One Step at a Time

We arrived at 10am and began to congregate in the car park next to the river at the Royal Avenue entrance to the Erewash. After a couple of phone calls to guide the stragglers into the car park, we all began getting ready for the job at hand. The forecast was good and the river low and clear, so perfect conditions to search the river bed for undesirable aliens that need removing.

The River Erewash Foundation soon got stuck into work on its 3rd section of river we've called the Long Eaton stretch. Although most usual suspects couldn't make it, we still had a good turn out and soon got cracking around the railway bridges where most debris had settled. We soon made an impact and began moving upstream chasing a few specimen pike and chub along the way.

Pip Russell below kept a Sharp eye on the debris piles being left by us and was definitely on her best behaviour as she'd have sooner been ratting for sure. After admiring some of the graffiti and the effort it must of took, we moved away from the huge industrial train bridges, lasting signs of days gone bye, and waded into the more slow quiet tree lined stretches away from mankind.

Nobody actually took a dip today although there were a few stumbles along some of the man made sections, especially with the large boulders scattered along the bank side, not ideal for wading but like Del boy always says "he who dares wins, Rodney" well he did yesterday. Some inquisitive locals came for a chat, dog walkers, cyclists and a few youngsters who were following us around with some interest.

These wild roses along the riverbank were truly stunning, especially as we got closer and I'm sure you'll agree worthy of a photo in all there glory. I can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen anything as beautiful growing along a riverbank albeit alien or not. We began to slow down and decided we'd done enough so we headed back to the cars for refreshments while setting up the fishing tackle for a couple of hours trotting.

This pic below was the finishing point for the REF working party today and I hope you too see the potential in this little river, with habitat improvements and a few dedicated organisations and partnerships, and most of all, guardians buy the dozen, in the shape of the River Erewash Foundation.

We all began fishing and caught loads of species in numbers such as dace, chub, roach, perch, gudgeon and millions of fat minnows, no wonder we have kingfishers darting about everywhere.

Sadly we didn't encounter any trout or small grayling that we stocked last year but there's plenty of time for one or two special appearances yet - watch this space. We have REF data sheets now to get records of anglers catches along the river and should you not wish to be a member, the REF would appreciate any anglers being prepared to record there catches on the Erewash. Contact me through blog for data sheets and you can post if you wish to remain anonymous for whatever reason or google rivererewashfoundation.