There's no Fool ......

..... like an old fool, they say, and we had a whole bunch of them down at the river today to celebrate their special day - April Fool's day! Seriously, who would spend the best part of the day digging more steps at Share Farm and pinning trees into the river? Well, Andy, Chris, David, Ian, Keith, Matt, Niall, Nigel and I did just that today, and very enjoyable it was too, enhanced by the usual coffee and doughnuts, and some lovely home-made fennel-flavoured sausage rolls from Ian.

We spotted a pair of Tree-Creepers a few yards away from us, and several rising trout, possibly chasing Olives or Caddis. The river was remarkably low - only 19cm, which is rather too low, but the River Level Gauge at Stonebridge has been a bit erritic lately, as you may have noticed, and that may be reflecting fluctuations in the amount of water being pumped from Bewl at Smallbridge. They are preparing for a test of their new overflow siphon system that's finally completed at Bewl (see Blog item Sept 23) so it may be that they're mucking about with the flow as a result. Of course we haven't had much rain for a while either, and that has helped improve the clarity of the water, so it was pretty good today - upstream of where we were working anyway.

I have to say, there is a very impressive number of new and renovated steps, and new ladders up and down the river, ready for this season - probably more and better than ever before. The work has been going on all Winter between work-parties, and we all owe a great debt to Nigel in particular, and his occasional helpers including Keith, Matt, Dexter (and even me).

Only last week week we were working the last of several sessions on a spot on 3a where an enormous dead Ash had fallen right on top of the newly repaired steps. It took several days to move and cut up the tree (some of which is now deflecting the current) and to rebuild the steps yet again.

Make sure you explore all the usual beats and new spots, but not before Friday 3rd April of course, and watch out for new holes and dips in the riverbed, if you're wading. Even if you know the river really well, you'll find some surprises.

Finally, you'll know that we have a new WhatsApp group set up for this season, for sharing tips and info on flies etc, and for passing on old and unwanted kit. If you want to join the group, just send your mobile number and membership number and email address to qh@pbqh.co.uk and you'll be added to the group. Please bear in mind that you should only use this for stuff that other members will want to know about, and keep it brief and relevant. Above all, always remember that any reply will go to everyone in the group, so think before you send one, and don't annoy everyone with meaningless and banal trivia - that's my job in the blog :-)

It looks like being a great start to the season, with great river conditions and lots of new members, so please be helpful to any members you meet, and make them feel welcome.

Tight Lines

PeterB