I took my daughter out for a walk along the Ponesk today to see if we could see any salmon in the new channel. Electrofishing results indicated that at least one hen salmon spawned there last year so I’m very hopeful for this season.
Anyway, we didn’t see a salmon, but we did see one splash as we passed it so this is very encouraging. The river was up so hopefully a few more will slip up between now and spawning time.
Katie and I then visited the Stottencleugh and Hareshaw burns at Glenbuck. I recently reported that we saw a few trout redds already this season and saw a lot of trout in the Stottencleugh. Sadly I doubt any eggs will hatch in the Stottencleugh due to the pollution, but the Hareshaw has good habitat and high water quality so it is a very important spawning site despite it only being accessible for about 80m. Previously we recorded a higher trout fry density at this site than anywhere else in Ayrshire.
Here is the link to the video clip I’ve put together. Unfortunately the trout were disturbed and moved off the redd before I shout much footage but at least I got some. I’ll try again later this week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wybti1MTnyQ&feature=g-upl