Starlings at Filton

My son George and me decided to put a little edited Starling sequence together after enjoying their shows at Rolls Royce, Filton this Winter. This was taken all in one evening. I can't say I enjoyed the cold weather before Christmas but it has certainly made birding round here more interesting. Takes me back to when I was a boy, on the way home from school, waiting for the bus at Temple Meads and seeing the Starling roost in the middle of Bristol.

New Years Day on the Levels

A family day on the Somerset Levels at Shapwick and Ham Wall. Kids took their bikes and we managed to do a bit of birding. Stayed for the Starling roost at 16:00. Started fairly mild but got colder as afternoon went on. Usual selection of wildfowl with the added attraction of a Great Egret, not to be confused with the commoner Little Egret. 100,000's Starlings congregated within minutes, some of the small flocks displayed but most came in huge waves and descended tornado like into the scrub and trees between the wetland. Must have been a crowd of 50 strong waiting for the display. Great start to the new year.

Kimmeridge Surf - 4ft Clean

Surfed today. First time since end of October. Kimmeridge, the Ledges, was a glassy 4 foot with hardly any wind. Went with bro Rich and friend Tom. Surfed for 2.5hrs high tide going out. About 20 guys out at any one time, pretty relaxed session. Temperature about 10 C which is a heck of lot warmer than it has been of late. Took Magic Carpet out. Caught some lefts and then mainly rights that were basically drops with fat shoulders. Good to work off some of that Christmas flab and get motivated again. Not a big swell but from the South with 12 second period. No photos as Kimmeridge and most of the Country was shrouded in a a light misty, murky rain.

Day out on Avon and Nadder

Crisp cold morning for a days fishing in Wiltshire. On the way stopped off at the canal near Seend to take a few shots. Mist was lifting off the water and the early morning sunshine was wonderful. Arrived at my brothers, Rich, to discuss the options for the day.

First stop Hampshire Avon North of Salisbury. Not much rising so fished a nymph under the dry. First few runs nothing doing but managed to spook a number of small Pike basking in the sunshine. Found a nice deep bend where Rich caught a lunker of a Brownie. It must have been all of 2.5lb. On its return I managed to get some lovely underwater shots. From the same bend we both caught Grayling and Dace on the nymph. On upstream and a tightly packed shoal of at least 20 Grayling, some in excess of a 1lb, outwitted us but I managed to hook into a decent Brownie of about 1.5lb in amongst them.

Next stop the Nadder in Salisbury. The usual shallow runs failed to produce so moved downstream to the deeper holes. Between us we caught a mixed bag of small Brownies, some reasonable Grayling and Rich had some chunky Chub. Most fish falling to the nymph but an occasional rise to the Klink. The cold weather had certainly kept the fish down but it was an eventful day nevertheless in the glorious Autumn sunshine. Water levels were about the lowest I have seen it.

End of season River Chew

Thought I'd return to my favourite little River Chew for an end of season fish in the hope of some Grayling and maybe the odd Brownie. The river was coloured which surprised me as the levels weren't high and we hadn't had a huge amount of rain. I could only deduce that work or a disturbance upstream was causing the clay to discolour the water. I fished below the bridge which early in the year holds a small shoal of Grayling. No Grayling but a small Brownie fell to the nymph right in the rapids where I was expecting the Grayling to now be taking position. Next stop a pool I often miss but thought I would try. Not a big pool but a deep drop off from a shallow sandy riffle. Its easily accessible and therefore I normally ignore it. Anyway heavy nymph cast into the riffle and let drop into the cloudy pool. As I retrieve it from the bottom a solid resistance is felt and my best Brownie from Chew that season comes to the net after quite a struggle. I move downstream and fish a great glide canopied in Alder from one of the deep pools where I know the Grayling will be. After loosing a decent Grayling, the first Grayling that comes to hand is tiny but shows the fish are thriving here. This is followed by couple more Grayling each around 6-8 inches in length. I finally end with a nice little Brownie on the nymph from a deep pool on my way back upstream. A couple of fish were rising but I couldn't tempt them with the dry. All fish today came to various weighted Goldheads.

Hampshire Avon Deanery Meadows

Left work early on lovely summers afternoon. Met up with Rich and fished Hampshire Avon at Deanery Meadows. A beautiful stretch of river in the shadow of Salisbury Cathedral. We both fished nymph under the dry. Rich hooked a clonker of Chub under some Willows on the far bank. It was easily in the 4lb range and tested is light tackle to the limit. I was mainly catching small Dace on the dry.  I finally hooked into a good sized Chub of around 2lb on the dry taken from under some Chestnut trees on the far bank. Rich proceeded to catch several more Chub in the 2-3lb range. Trout noticeable by their abscence. A lovely late afternoon/evenings fishing easily worth the hours trip from Bristol.

Bristol Frome Dry Fly Evening

Evening session today fished Bristol Frome. Normal route from BB working my way downstream on the towpath looking for feeding fish and then approaching upstream. Dry flies here don't need to be fussy Size 12/14 parachute patterns work just fine for Trout and Chub. Intentionally missed the weir glide and noticed fish rising in a very short glide by the old bridge. First cast flicked under the hanging Hazel, bang nice little Brownie. Amazingly never spooked other fish despite skittish scrap across the shallow shingle below. Same pattern followed for two further brownies all around 6-8 oz. The area of water was probably a metre square and 3ft deep with shallow riffle above and below. Great result 3 casts on the same dry and 3 fish. Carried on down and caught another 3 further downstream before bad light stopped play. All fish safely returned.