New Fisheries team for Claines!

The Fisheries team arrived at Claines today, Monday 10th July ready for another hard day strimming, digging and cutting back. This has been a difficult location in past years due to the abundant growth of nettles and fields full of waist high grass.

We were surprised to be met with the fields all nicely trimmed and the banks with hardly a nettle in sight, all we had to do was cut back the trees and bushes where required.

Had some of our members been out doing some secret strimming? No! It is due to the dozen or so Dexter cows that now reside in the fields alongside our Claines Fishery. They have eaten their way through all the grass and nettles and when we started cutting back some rather prickly hawthorn trees they were there eating (rather carefully) the leaves off our cuttings.

Access has also been improved with abundant stiles giving easy access from the tow path across the fields to our fishery on the Salwarpe and Severn. The Dexter cows are small and friendly. and have not churned up the banks, this is probably due to their small size and the dry summer, but beware of the cowpats!

As a result we are considering co-opting the Dexters into the Fisheries team for Claines.