Hiroshima Diary (Avon T-259, 1955)

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The Ibsley weirpool, Ibsley and Tizard's salmon pools and the view of the bridge from the hatches. Showing the water flowing over the bund.

A couple of shots of our stunning chub, with a tale to tell. The first is a very wet Steve Kenchington, the second a dry David Redfearn. I do have a shot of David looking considerably wetter, having been unceremoniously dumped in the river when the bank gave away beneath his feet. Fortunately for David, fishing mate Kenny was on hand to assist in regaining terra firma. The recent rain and extremely high river have given rise to some stretches of extremely unstable bank and the utmost caution must be taken when getting near the edge. Below a couple of photos recently taken by Dave Charles, as he sat waiting for events to develop. Strangely, despite refusing to get involved, a great deal of my reading includes political biographies and diaries. Why, I'm not sure, masochism comes to mind! In light of which I come to the point of this rambling entry. A book recommendation for those wishing to see change. Don't judge me or the author on partisan lines, my reading crosses all party lines and the author certainly writes from a position of strength, based on actual experience. The book not only points out the flaws that are all too apparent to us on a daily basis, it provides alternatives. It is those alternatives that make this so important. Give it a read and keep your fingers crossed the younger generation will get some of it implemented. Alternatively if you are that younger generation and up for the fight get involved and make waves. The extreme nature of the flooded ground this Summer has concentrated the minds of several groups on the issues they see as contributing to this soggy, sorry state. The fact the Hampshire Avon is classified as a heavily modified river has added a further complication. The artificial nature of the Avon has in many instances created the environment and habitat that safeguard many of the rivers most desirable assets. Assetts such as the water meadows themselves that provide habitat for breeding waders. The braided channels that flood and drain the meadows, provide homes to vast numbers of cyprinid and salmonid juveniles. The biodiversity this has given rise to makes the Hampshire Avon one of, if not the most important fishery in the country. Certainly aspects of the fishery are deemed the very pinnacle of the sport.

Ellingham Bridge

The final shot shows a Juvenile bream that has been swept out of the channel. I have mentioned on here before that skimmers are the first fish we see washed out of the channel. Their deep body makes them susceptible to the pressure of the high flows. The reason why we associate bream with still and slow moving waters not rivers such as the Hampshire Avon. Whilst this cold snap will make barbel very difficult to find I'm sure we will see some specimen chub in the last few days. I haven't heard of an eight this season so if you know different, or manage to find one this week, I would very much like to hear about your success.

Above the Old Weir with the water out in the fields as the channel is choked with weed. The Old Weir, dry for most of the year, now with 500mm of water flowing over it. The majority of the flood water is by-passing the weir and flowing across the fields. The reason I grow heritage tomatoes, they taste as good as they look, soups, salads, pasta sauce, stuffed tomatoes. The five in the second shot average almost a pound each, a meal in themself.To that end John Slader has opened a dedicated bank account and whilst in his name a full record of donations will be maintained. Bank transfers can be made to:- Grey heron at the nest, taken whilst undertaking the heronry census count. Numbers of Grey heron in the valley have crashed over the last twelve months. Its difficult to attribute the cause, possibly avian flu, or more likely the closing of the nearby fishfarm that provided a significant proportion of their diet. We have seen many corpses in the valley, starvation or disease we will never know. The second shot, taken as they were sat out preening alongside the South Marsh, shows ten Little Egret, plus two Cattle Egret. The roost still contains over twenty Little or Cattle Egret, plus several Great White Egret. trying to seperate the Little from the Cattle Egret is almost impossible as they come into roost as they arrive so late, just as the light is fading. They're still at it. Another otter has fallen victim to the traffic. I'm not sure whether thats the fifth or sixth in the last few months, on that deadly couple of miles of the A338. As it was the first day of spinning, with us, I thought I better clip out the Bridge Pool and the weirpool. I always leave them until this time as they are not recognised fly water and it also discourages the idiots that think its a public footpath. Thank you Hants CC. From the bridge it still looks as if the weirpool isn't accessible, which is deliberate for the reason above. The areas of the weirpool that are worth spinning have been clipped out. I didn't wade the small outlet stream and clear the other side as I didn't have waders on. Anyone wishing to fish the tail of the weirpool would do better to wade that small section anyway. Don't ignore the last few feet of the retrieve alongside the Water Dropwort that is shading the first four or five feet of the water. In bright conditions fish love to lay up under this margin covering, only showing on the final seconds of the retrieve.

It would perhaps be a fitting way to establish the memorial for Chris, if on completing the setting-up, we have an informal gathering at the lakes. Hopefully we will be in a position to notify those who have supported the fund of a date around late May or early June. At that time the lakes will hopefully be looking well and the carp may join us on the surface in the Lagoon to raise a glass to Chris. I will have a closer look at the season in relation to flows, water temperature and seasonality in a few weeks, once I have had time to digest our current situation. The NFU repeatedly tell us we can trust the farmers to look after our rivers. So how come we still see arable in the flood plain with Defra's support?I think there are eight Great White Egret in the first photo. I can't be sure as they continually bob up and down as they stalk their prey. There were also nine Little Egret, goodness only knows how many geese and swans there are but when the Marsh Harrier went over somewhere in the region of eighty Gadwall flushed from the reed beds. A simply stunning wetland habitat. I won't forget Autumn 2022 in a hurry. It started off as a typical couple of months when early morning sees a mist following the contours of the river, the air is fresh and you know the chilly start to the day will soon be warming up as the sun breaks through. It was during one such week that I was fishing with my good friend Andy Little and between us we had a couple of swims in mind to try. Either of us could have chosen either swim, it just turned out I ended up in the right hand swim and Andy fished the left swim. Good fortune was with me when I landed a stunning fish of exactly 14lb. Apart from being overjoyed at it’s capture it was a great boost to moral as we had seen very few barbel and even started to question their existence. Not in a million years, did I expect over the next three visits to catch another 2 barbel including a fish of 16lb 14oz. The Avon can be a right bitch at times, moody and daunting, but the treasures are there, you’ve just got to find them and when you do these are not just barbel, they are Hampshire Avon barbel, without question the most majestic barbel that swim in our waterways".