Me and Del walked the Erewash today armed with a white tray, bucket, magnifying glass, turkey baster, camera, fine mesh landing net and our chest waders. Our intentions were to take kick samples above and below all inlets to the river and along its length, paying special attention to the sewerage plant. The kick sample is a method of checking the health of the river by checking what invertabrates are lying in the river bed - this is done by scraping the gravel on the riverbed with your feet, while holding your net downstream to catch everything being thrown up by the disturbance, especially any creepy crawlies. Then tip the contents of the net onto a white tray for inspection, using a baster and a magnifying glass you inspect for any signs of life. Below are some pictures of our findings all of which were found in numbers.
Water Louse
Shrimp
Caddis Larvae
All the above point towards a healthy river system so its fingers crossed until a team from the EA turn up. They will give there opinion on the possibilities or the Erewash being restored to a great trout stream once again.
No comments:
Post a Comment