area. The subjects covered were wide ranging, from navigation, dressing up in specialist diving and fishing gear, knots, cooking, fish identification, dissection, ageing and product design. By all accounts this was a great day and enjoyed by all. The Trust gave several talks on fish ageing - and Shona then lost her voice!! - which introduced a few potential future scale readers. There was an amazing amount of skill involved for a first attempt. The remainder of the project will involve the children operating in groups to prepare a dish, design the packaging and sell it to the audience. Good luck to them and congratulations to Steph and Katy for a successful project.

Other than that it has been a round of meetings and report writing. The eletrofishing and sweep netting reports are coming on well and will hopefully be finished at the start of the year. As in previous years the reports will be published on the Website (http://www.wsft.co.uk/) as they become available. In the meantime we have posted the reports on the Geisgeil eel project and a project describing a protocol to monitor elver recruitment. Again, these can be accessed via the Website.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the many people who have given up their time to help the Trust over 2011. Without these volunteers the Trust would not be able to operate and they are definitely the unsung but not unappreciated arm of Sutherland.

Merry Christmas to all our readers and a very Happy New Year. Tight lines for 2012!

A final fling

August has been a mixed month as we tried to get as much filed work completed as we could before saying goodbye to Chris. Unfortunately the weather wasn't particularly kind and as such only 3 catchments were completed - that still leaves a difficult 8 to try and finish before the end of September. Still, we managed to do the netting, which was good fun.

The Laxford came first and we had a good number of helpers which made for an easy pull. Oh, that we could have that situation every month!! Fish numbers weren't too good, although that wasn't too surprising following the recent rain which would have enabled the fish to move up into the river. They were, however, a bit thin, although not many lice. However, they all swam off happily after tagging and we'll hopefully meet them again in the future. As a first, however, we had a number of sandeels within the sweep, as well as a good number of other prey species.

The Polla, in contrast, had a catch of decent looking, fat fish. One had been gorging on so many cuddies that its stomach was rock hard and the prey could be felt through its sides! The differences observed between the two areas never fails to amazes us - especially as there was less prey fish within the sweep than seen in the Laxford. Maybe the fish had eaten them all.....

Otherwise time was spent at the computer trying to get to grips with the new electrofishing database. A great tool devised on behalf of the Scottish Fisheries Coordination Centre, there are teething problems with the database and the operator that need sorted out. Hopefully everything is now sorted and report writing will progress smoothly, or as smoothly as possible given the operator!

Unfortunately we also had to deal with a pollution incident in one of the catchments. Having communicated with SEPA, we hope that the problem has been addressed but will continue to monitor the situation now and in the future.

Chris, on the other hand, spent much of the time collecting equipment together and writing eel reports. The 29th August saw him hand everything over and prepare to leave the area. We would like to take this opportunity to wish him all the best in his new role in England. It won't be as good I'm sure - oh hang on, no midges, clegs, ceds, or other biting things, probably better! Joking aside, he brought a lot to the Trust and will be missed so all the best.

Looking forward to September we can only hope that it dries up a bit and we can get the rest of the electrofishing and netting completed. Iza is lined up to help with the electrofishing but with Irene in the mix we'll have to be very lucky. It has been better than last year, and we've already completed 350% more catchments so won't complain, but keep your fingers crossed for us.

Sampling continues

The last few weeks have been mixed, with a bit of rain at the beginning calling a halt to the electrofishing for a few days. Still, we've managed to get another couple of catchments finished which is great. The Rhiconich was definitely an effort, but thanks to Reay Forest for the lift out to the top sites we only had to walk down rather than both ways - for which we were both extremely grateful! An otter bolting out from the bank gave Chris a bit of a fright - not expected - but great to see and a bit of excitement as we stumbled around the hills. The Inver was slightly easier walking, although only a little, but gave us good fish densities and fun with the netting. No otters seen there, but a few salmon moved as we headed towards the sites.

We also had a few days gardening - pulling Himalayan Balsam from a croft in Nedd. Himalayan Balsam is an annual, non-native plant brought in as an ornamental. It's a lovely looking plant and a favourite with bee keepers but can have devastating effects on the riverbanks, where it spreads and forms a dense monoculture. This blocks light to other plants and then when it dies back in the winter leaves bare ground susceptible to erosion.

Thanks to the volunteers who turned up with gloves, scythe and boundless enthusiasm. We managed to clear a fair bit before getting Howard in with the strimmer to help with some of the thicker stands. Looking at the areas pulled last year, there was a big difference in the amount of plants present and hopefully we'll be able to eradicate it from the area in the next few years. We also looked at the stands in Clashnessie, which were pulled by others this year. Again, there is a reduction in the amount present compared to previous years, although eradication here is unlikely unless it can be removed from the resident garden. Heavy negotiation required there....

The end of last week saw us at the Highland Sporting Fair, or Moy games. We were sharing a stall with the Ness & Beauly Fisheries Trust and managed to get in some serious networking. It was good to get out and about, talking about the Trusts and introducing people to what we do. As well as the posters and leaflets we also showed the electrofishing gear as well as a mink raft and crayfish trap. The mink raft came complete with 'Dave' the latest NBFT employee - a cuddly 'mink'. He was a great draw, especially with the children, and it was encouraging to see that a good number of the keepers realised that he was really a pine marten (although there was some debate about otter cubs, still neither are for eradication).

Unfortunately this period also saw Chris handing in his notice as he plans to head for pastures new and fewer midges! He will be missed within the Trust but hopefully we'll get this sampling season cracked before he has to leave.