As ever, the culmination of each year’s hard work is rewarded by seeing fish successfully spawning in our rivers and burns across Ayrshire. Spawning activity has been noticeably slow to start this season although it is possible that a few fish spawned around 3 weeks ago but then things went quiet again as temperatures and water levels rose. We saw very few trout moving in the burns although there’s little doubt they are there and will largely have completed spawning by now however, salmon normally hold off until later when the necessary water levels and temperatures coincided and trigger this annual event in earnest.
We have been checking across Ayrshire for some weeks in typically dull and poor light conditions but yesterday with the sun splitting the skies on a frosty, crisp morning, we were treated to spectacular activity on the upper Doon which we managed to film from above with the drone. Elsewhere we are seeing fish jostling for position as they move onto the redds but as yet there aren’t many completed redds. Over the next few weeks, we expect to see many more salmon spawning on all rivers as we’ve been receiving positive catch reports in 2024 from most catchments.
Here’s the video for all to enjoy. If you wish to share it that’s fine but please direct others back to these pages and credit the Trust with this footage.
https://youtu.be/FVIa7yAFoec
