A late Great Crested Grebe brood, on Meadow Lake. This year has seen grebe nesting and rearing young out in the middle of the meadow shown above. Several syndicate members have asked in recent days if I knew of any intention to have a memorial for Chris Ball. I also know that many friends of Chris, other than syndicate members, have expressed a similar desire.

It would perhaps be a fitting way to establish the memorial for Chris, if on completing the setting-up, we have an informal gathering at the lakes. Hopefully we will be in a position to notify those who have supported the fund of a date around late May or early June. At that time the lakes will hopefully be looking well and the carp may join us on the surface in the Lagoon to raise a glass to Chris. I could have written this next piece yesterday in that "Mr Consistent" Stephen Hutchinson, landed a fresh 2SW fish of thirteen pounds today. Well fished Stephen. I also believe Gary had a fresh eighteen pound fish from Bisterne today, well done Gary, well fished. There have also been several fish seen and lost today, so there are fish in the river. At this point I should say and I'm sure it won't come as much of a surprise to most regular readers, I was very much against the privatisation of the water companies. Once market forces and the over riding concern becomes the pursuit of profit, the environment goes out the window. Plenty of sound bites and lip service yet the top priority remains the share dividend. So what you may say is the point of me moaning about it on here if I refuse to get involved. Quite right. I have no solutions and given the current level of our leadership feel matters will only get worse. I've just received a call from Paul Greenacre to let me know he has also opened his account today, in the form of another twenty pounder. Hopefully Paul will send me a pic and a little more detail later.Southern Marsh and Common Spotted Orchids growing beside the lakes. There were over one hundred and seventy Common Spotted in this one fifty meter length of margins A spot of advice, should you ever find yourself with occasion to be wading about out in the middle of a flooded valley. Importantly, always, always, have a wading staff with you. Two or three hundred meters from the nearest feature, that is above the surface, it is very easy to become disorientated. A stout staff allows you the opportunity to take a rest and get your bearings. The water may only be a couple of feet deep but it is flowing rapidly so keep an eye upstream to avoid being swept off your feet by passing flotsam. Out in that vast sweep of water there are many ditches and channels that have to be avoided, which is were your staff once more becomes vital. Don't take a step unless you have tested the ground where you intend to put your foot. We spent a very productive morning removing the wind blown willow that had fallen across the main channel above the hatch gates at Ibsley. The first photo I put up the other day, when I said I hoped to get them cleared in the near future. Pleasingly, with the aid of our winch, JCB and a couple of chainsaws, Kevin, Phil, Adam and I managed to get them out. They had been acting as screens for all the floating debris and weed over recent months so as well as the large trees we had several tons of rubbish to clear in an effort to prevent it heading off downstream. Today we only removed the major obstructions, leaving over fifty meters of woody debris, where it only came less than half way across the channel, to ensure plenty of cover remained for the fish that had become accustomed to its presence. The Ibsley weirpool, Ibsley and Tizard's salmon pools and the view of the bridge from the hatches. Showing the water flowing over the bund.

Despite the pouring rain this is a nice shot of Karl with a fine male tench. He also had three or four nuisance fish to about thirty pounds and definitely an improvement on the terrapin he landed in, No Carp Corner, recently. I'm sure many on the syndicate who knew Charlie Orchard will be sad to hear, after a short illness, he has sadly passed away. Almost a fixture in the "Aquarium" and the tail of "Tizards" I will miss our regular chats when our paths crossed. As I will miss his little blue Honda parked at the bridge. Rest assured he will still be a part of the the Ibsley atI can't say I was overly upset at the prospect of a days heavy rain preventing further clearing. After three days swinging a chainsaw my aches and pains were beginning to tell and besides, we always need rain for the river. With my planned day cancelled I took the opportunity to visit some of the areas I have been neglecting of late. The problem with such a day is that I always end up adding to an already lengthy job list as I find tasks in need of urgent attention. I'm sure many readers will be pleased to see Chris remembered in this way and may wish to donate toward the memorial. John Slader and I are happy to collect any donations toward the cost and keep you all informed as to progress. Paul has kindly sent through a video clip showing the release of his fish. Many thanks Paul and congratulations on a super fish.

