Spot the Poacher - latest sighting

We'd like your help to report sightings of a particular type of poacher who seems to elude the best efforts of our Bailiffs. We're not being geo-political here, but we are talking about the American Mink. It's over here and it's not wanted. You may have heard of the successful eradiction of most of the Mink from the Norfolk Broads, and there's a campaign to drive them from the Eastern part of the country. That doesn't include Kent at the moment, but that's why we need your help. If we can compile enough reports of sightings (and who better than our members to do so), then we may be able to get some assistance and action to help eradicate them in this area.

For more details, you can visit the website of The Waterlife Recovery Trust

https://www.waterliferecoverytrust.org.uk/.

There you will find lots more about Mink, and the destruction they cause, especially to Water Voles, Kingfishers, Water Fowl, young birds, and of course our fish. I've actually seen one with Grayling in its mouth, along with lots more sightings over the years, and two separate ones on different beats in the last two weeks.

The site has a reporting form if you want to use that, but we've been asked to collate reports ourselves, so to make it much easier, you can simply add a note to the Comments field in your Catch Return. Remember that you should complete a Return every time you fish the river (or Reservoir) whether you catch anything or not, but this is one more reason to submit one. Just say which Beat it was on, and whereabouts, plus time of day, and any other comments you think might be helpful.

I will then collate the sighting reports and send them off and maybe we can get some action started. Watch this space.

Cheers

PeterB

You may like to see the attached video of a|Mink spotted on the berm just below Grayling Alley on Beat 3B https://photos.app.goo.gl/NQamKHN1p813wCyE8. David filmed it and when it casually sauntered away, he found the remains of a half-eaten Rainbow where it had been seen. Now, it could have been a dead Rainbow that the Mink just happened to find, and he was clearing up the litter like a good riverside citizen. Hopefully he'll continue to get disturbed there and move on to some other neighbourhood. Thanks David M.