BAA Fisheries Team diary 2019

January

Pershore right bank;

Built wooden steps down the bank for all platforms where required in the meadow and alongside the wood.

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Grimley, meadow upstream of car park

Carrying out a major cut back of trees on the river bank. This work is ongoing and expected to be completed late Jan/early Feb.

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Eardington, Brook Section 1.

Replacement of timber bridge across gully in footpath a few yards downstream of the iron bridge over Mor Brook. Also some steps put in place on steep parts of this track further down towards the stile.

We also found a large tree has fallen down the bank into the river by the stile between the wooded area and first downstream meadow. We will deal with this when we return in the close season to carry our strimming.

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Barton

Started work at Barton on on a cold and frosty morning. We have started repairing and building platforms and steps and cutting back the trees near the platforms to make them more fishable. We plan to be back with more timber next Wednesday 6th February to finish the job.

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Apperley Pools

The stocking of Pool 2 with 500 bream and 300 tench has just been completed. The fish all looked in good condition. We deliberately chose bream and tench in the hope and expectation that they would remain in the pool when the Severn floods over it's bank into these pools.

 

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February

Barton

Finished platform, steps build/repair and tree trimmimg. All pegs from car park to weir now fishable with easy access down the bank.

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Grimley, meadow upstream of car park

Continued the major cut-back of trees we started in January. The cut-back has reached almost to the wooded area at the upstream end of the meadow. We currently have not planned more visits, it will probably take two days to complete this meadow and considereable time if we cut our way through the wood and tackle meadow 3 at the upstream end of the fishery.

 

Pools weed treatment

Colin and Spud of the Fisheries team have commenced treatment of our pools with Dyofix to control weed growth. Dyofix is a harmless blue dye which controls some weed varieties by reducing the light that reaches them. Mythe and Stubbs have had the first treatment with a repeat in July. We don't do Apperley, as Dyofix does not work on the type of weeds there.

Pictured below is Spud putting the weed treatment into Stubbs, looks like we need to reduce the dose judging by the colour of the swan (joke)!

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March

Birds Meadow

First work party for spring 2019, weather forecast not good but we only had a couple of showers and the temperature was mild so a good day for working. Saw a red kite and kestrel over the field on the opposite bank.

We repaired platforms and steps and cut back trees starting at the upstream end of the meadow, we did not manage to finish all the pegs as we ran out of timber, so we are back in a couple of weeks on the 20th March to finish the job. 

The farmer at Ripple had requested we put a BAA combination lock on the second gate as you enter Ripple (Sleeper Bridge), Colin our lock man had one handy in his vehicle so fitted it as we worked at Birds. The purpose of the lock is to prevent access for dog walkers as the farmer is planning to put sheep on the flood bank.

Whilst we were at Birds local bailiff John turned up with a metal farm gate in his trailer for us, we are planning to fit this next Wednesday to the goal posts across the access track at Erdington Brook Section. This is to try and prevent vans/trucks having access to our car park and dumping stuff such as builders rubbish.

Upper Severn bailiff Mike and his wife Ann also arranged the replacement of the stile in the car park at Maesydd giving access to the track to the river.

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Eardington Brook Section

Colin, Spud and Dave visited Eardington early on Wednesday 13th March to fit a gate across the entrance to the car park. the gate is locked with a BAA combination lock, please close and lock the gate on entry and exit. This has been done because of the large amount of fly tipping in the car park.

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Nordley Pool 3

As well as fitting the gate at Eardington the team had also planned to remove a fallen tree from the river and do some work on the track along the bank. Due to the Severn being up about 7 feet we decided to visit Nordley instead to burn up branches we had trimmed from the trees on the far side of pool 3 last year. Due to the recent heavy rain the pools had some extra water and colour. Spring is getting going there with primroses in bloom.

Buzzards were active around the pools and the canada geese making a lot of noise, signs that the birds are starting to pair up for the breeding season.

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Nordley Pool 1

Burned up tree branches that were cut down last year alongside pool 1. We also cut back a lot of the trees on the edge of the dam between pools 1 & 2 that a lot of anglers get caught up in when fishing the pegs at the top of pool 2 and casting close to the dam, hopefully less lost tackle!

