ART Blog

ART will release competitive tender documents for the Control of Non Native Invasive Weeds on Ayrshire Watercourses during 2012 (CIRB Project) on the 13th February 2012. This INTERREG IV funded project is a cross border partnership and suitably qualified contractors are encouraged to apply for the tender documents from anywhere in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

A full suite of tenders (11 in total) will be released at a pre tender meeting at 1.30pm on the 13th Feb 2012 at ART’s offices, Scottish Agricultural College, Donald Hendrie Building, Auchincruive, Ayr KA6 5HW. Contractors wishing to tender are strongly advised to attend the pre tender meeting where tenders documents, procedures and qualifying requirements will be explained and there will be opportunities for questions and answers. To comply with INTERREG procurement rules and in the interest of fairness, ART staff will circulate all questions and answers that arise before , during or after this meeting with all those contractors interested and /or wishing to submit tenders that have notified us of their interest. ART staff will not answer any questions on a ‘one to one’ basis.

Contractors wishing to attend this meeting or to be included in the tender process are requested to notify ART staff in advance of the day.  Tender documents will be issued in electronic format unless otherwise requested. They will also be available for download on our web site in the INTERREG Project pages.

The deadline for tender submissions will be 5.00pm on Thursday 27rd Feb 2012. Late submissions will not be accepted. Submissions in ‘hard copy’ only will be accepted.

Please contact ART in writing to lodge interest in this process or for more information.

David McPhail, Ayrshire’s best known fly dresser has very kindly dedicated a magnificent Salmon fly that he has created to the Ayrshire Rivers Trust called the ‘Ayrshire Man’. This is a stunning fly and is sure to be a big hit across the Country this year. Davie has placed a video demonstration of the tying on You Tube and in a very short time has had well over 6000 hit’s for this pattern alone. Have a look at this and Davie’s other videos on you tube.  http://youtu.be/zIGJhzDnjgc 

A big thanks to Davie for this and he kindly offered to donate the original fly that he tied in the video to the Trust to do with as we see fit. We will need to come up with something appropriate but regardless of what we do, I’ll keep everyone posted through the blog. Of course your suggestions are welcomed.

Despite massive Press and media coverage and the endless efforts byorganisations such as ourselves, there remains the huge problem of lack of awareness when it comes to dealing with Japanese Knotweed (and other invasive non native species). ART has been active delivering seminars to Local Authorities in an effort to halt the spread of INNS, especially by frontline staff that come into contact with these plants. Of course, it’s not just LA staff that risk spreading these plants but Utility companies and many others too.

On Tuesday morning, I came across a Utility company loading a lorry with spoil dug from a road. Inadvertently they had also picked up a small quantity of Japanese Knotweed from a roadside stand growing on the verge. The contractors hadn’t realised that JK was present and failed identify it during the site survey prior to the works. It is unclear at present who is ultimately responsible for this incident but undoubtedly the general public will pick up the tab in their water rates.

The site where Japanese Knotweed was accidentally disturbed

When I informed the road crew of the situation, they wanted to dump the load back out onto the site (which of course is illegal as JK must be disposed of in a landfill licensed to accept this type of waste). To cut a long story short, the contractor had to dispose of the load at a huge cost (£900 + VAT) which could have been avoided had someone recognised and been aware of how to deal with this plant properly.

I have offered to assist with awareness training and will negotiate this through Scottish Water and the two sub contractors involved. Only by training their staff will this scenario be avoided in future. Hopefully some good will come from this incident.

ART became aware of a water quality problems on the Doon late on Monday afternoon that had been traced back to Calmerston Open Cast Site near Dalmellington.

Scottish coal met with me on site on Tuesday morning along with a representative from the DDSFB. It appears there was a landslide in a steep glen just upstream of a culvert. The culvert had been installed by Crouch Mining during 1990 when Chalmerston OCCS was operational to allow a coal haul road to be constructed. At some point last weekend, following a landslide, this culvert became block by debris from the landslide before  water in the glen backed up. Subsequently, what appears to have happened is the pressure build up upstream of the culvert led to a rapid flush of the lose sediment through the culvert and down to the River Doon. The Doon was in spate at the time and this helped clear most of the suspended solids quickly. By Tuesday morning the Doon was running clear again.

SEPA are involved and we are awaiting further updates but obviously Scottish Coal have intervened in an effort to solve the problem and reduce the impact of this incident. The solution will require considerable engineering and Scottish Coal have been quick to step up to the plate. Most of the flow from the burn is being over-pumped until the repairs are completed. The cause of the landslide are as yet to be identified but the Glen is one of the few areas that hasn’t been worked for coal.

Looking down into the Glen from the road

The impact of this event is unknown at present but we are concerned that egg survival may be affected and we will assess this in the summer months by electrofishing surveys. The areas most likely to be impacted will be the Cummock Burn (downstream of Sillyhole Bridge) to the confluence with the Muck Water and possibly from there downstream to the Doon. We can only hope that the impact is minimal especially as this area has important spawning redds for both trout and salmon.

We are often asked for details of individual clubs and fishing availability across Ayrshire from visitors and locals alike. I would like to set up a page on our web site that contains contact details for clubs and where the public can buy permits. Any club secretaries that wish details posted on a dedicated page please let either Gillian or myself have the details as soon as you can and we will get this up and running in time for the 2012 season.

I would also like to have an page for fishing updates where club members can report on their season and any events they may be running. Obviously this will require someone from individual clubs providing information to us on a regular basis but as we had over 30,000 hits on our website in the last quarter, this is a good opportunity for clubs to raise their profile and attract new anglers. Anyone interested just let us know.