Tuesday, 3 November 2009

Autumn run of the Salmon







               
Mon. Nov. 2nd 09


   After the heavy rain and gales yesterday the weather is kinder today  but colder 7c. The heavy rain has brought the level of the Lancashire River Calder up 2 feet and this encourages the Salmon and Sea trout to move upstream to their spawning grounds in the higher reaches of the river but there is one big problem.....  and it's here at Padiham Weir, the weir is too high and until the environment agency and river authority do something about it (there is talk of a fish pass) this is as far the fish can ascend, its frustrating and sad to watch these fish constantly leaping to clear the lip of the weir only to be washed down again onto the stone sill at the base of the weir.

         The shutter on my small digital still camera doesn't respond quick enough to capture the fish leaping out of the water so the images of the fish are movie frames from my video camera. 
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2 comments:

  1. Alcester nature photography.5 November 2009 at 14:53

    Good pics of the fish leaping & a thought provoking article, do the fish manage to get up if the river levels rise higher, I assume they do.
    Cheers Colin.

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  2. Orchids and Nature5 November 2009 at 22:14

    COlin
    THe river would have realy have to have a massive flood for the fish to have the necessary depth of water over the stone sill at the base of the weir to gain momentum to leap clear the weir.
    I've been at a smaller weir higher up the river but I've yet to see a Salmon there.

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