As were were working on the spring equinox (20th March), it felt like spring had arrived, the sun was warm, large carp could be seen cruising around pool 1, mating toads could be seen in the car park and pools and 5 buzzards were circling over the fishery.

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Back at pool 1 on the 27th March to refit the gate across the entrance to the car park and to do more burning up around pool 1.

The original gate was refitted on new posts (railway sleepers, they are heavy!) and a wooden post fence put up either side of the gate to stop vehicles driving around it. Shrubs were planted alongside the fence, and a gap left for walkers using the foot path that crosses our car park.

 

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April

 

Birds Meadow

Wednesday 3rd April, we were back repairing and building steps and platforms and trimming the nearby trees.

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Grimley

Back on Wednesday 10th April continuing the cutting back of trees overhanging the river on the upstream meadow bank.

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Dinmore on the river Lugg

The owners of the land alongside our fishery at Dinmore had requested we fit a pedestrian access gate from the road to our fishery as anglers had been damaging the fence gaining access.

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On Friday 12th April, Colin and Spud fitted a pedestrian gate.

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With steps down the bank!

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What a lovely and little used fishery (parking can be difficult).

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A map of the fishery and where the gate was fitted.

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Birds Meadow

Back at Birds on Wednesday 18th to finish off the platform/step repairs and tree trimming. A nice day, warm in the afternoon, saw a couple of swallows flying up river.

John on the thumper!

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Pulling a branch out of the Severn.

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Aberbechan

Mike Wood our local bailiff has arranged for a local contractor to build a track to an additional car park in the upstream field between the Severn and the canal. This will give improved access to the fishery and also the new stretch towards Penarth Weir. Work has started.

Contractors vehicles in the existing car park.

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Scrubbing out the hedge ready for the new access.

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The start of the new track from opposite the existing car park gate.

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Grimley

Back at Grimley on Wednesday 24th, this time cutting back trees and digging out steps in the downstream section between the car park and the start of Retreat Farm. We got almost all the way to Retreat Farm, but the forcast heavy rain arrived so we stopped with 2 or 3 more pegs to do, we will finish these when we strim Retreat or Grimley.

Heard my first cukkoo this year and house martins had arrived.

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May

 

Ripple

Wednesday 1st and 8th May at Ripple repairing platforms and steps and cutting back trees near to the pegs, should have brought a couple of strimmers as the vegetation around the steps and platforms has really started to grow.

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Bolehall

Thursday 9th May, two of us at Bolehall strimming the bank and trimming the trees.

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Aberbechan

Wednesday 15th May, the annual long trip to our water highest up the Severn. This year, as well as doing the usual strimming and cutting back, we built gates to the new car park, inset from the road so that members can park and unlock/open the gates without blocking the road.

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Spud, Paul and Dave, part of the Fisheries team and Mike and Ann Wood our local bailiffs who also organised the build of the new car park.

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The finished gate to the new car park.

 

Nordley car park pool 4

Friday 17th Fisheries visited to install a gate on the track to the car park alongside pool 4. The gate is situated on the track after it turns off the main track past pool 6, it is fitted with a BAA combination lock. We now have both car parks at Nordley protected with locked gates. Please leave the gates locked when entering and leaving the fishery.

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Paul and Spud leaning on the gate, Colin took the picture.

 

Ladyham, Ripple & Birds Meadow

Monday 20th one of the Fisheries teams visited Ladyham to strim the pegs, dig out the steps and do any necessary cut-back. It was a glorious sunny day, we heard cuckoos and tawny owls doing twit-twoos, and saw a couple of sparrow hawks and of course buzzards. We also had a spot of excitement, one of the team shouted that he could see a large fish in the shallows near to the bank, it was a large carp in the 10-15lb range enjoying laying in the shallow water with the sun on its back.

The other team strimmed Birds Meadow and Ripple, a big job.

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Dennis lurking in the undergrowth at Ladyham cutting back the trees.

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The large carp we spotted at Ladyham, it's not very clear due to reflection but you can just make it out.

 

Nordley, Barton & Bidford RB

Wednesday 22nd again a lovely sunny day, one the the teams visited Nordley, we strimmed all the pegs on all 6 pools, the top car park and the track to the lower car park plus cut backs as required, we also removed a fallen tree in pool 6. We were all aching after a busy and long day.

The other team strimmed Barton and Bidford RB, they also checked downstream bank access access at Bidford.

