Thursday 4 November 2010

The Salmon have come home to their birthplace

Thurs. 4th Nov.2010
                            Yesterday was a mild and wet autumn day and in the last two weeks autumn seems to have given way to early winter.With all the heavy rain that's fallen the Salmon and Sea Trout have managed to reach the place of their birth in the many small streams high in the Pennines around the Lancashire and Yorkshire border. At the weir on Swanside beck several Salmon and Sea Trout managed to ascend the weir, which has now been made easier with the wood constructed  easement  in place, this enables the fish to rest and shelter in the wooden sheltered bays out of the strong force of the current. Along Twiston and Ings beck many of the gravelly stretches and pools had Salmon and Sea Trout in them and on the fast flowing gravelly stretches fish were paired up and starting to spawn, it's years since I've seen so many fish present on these two small becks
                It's been a privilege to be able to watch these fish spawning at the end of their long journey back from the ocean off the east coast of Greenland and any photos that I've taken don't do justice to the wonderful natural events that are and will be taking place in the next couple of weeks.
          I'm sorry the photos are so poor, the difficult locations, the very low light levels and slow shutter speeds have all been against me, but if you use a bit of imagination and screw up your eyes you will probably see some sort of image.
                                        Swanside beck


                                  The weir at Swanside beck




                           The wood constucted easement fish pass

                                          The shelter bays

                        Salmon resting in one of the sheltered bays









                                                  Ings beck




                                    Spawning in Twiston beck




 














                                              






1 comment:

  1. It's an amazing journey and good to know there were so many fish this year. I enjoyed the photos as there is nothing like that around here.

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