A case of caddis
It’s been reasonably dry the last couple of weeks, so Tony and I met early at Ebley to survey the site which we haven’t been to since November due to river levels.
It was too deep and fast to sample right in the middle, however there was good habitat at the sides which was accessible safely. Once we had collected the kick sample and poured into the trays, we immediately noticed the huge side of the cased caddisfly. There was also a large number of them, which suggests that their lifecycle might be reaching pupation shortly.
We also had a few large mayfly and overall, the site score was 7, which was a normal health for this site. We were glad to have done it, because we’ve confirmed that even sampling a small part of the river is worthwhile.
I then headed into Stroud for some last minute christmas shopping and then after an early lunch, I headed out via the Slad valley up to the North Cotswolds where I was going to help Jane out with an unwanted structure at the home.
I arrived at around one o’clock and was joined by Chris who had brought an extensive set of tools.
For reasons too bizarre to repeat here, Jane has ended up with a permanent wooden ramp outside the door of her home.
This is causing extreme difficulty getting access in and out with her bad knee, especially in the rain. So our task this afternoon was to remove it completely.
This turned out to be harder than it looks since the screws were put in so tightly and then covered with a gunky paint. In addition, it turned out to be screwed into the garage wall from underneath.
We worked away for about an hour and a half making barely any visible progress, but removing dozens of screws.
We then got word Anna was arriving soon, and were determined to at least have something look like it was done before she got there. Luckily we managed to remove a major piece only minutes before she walked up the drive with a wrecking bar. She then made two jabs with the bar at the other end and the whole structure came apart.
Chris and I consoled ourselves by convincing each other that we had, in fact, loosened the whole thing beforehand.
We managed to clear the whole area and get the tools back in the car just before it got dark and started to rain. Time then for tea and cake in front of Jane’s log burner before heading home.