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Nordley pool 2.

 

Arley Harbour Inn and Pensham

On Monday 27th one team visited Arley Harbour Inn to strim, dig out and cut back the pegs in the two meadows. Being a bank holiday it was busy with plenty of walkers along both banks. While working I noticed a largish white and black animal walking along the top of the SVR embankment at the back of the meadow. It was white all over with a black patch in the middle, it walked like a cat but looked large for your average moggie!!

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LH picture shows swim at Arley after we had removed a large tree that had fallen across it. 

I always have trouble remembering where the turning off the B4194 for the Harbour Inn is in Button Oak, and always used a white house on the corner of the turning as a marker. Be warned the white house has now been painted grey as the RH picture above shows.

 

The other team visited Pensham, as the field had not been cut it was hard work, they managed to do all the pegs in meadows 1,2 & 3 but not the wooded bank area, that will rescheduled.

 

Blackstone, Wick and Pershore RB

On Wednesday 29th one of the teams visited Blackstone to strim, dig out and cut back the pegs in both meadows, we ran out of energy late on a grey wet day and did not manage to strim the access track, this will be rescheduled. But it was a real pleasure to see plenty of swallows, house martins, sand martins and swifts flying low over the river to catch the insects.

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The LH picture above shows how much the trees in the plantation at Blackstone have grown, you would now have trouble walking through it.

The RH picture shows flowers growing on the Blacksone river bank.

 

The other team strimmed Wick and Pershore RB.

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The LH picture shows the the weir at Wick with the new eel pass build into it.

The RH picture shows Spud strimming his way from the footbridge to the pegs at Wick.

 

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The three picture above show progress in strimming a peg at Pershore RB, from where is it? To halfway, to completed.

 

June

 

Bidford LB, Marlciff, Cleeve Prior car park, Retreat Farm, Blackstone Track

Monday 3rd June, one team strimmed Bidford LB, Marlcliff and the car park at Cleeve Prior.

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The other team strimmed the river bank at Retreat Farm plus the downstream end of Grimley (accessed from Retreat) up as for at the 'beach'. After that we moved to Blackstone to strim the access track which we did not have time or energy to do at our visit on the previous Wednesday.

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Cotheridge

On Wednesday 5th, we changed plan and both teams visited Cotheridge to get the fishery ready to re-opened on the 16th June after a 3 year closure. This involved;

  • Cutting back the A44 verges to ensure good visibilty for members leaving the fishery.
  • Signing the access gate.
  • Putting on a BAA coded lock and chain.
  • Signing the access route around the field to the car park.
  • Removing a fallen tree in the car park
  • Constructing stiles over fences to give access both down and upstream.
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Bredon, Mythe Farm, Woodend with Danery cancelled

Monday 10th, one team did Bredon, Mythe Farm and Woodend. Cattle in the field at Bredon and sheep at Mythe had cropped the vegetation which helped with the strimming, they did not do the track at Woodend, just to much and in the past the farmer has done it later in the season. The other team had planned to do the Danery but could not due to the river banks being very slippery and unsafe because of the recent heavy rain.

Tuesday 11th, one team visited Stacklands to strim it, just like last year it was raining.

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Wednesday 12th, one team strimmed Fladbury, the water was over the platforms, they did not manage to do Cropthorne due to exhaustion. The other team had planned to the the Brook Section, but could not due to the state of the banks, so they did Hampton Loade LB instead.

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Salford Priors and Lower Moor done and the Brook Section cancelled.

Monday 17th one team did Salford Priors, there are 5 large ruts spanning the track leading to the venue where the water is 12” deep and more, so only accessible by 4X4 trucks. They cut out about 10 pegs up stream from car park and 12 down stream, they had to stop because the field had not been cut so they could not even get to the bank to strim.

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Salford Priors track, good job Colin's got his wellies on!

The same team also did Lower Moor.

The other team cancelled the plan to do the Brook Section as the Severn was shown as being 14 feet deep and well up the banks at Bridgnorth on the EA web site.

 

Wasperton, Pershore LB, Cleeve Prior strimmed with a dose of weed control in Stubbs Pool.

Wednesday 19th, one team strimmed Pershore LB and Cleeve Prior and put a second dose of weed control in Stubbs Pool. They found little floating weed, some on the bottom, but nothing like it used to be.

