Sampling Sunday
Met with Graham in the morning for our monthly river fly check on the Frome site. We had heard of a pollution event upstream last week, so there was a bit of bracing required perhaps for lower results.
It was pretty nice weather and the water levels were nice and low. I kicked the sample while Graham timed, then he did the stone washing. We ended up with a pretty decent net with not too much gravel and silt.
It turned out to be a pretty species rich sample. The highlight were the Flat bodied stone clingers, as well as the Blue Winged olives.
I think in previous months we might have misidentified the stone clinger as a blue wing. But there is a distinct difference which I feel I “have my eye in” for now.
Also a healthy number of cased caddis and olives so the overall score for the site was 8 which compares well to previous months.
From this evidence at least, it would appear that the pollution has not had an impact on this part of the river.
