The Lady of the Stream

Grayling, "Thymalus thymalus". River Don South Yorkshire 

It's difficult to write an ongoing blog in winter that's predominantly about insects as they have by and large to be retrospective as very few are around. I don't get out much, probably doing what the majority of working people are are doing at the moment, leaving for work in the dark and returning from work in the dark. This week proved no exception. However I did manage to escape and get into the "wild" yesterday.  Up at 6.30am 50 miles up the M1 to Sheffield, pick my son up, who has just completed a few university examinations and needed a day out, and by the banks of the River Don, once one of the countries most polluted rivers.  The purpose to catch, what in my opinion is the UK's most beautiful fish, the Grayling.  Known as the Lady of the Stream it is an inhabitant of clear fast running unpolluted water, which nowadays includes the Don.   Grayling are a member of the salmon family possessing an adipose fin, a small rubbery fin positioned between the dorsal and caudal fins.  In Britain a good sized Grayling is about 10 ounce to a pound in weight.  

We had the river to ourselves apart from a "pod" of Canoes that made a brief appearance.  Birds noted included a couple of Dipper and Gray wagtail, whilst Nuthatch and Willow Tit were calling in the surrounding woods.  And we caught a few Grayling and Brown Trout as well, no monsters but  a couple of dozen fish later my yearly reaquaintance with the lady of the stream satisfied we both retired to the pub, a pint in the Kelham Island and a pint in the Fat Cats, in my opinion two of the best pubs in the World.  If you're in Sheffield pay them a visit.  

Bullhead (Cottus gobio) - River Trent Notts.

Bullhead (Cottus gobio) - River Trent Notts., a photo by Lamia textor on Flickr.

Definitely not  a beetle but a cracking little beast a Bullhead, just shows how clean the River Trent has become these days. Forty years ago if you turned a stone over in the Trent you would only have found leeches and tubifex, a sure sign of pollution.  This one was found at Shelford by turning over some of the marginal stones.

No bullheads were harmed in the making of this Blog!