The other team strimmed Wasperton from the downstream end to up past the propeller, so this needs completing. The tracks along the bank and from the access gates had been trimmed so access is OK.

 

Wasperton

Monday 24th, returned to Wasperton to complete the job. Fully strimmed from end-end, reeds in river cut where possible, especially at the upstream end. As the track along the bank going downstream from the lower access is now in good condition, we have removed the posts blocking vehicle access and you can now park near you chosen peg anywhere on the fishery.

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Apley Estate and Mythe Pool

Wednesday 26th, one team planned to strim Severn Stoke, the other Apley Estate.

When they got to Severn Stoke, they did a couple of pegs but found the banks to slippery to safely continue, so they went to Uckinghall Pool but the water was over the banks, not giving up, they went to Mythe Pool where they strimmed the pegs and gave it a second does of weed treatement blue dye.

The other team successfully did Apley Estate as planned. As the strimming schedule has got a bit behind mainly due to weather, the Danery is to be done this Friday 28th, the weather report looks good!

 

Danery

Friday 28th, due to being a bit behind on the strimming schedule, one of the teams decided to go to the Danery. The river was a bit up and over the platforms, so they could only strim so far down the banks. The path along the top of the bank was strimmed in the first downstream meadow, which is the BAA's. In the next meadow, the farmer had cut a grass path all along the top of the bank, which saved them some work. Part way along this path a large tree branch had fallen, they cut this up and moved it so it no longer blocks the path.

While at the Danery they had a report of branches down at Eardington Brook Section in the corner of the field near where the brook joins the Severn, they went there and sorted it. There is a very large tree down across the brook, it's to big for us to tackle and it's not our water.

 

July

 

Eckington, Nafford, Northwood Lane and tree removal at Arley Harbour

Monday 1st, one of the Fisheries teams (Colin and Spud), strimmed Eckington and Nafford.

At Eckington we normally rely on the farmer cutting the field so that we only have to cut out the pegs. This year the field was not cut, we think the farmer is leaving it as wild meadow as there are signs up, this made our job a bit harder. Before and after picture below.

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Colin and Spud then visited Nafford. It was really bad with goose grass etc, there are a number of pegs that need rebuilding including the two furthest down stream. They also missed out a couple as they were just to thick to get through and when you do get to the river there are sedges growing there making them un-fishable.

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The other team strimmed Northwood Lane near Bewdley, we had also been notified of a tree down at the downstream end of Arley Harbour towards the SVR bridge, that was dealt with after Northwood Lane.

 

Wood Norton, Swifts Water and Ribbesford

Wednesday 3rd, Colin and Spud visited Wood Norton. They found fly tipping in the car park and as a result the land owner has lowered the height restriction bar across the gate to 5ft 2inches. This is far to low to allow car access, this information was passed to BAA HQ who will contact the land owner and as a temporary fix, the bolts securing the low bar have been left hand tight to allow temporary removal for members access.

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Colin and Spud also visited Swifts Water, they found the track to the car park has been resurfaced and is now car friendly, they suggest members try it for roach and bream fishing, but must park in the signed car park, not drive to the river bank.

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The other team visited Ribbesford and strimmed the pegs along the road side and to the downstream end of the football pitch. Dave and Dennis are also planning to visit Eardington this friday to strim it.

I (Bob) plan to be back with the Fisheries team next week after a couple of weeks off due to badly cutting my finger with a hand saw whilst working at Wasperton. After Glyn stopped the bleeding and bandaged it, I went to Warwick A&E, they checked it out and found in addition to a bad cut I had also damaged the tendon. This required surgery the following day and as a result I was not allowed to drive until the dressing and stitches are removed tomorrow. I also plan to get the team some different gloves with improved cut and tear protection.

 

Kinlet, Charlton, Cropthorne (pump house) and Chadbury Meadow.

Monday 8th, a nice day, dry a bit cloudy and warm. Dave's team visited Kinlet and strimmed from Stanley car park, to Borle Brook and then downstream to the end of Kinlet field. Not to much strimming but a fair bit of cutting back the willow trees from around the pegs and out of the water. The picture below shows John cutting the willow branches out of the river and the peg when it's all done.

