Today we were out and about near Maybole surveying burns that we wouldn’t normally include in our routine electrofishing and I didn’t really expect too much from the sites we visited. One site was completely devoid of, and inaccessible to migratory species prompting us to find another site further downstream. We ended up fishing the Abbeymill Burn between Maybole and Kilhenzie below the road bridge. The habitat looked OK so I half expected to find trout and possibly even a salmon or two considering the improvements we have seen on the Barlewan downstream. Suffice to say we did find a few trout and a solitary salmon parr at the Abbeymill Burn. I’m really encouraged that salmon are present as water quality I’m sure, isn’t that great as indicated by the invertebrate sample we collected but at least there are a few spawning in this area.
Trout and salmon from Abbeyill Burn near Maybole
Another interesting Burn that we visited was the Brockloch Burn.This burn is between Minishant and Maybole crossing below the A77 at the Smithston bridge on the bad bend, which is where we surveyed it. We managed a few trout and eels from the site and a solitary salmon fry. This burn flows into the Chapletoun Burn, then into the Doon at Cassillis. Historically the Chapletoun Burn was important spawning burn for sea trout and salmon but in recent years it has been very poor as a result of diffuse pollution and morphological changes. Hopefully this is a sign of better things to come as some areas have been fenced. We will be surveying the Chapeltoun Burn itself to see what’s there in the next day or so.
Salmon and trout fry from the Brockloch Burn
