Jack Frost Missed...
12/02/07
The rest of the UK
suffered from 'extreme snowfalls' if you believe the
newspapers and TV, from what I could see, it amounted
to a few inches of snow coupled with idiots that
cannot comprehend the fact that flooring the
accelarator, wildly swinging the steering wheel and
liberal use of brakes is NOT the best way to drive in
snow and ice. Having lived in Whistler BC and
Chamonix I've actually seen proper snow, and what the
UK gleefully closed schools and airports down for was
not 'proper snow'. I think I'm slowly turning into
Victor Meldrew...
So while everything north of the M4 slowly ground to a halt the westcountry had a lovely old couple of days, the sun shone, the snowdrops and daffodils have started to appear and the grass has begun to take on that neon green hue of new growth.
I went for a very muddy walk to check on a few stretches of the Nadder over the weekend and found that in a testement to the work of the volunteers last year, that the rivers were in very good shape. No downed trees, no significant problems to report. In a rare occurence for me, as I am normally photographer, fisherman and writer all rolled into one, I met someone on the banks who took a photo of me. Probably as I looked somewhat comical in my waders lying in the mud taking photo's of snowdrops...
One thing I was very suprised to find was that at the top of one of our stretches there is a tremendous pool, in previous years it has had a nasty tree growing in one corner that really limited the ability to get a fly into it. Well on walking to it this weekend it appears that nature decided the tree was in the way too, it's now gone, rootball and all.
It was right here in the bottom left of the photo. Who moved it!
And half a mile downstream....
Oh, there it is.
So the sun has been out (although it's been tipping down again all day today) the countryside is beginning, slowly, to wake up and the idea of trout season doesn't seem quite so far away anymore. I've even appeared in the Wild Trout Trust auction this year, so dig deep into those pockets and you can buy a day guided on Salisbury Club waters by little old me. Ok, more like you can buy a day on Salisbury Cub's waters and I'll come along and pretend I know what I'm doing. But I can guarantee you nothing less than an adventure round some of Wiltshires most overgrown fishing if that is your bag.
As usual some pretty pictures to close with. This time Salisbury.
Oh and I've just switched hosts for the site, working on a new version but it's taking a while what with doing everything else. If you notice a change in performance on the site could you drop me an email please so I can keep an eye on it?
Ta
Malcolm
So while everything north of the M4 slowly ground to a halt the westcountry had a lovely old couple of days, the sun shone, the snowdrops and daffodils have started to appear and the grass has begun to take on that neon green hue of new growth.
I went for a very muddy walk to check on a few stretches of the Nadder over the weekend and found that in a testement to the work of the volunteers last year, that the rivers were in very good shape. No downed trees, no significant problems to report. In a rare occurence for me, as I am normally photographer, fisherman and writer all rolled into one, I met someone on the banks who took a photo of me. Probably as I looked somewhat comical in my waders lying in the mud taking photo's of snowdrops...
One thing I was very suprised to find was that at the top of one of our stretches there is a tremendous pool, in previous years it has had a nasty tree growing in one corner that really limited the ability to get a fly into it. Well on walking to it this weekend it appears that nature decided the tree was in the way too, it's now gone, rootball and all.
It was right here in the bottom left of the photo. Who moved it!
And half a mile downstream....
Oh, there it is.
So the sun has been out (although it's been tipping down again all day today) the countryside is beginning, slowly, to wake up and the idea of trout season doesn't seem quite so far away anymore. I've even appeared in the Wild Trout Trust auction this year, so dig deep into those pockets and you can buy a day guided on Salisbury Club waters by little old me. Ok, more like you can buy a day on Salisbury Cub's waters and I'll come along and pretend I know what I'm doing. But I can guarantee you nothing less than an adventure round some of Wiltshires most overgrown fishing if that is your bag.
As usual some pretty pictures to close with. This time Salisbury.
Oh and I've just switched hosts for the site, working on a new version but it's taking a while what with doing everything else. If you notice a change in performance on the site could you drop me an email please so I can keep an eye on it?
Ta
Malcolm