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Colin and Spud strimmed Charlton, Cropthorne by the pump house and Chadbury Meadow. As getting to Cropthorne requires you to cross the railway line at the end of Sidings Lane, Colin thought it would be a good idea to remind anglers to be safe when using the crossing. For information click on the link below;

http://www.baa.uk.com/latest-news/monthly-newsletters/chalton-level-crossing-deliberate-misuse/

Spud closing the unmanned level crossing gate at Charlton after crossing.

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Quatford

Wednesday 10th, both teams worked at Quatford which is always a big one. We did the two meadows from the caravan site up to the two stone cottages. We also strimmed the path alongside the caravan site to the river.
 
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Hallow

Monday 15th, Dave's team visited Hallow, this involves strimming the track, car park and pegs, never seen the vegetation so high, quite a job with a small team and hot weather. We managed to do the track, car park and the pegs downstream of the car park.

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Bransford, Broadwas and Stanley Water.

Wednesday 17th, Colin and Spud strimmed Bransford and Broadwas on the Teme. Due to the heat, vegetation growth etc, it was pretty grim, Colin reckons he's getting to old for this lark!

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Dave's team visited Stanley Water, they had done Kinlet on the 8th July and were back to strim Stanley, upstream from the car park. It was a hot and windless day, but many of the pegs had been strimmed and dug. There were a number of anglers and barbel were being caught. The SVR currently have the line closed for filming from Kidderminster to Highley and when we were there a helecopter was flying filming a steam train.

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Knowle Sands 1&2 plus 3&4

Monday 22nd, the full team visited Knowle Sands 1&2 to strim, dig out steps and cut back, as a result we finished reasonably early. Colin and Spud were also due to visit Knowle Sands 3&4 to replace the damaged gate lock, so we decided that the whole team to also go to strim, dig out and cut back.

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Hampton Loade 'B' section, and second cut back on Barton and Bidford LB

On Wednesday 24th, four of us visited Hampton Loade B section to strim, dig out and cut back, it was a very hot day. As you leave the car park and go over the stile into the top of the upstream meadow a very large tree has fallen along the bank. It does not block any pegs and you can walk around it OK to access the rest of the fishery. We did the pegs in the first two meadows.

Colin and Spud have now started second cut-backs of fisheries that require it, the first to be done being Barton and Bidford LB.

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Eastham Bridge, Lindridge, Ripple and Birds Meadow

Monday 24th, 3 of us visited Eastham Bridge to strim the pegs around the car park and those downstream for about half a mile. After we finished there, two of us stopped at Lindridge and strimmed the track from the road to the car park. Colin and Spud strimmed Ripple and Birds Meadow.

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Pensham 1,2 & 3 and Pershore RB

Wednesday 31st, Colin and Spud strimmed Pensham 1,2 & 3 and Pershore RB, the river was rising, but it kept cool. Spud hit a wasps nest at the first peg past the gate at Pershore RB, he only got stung once but would not go back to finish the peg, thats the first wasps nest this year.

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August

 

Stourton Castle

Monday 5th August, Dave's team visited Stourton to strim the banks of the River Stour. We started where the river goes under the A458 and worked our way upstream, the bamboo patch near there gets ever bigger and taller. The Environment Agency have been working there recently on 'Salmon on the Stour' and as a result all the Giant Hogweed in the field alongside the river had been cut down, which made our visit easier and safer. We normally strim upstream to where the river runs alongside the Staffs Worcester and Stour canal junction. This year were strimmed further upstream and cut-out some pegs on the river where it runs alongside the Staff Worcester canal, these are accessible from the tow path.

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Grimley, Fladbury and Coppice Lake.

Wednesday 7th August; Dave's team visited Grimley, we strimmed and cut back trees downstream from the car park in meadows 5 and 6 as far as the 'beach'. We then strimmed the meadow upstream of the car park as far as the wood, parts of it were covered in nettles since we had a big tree cut back early in the year. We have cut paths through the nettles to the river bank in several places, we also cut back a large tree in the river creating another peg close to the car park.

Colin and Spud gave Fladbury its second strim, they also visited Coppice to tidy it up. They only had to strim 18" either side of the platforms as the resident geese had done a good job of keeping the banks clear, the downside is they poo everywhere. Colin checked the dam wall after the major work that was recently done, it is no longer weeping and dry all along the bank, the pool is at maximum level so is holding water well.

