Fancy a dip? (+new pics)

The river temp was a balmy 20.1 degrees today, so nice enough to cool off and warm enough to attract swimmers. This was the scene on the big pool above the 'Iron Bridge' at Share Farm today.

Some passers-by thought it was someone retrieving a stuck fly, but in fact it was Nigel trying to release a load of brash stuck in a very deep pool. This was the final stage of one of our two major work-party tasks today, cutting back the willow on the left bank of that very big pool. Keith and his trusty bow-saw plus a pole-saw, along with Peter S, and Andy building an excellent habitat pile, cleared away a huge number of overhanging willows as you'll see when you next cross the bridge.

Some of them got stuck in an eddy where it was far too deep to wade, so Nigel swam out and balanced on them and managed to free up most of them. The rest of us were very supportive and prepared to video and then catch him as he drifted downstream.

Meanwhile, further up the same field, just above the very big inaccessible pool on the bend, the rest of us installed some dead trees to create a new bank.

This should open up a new stretch, or rather, an old one that was getting very difficult to access.

We also cut back some particularly annoying willows in a pool further up, that were making it impossible to cast to a normally productive spot. Once again Nigel tested the limits of wading even without waders to reach the branches, and made a very good job of it. That makes three new fishing opportunities on that beat, all in one morning's work.

Not only had Nigel planned all these tasks, identifying where and how we could salvage the logs, but he also provided a great selection of chilled drinks, to complement the fresh healthy greengages kindly supplied by Keith, and we also enjoyed the equally healthy doughnuts as usual.

Many thanks to Andy, Dexter, Ian, Keith, Nigel, Paul D, Peter S, and Trevor, for the great work, and to Ian for the extra Pics.

Cheers

Peter B