It came as quite a surprise to me the number of different fungi the group found in just a couple of hours. The link below will open a list that Mark has kindly produced showing the number and variety. He also tells me there were one or two more they have been unable to ID successfully. Its amazing that the weird and wonderful world of fungi can be found right under our nose. A flavour of the variation can be seen in the photos below that Mark also very kindly sent through, for which I thank him once more. As it was the first day of spinning, with us, I thought I better clip out the Bridge Pool and the weirpool. I always leave them until this time as they are not recognised fly water and it also discourages the idiots that think its a public footpath. Thank you Hants CC. From the bridge it still looks as if the weirpool isn't accessible, which is deliberate for the reason above. The areas of the weirpool that are worth spinning have been clipped out. I didn't wade the small outlet stream and clear the other side as I didn't have waders on. Anyone wishing to fish the tail of the weirpool would do better to wade that small section anyway. Don't ignore the last few feet of the retrieve alongside the Water Dropwort that is shading the first four or five feet of the water. In bright conditions fish love to lay up under this margin covering, only showing on the final seconds of the retrieve. That's hot off the keyboard, without me having proof read it, so it may contain a few fliers. Bear with me, I'll have a look through it later.We seem to be struggling on the salmon front for the last few weeks. Why this should be, when we are enjoying good flows and almost at the peak of the season, I have no idea. Are they running and passing straight through us, into the higher river? Is there an element such as; temperature, air pressure, water quality, a factor lost on us but not on the salmon? Or are they simply not here because the last Spring tides of April failed to encourage any fish to enter the river? Whatever the reason I hope they soon get it out of their system and return to normal patterns of migration and numbers we might expect.

The river coarse season is underway, the Meadow complex is open and the salmon season remains closed. I'll try and put some meat on those bare bones over the weekend, as I discover what has been landed. I imagine the start on both lakes and river has been slow today, with the blazing sun sending everything and everybody in search of shade. Regular readers will know of my fascination with the vast numbers of mollusc shells that make up a large percentage of the silt banks on the inside of river bends. The recent floods have piled further huge volumes of shells on the banks, along with a frustrating volume of rubbish. This is the downside of the welcome floods that clean out the detritus and silt from our rivers. It may have been beaten to the first of the year in the garden by the dafs but the Winter Hellebore is now putting on a brave show. The gales tumbled several large oaks the one above dangerously caught up and hanging over the road. A little assistance from the machine resolved the problem allowing us to safely clear the road.

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A day to go before the salmon season swings into action and a look at the water height this morning as I came in alongside the river. Its all very much a river for the brave and careful. Whilst the water is dropping, as can be seen Dog Kennel and Park Pool remain extremely challenging. On a brighter note the water clarity is amazing with the bed visible in eight to ten feet of water ensuring your fly or spinner will be seen by any fish that await us. The volume of water also has the advantage that fish will not be held up down at the bottom of the river ensuring fish in the system will reach us without any barriers to passage. As an extra straw to clutch at, in 2016, when we faced similarly high water, Colin landed a sparkling twenty plus fish on the opening day. Tightlines and I hope to see you on the bank in the coming weeks. It would seem catching salmon is not David's only talant, the photos he sent through with his report would suggest he also has an eye for the beauty of our valley. When I left for the coast just after five this morning my max/min in the garden was showing zero degrees, the photos show it was several hours later that the frost and mist eventually cleared the valley. Hooray! At long last Roger has got her. One of at least four ghosts that are in the lake, this one had been ignoring all attempts to get her for weeks; this season and last. No idea how they got in the lake, they've been in here for years, probably as long as that bloody terrapin that Karl landed the other day, its first capture of the season! What I can say for certain about Roger's carp is that she weighed twenty two pounds and is most definitely yellow. Well fished Roger, perseverance rewarded. Feeding on teasels as no buddlia is available. It does seem odd that the food supply most saught after we cannot plant on the lakes. I can't quite get my head around that. Change is coming, in more ways than the arrival of one or two buddlia bushes and any help we can provide for the struggling butterfly population. When counting butterflies, do those that are feeding on buddlia get included on the count sheet? The bream were spawning today and the carp were doing their best to eat the eggs adhering to the roots of the willow.