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Brook Section, Bushley and Woodend

Monday 12th, Dave's team visited the Brook Section to strim the track, pegs and cut back the trees, as the river was up a couple of feet we could not fully strim the pegs. This visit had been delayed as the river was way up the banks at the previously planned date.

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Colin and Spud strimmed the track and Bushley and the few fishable pegs in the downstream meadow, they also visited Woodend to do the track.

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Underdale

Wednesday 14th and both teams met up with the local bailiff Dale at Shrewsbury to strim, dig out steps and cut back trees at our Underdale fishery. The weather progressed from wet to very wet/horrible but we completed the job. I also took a load of photos of the fishery which I will add to the Underdale Where to Fish page. Below is a picture of the river and the team sheltering under the road bridge from the rain and checking to see if the graffiti contains an undiscovered Banksy!

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Pershore RB

Thursday 15th August, Colin and Spud removed three trees that had fallen across the path, causing some obstruction at Pershore RB.

 

Severn Stoke

Monday 19th, the combined team visited this fishery, we strimmed and cut back the upstream first meadow and down stream both meadows. We are planning to return on 25th September to cut out some more pegs in the downstream meadows. There were two anglers fishing when we arrived, one caught 3 barbel, we also had to ask some later arrivals to leave the fishery as they did not have membership cards.

The river was brown and up about 1 metre, but a very pleasant day for working or fishing.

I have added an additional column to the work calendar below to show the level of litter we find when visiting our fisheries. Severn Stoke is the first one and this information will be updated as we visit our fisheries. I've tried to keep it simple;

  • Good - little or no litter
  • Average - some, but not excessive litter
  • Poor - excessive, unacceptable level of litter
It's a bit subjective, but simple and hopefully easy to understand, as well as recording what we see, I will also use information members supply.
 
I gave Severn Stoke a Good rating as no litter was visible in the car park with only a couple of items on the bank and waters edge and it was difficult to say if an angler has left some or it had come down in the with the high water.
 
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Stanford Bridge

Wednesday 21st, again the combined team visited, it was a nice day but with the first touch of autumn, the grass was very wet with dew and the trees and bushes had plenty of berries. We strimmed and cut back the full length of the fishery and also removed a tree that had fallen into the river in the shallows near the downstream end. There is another tree down across the river about 2/3 of the way up the first meadow, we could not do anything about it as it had fallen from the opposite bank and the nearby bank on our side is vertical.

Three angler arrived as we worked there, one, Fred Scott was trotting the shallows and was catching grayling and dace, the other two were fly fishing and had caught a couple. I took some picture of Fred (below) as he had just caught a fish, what I only noticed when I was viewing the picures on my computer was I had manage to include a kingfisher flying past, it's visible at the bottom the the righthand picture below.

The litter check for the fishery was good with no visible litter either in the car park or the river bank.

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Handsacre

Wednesday 28th, we only went out once this week as Monday was a Bank Holiday and some of the Fisheries Team were at the Evesham Angling Festival on the BAA stand.

On Wednesday me and Dave visited Handsacre our only fishery on the Trent. The pair of us generally do our fisheries east of Bimingham (Handsacre and Bolehall) as we live closest and both fisheries are small. We did the pegs between the road bridge and the double gates. Not much strimming was required, but loads of tree work which was difficult as the majority was well out over and in the river. The banks were muddy and covered in reeds so cutting some of the furthest branches was difficult and required some adventurous sawing.

As the 'Guide to Waters' says, this fishery is better in winter when much of the reeds near the bank have died down, it is also a good place for pike fishing.

The litter check was average with a number of plasic bottles in the undergrowth, many of them looked like they had been there some time.

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September 

 

Eardiston

Monday 2nd, the combined team visited the fishery, the weather was nice, but it was hard work with steep banks and quite a long walk from the car park downstream two meadows to the brook. The river was looking good and we saw a few chub. We strimmed and cut out a number of pegs, but be careful the banks are steep, we have also lost a few pegs at the downstream end due to erosion.

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The litter situation was good with no litter found on the banks, the only item found was a car radiator cooling fan dumped in the car park which is now in my recycling bin at home.

