As normal in May, the Grannom hatch has commenced and this evening I watched smolts rising for these emerging caddis at Catrine on the Ayr. It is both fascinating and worrying as there are still hundreds of smolts in the voes but we are attempting to encourage them out overnight, bypassing the turbine house (which isn’t operating at the moment due to low flows).

Salmon smolts rising in the lade at Catrine

The smolt screens have been sealed so there should be no further smolts entering the voes. We will monitor this situation carefully over the next few weeks and if further improvements are necessary, we will inform the operators and regulator. In the meantime, the smolt trap has been improved and we will resume trapping this week.

Here is an short video that I think most will find interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKA889qshLY