 

Ladyham

Wednesday 4th and again the combined team was out, it was really good with a full turn-out, good to see everyone together again. This was our second visit here this summer, we strimmed it back on the 20th May but had recent feedback from a match booking that it had become overgrown and some of the platforms were damaged. So we gave it a good strim, cut back the trees where needed, repaired some platforms and build a couple of new ones. The river was busy with boats including a large pleasure cruiser, Ladyham was looking nice in the sunshine, it looks like autumn has arrived.

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The litter situation was not bad with the banks being generally clean, but I gave it an 'Average' rating due to finding a piece of carpet on the bank which looked like it had been used by someone night fishing, plus a small amount of litter in the field behind the bank.

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Pennyford Hall

Monday 9th, we had been informed that a number of trees had fallen across the River Alne and in one case was causing the river to 'back-up'. The first fallen tree we found was in the downstream meadow close to the railway bridge, it was right across the river resting on both banks above the surface of the water. We trimmed off the larger branched with a long saw from the far bank and using a rope pulled the tree across the river onto our bank where it was sawed up and left.

The next tree was the 'big one' causing the river to back up, it was almost at the top end of the upstream meadow. This required some wading, we sawed off and removed all the timber except for the roots which were unreachable in the deeper water, the blockage was cleared and the river flow back to normal.

Just below this was another large tree partly in the river and part on the far bank, this was to large for us to tackle and as it was not blocking the river we left it.

Further down where output flow from the sewerage works enters the river via a concrete structure part of a large tree was in the river. That was easily removed, job done.

We also removed the old Pennyford Hall Angling Club sign from the entry to our car park under the railway arches. It had been well put up in the first place, that's why it was not removed when we first took over the fishery, it required the use of Colin's angle grinder!

This fishery checked out well for litter, there was some caught in the upstream tree blockage, but I suspect this had come down stream from above our fishery.

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Arley LB

Monday 9th, the other part of the Fisheries Team visited Arley LB as originally planned and did the usual strim and cut-back etc. The litter was not to bad as Arley does tend to suffer due to it's popularity, so it got an 'Average'.

This was the last Monday that the Fisheries Team will be out working until the 'Strimming Season' restarts in spring 2020. We are now reverting to one day a week on Wednesdays over the winter.

We are not out this Wednesday 11th, as we are all visiting Blackstone to see if we can catch some fish, followed by a meal in the early evening at the Plough Inn at Far Forest.

 

Nafford

Monday 16th, Colin and Spud visited to do a second strim this summer.

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Lindridge

Wednesday 18th, the full team initially parked in our small meadow next to the lay bye and strimmed, dug out steps and cut back trees for about a dozen pegs on the river nearby. We then moved downstream to our car park at the bottom of the track, we did about 4 pegs downstream and the pegs in the upstream two meadows, we also strimmed the path from the car park to the stile. The track had already been strimmed a few weeks ago and was still OK.

Did not see many fish but a few large chub were seen from one of the pegs in the first upstream meadow.

No litter was seen anywhere alongside the river, some was in the car park by the lay bye, but we suspect it was left by truck drivers who us it as a toilet. The gate was open when we got there, please close and lock it, we have put barbed wire along to top of the gate to prevent people climbing over it, if this is done it should prevent it being used as a roadside toilet.

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Nordley pools 1 & 2

Wednesday 25th, the full team visited Nordley as we had received complaints that the path around pools 1 & 2 had become overgrown, making it difficult for tackle barrows/trolleys.

The path around both pools was strimmed to a good width and trees near to the platforms cut back, we also removed a tree that had fallen into the bottom end of pool 1.

A number of the platforms were in a poor condition and becoming unsafe, as we had no timber with us or the time for repairs or rebuilds, we 'disabled' these platforms to prevent them being used, their repair or replacement is a job for this winter.

The top end carp park and around the two pools were very clean with little or no visible litter, so I've given them a ''good' litter rating.

 

October 

Nordley pools 1 & 2

Wednesday 2nd; we had planned to visit Newhalls Meadow at Stourport, but due to the Severn being in flood we revisited Nordley pools instead. As last week we worked on pools 1 & 2, we repaired or replaced all the damaged platforms, took out the leaning tree at the bottom corner of pool 1 and did a load more tree triming.

Pensham 3-5

Wednesday 9th; we visited Pensham and strimmed the track through the wooded area, dug out and strimmed the steps to the platforms and trimmed trees around the pegs and track.

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