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Jim's Diary |
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| Current Jim's Diary | ||
| Jim's Diary Archives | ||
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| May to July 2007 | ||
| May to July 2007 | ||
 The Sea Trout season began on the 1st. May on the Ouse but I saw none as I walked from Isfield to Lewes. Two anglers were fishing fly. I disturbed two Herons working the ditches in the Cowlease area and found footprints in the mud of where they had been earlier. There was a lot of Reed Warbler activity in the reeds beside the main river and Hamsey Cut and I saw a pair of Egrets. I heard Marsh Frogs at Offham Marsh and a Kingfisher on the Chalk Pit Cut. I took a look at the water coming from the Offham Springs into the Pellbrook Cut and it did not look good despite all the wet weather. Some early Dragonflies were about and then a third Heron which was wrestling with an Eel. Cormorants were sitting on the power pylons and several Wagtails were about. A few Mullett were in the river and splashes could be heard from the Lamport Hollow where a family of ducks with eleven in the brood were dabbling about. I felt that the river flows could be better. On 3rd. May I had Parish Council duties meeting a representative of the ESCC. I walked along the Uck where there were some Mayfly to be seen also a lot of Meadowsweet and other waterside plants. There was a good show of Chub and Dace below Worth Farm weir. I disturbed a Cormorant from a riverside tree and looked up to see a hovering Kestrel and two Buzzards performing aerial Buzzard antics whilst being mobbed by a Crow. The Uck was looking good and I walked on towards Uckfield. A pair of Skylarks ascended high above a field of wheat and I heard the shrill piping of a Kingfisher. The Balsam was quite high in patches along the banks. The next day I cleared rubbish from the centre of the village and along Lewes Road and Horsted Lane filling two large black sacks and was just in time to meet the dustman. I had found all the usual takeaway litter and cans. There was a very active Cuckoo calling in Brickyard Shaw and then I saw another one over the Shaw. Finally they went their separate ways. On the 6th. I walked from the Mills to Hamsey. There was a problem above the Mills in a field where tents had been erected. The campers had left litter and had a large fire burning so I had to go and speak to them to ask them to clear up their rubbish and extinguish the fire but all I got was a tirade of abuse. The ground was so dry and full of cracks making the campfire a potentially dangerous risk. To my great surprise when I returned later the rubbish had gone and the fire site had been cleared up which amazed me considering the type of people I had been dealing with earlier. On the 8th. I had to clear away a fly tip in the Isfield bus shelter ! The drought was continuing and I felt the hose-pipe ban should not have been lifted so soon. It rained steadily on 10th. May. The Task Force was out in action in the pouring rain on 13th. May gathering flints for a future project. Wednesday, 16th. started with a Blackbird singing followed by a full dawn chorus at 4.30 am ! I checked the river for signs of a flow but was disappointed and there were no signs of Sea Trout either. I  returned to the Mills and walked the river into Lewes where I saw some Mullett grazing algae on riverside piles and rocks. There were marks in the mud at Hamsey where fish, probably Bream, had been grubbing.The Marsh Frogs were still croaking at Offham Marsh and the Brooks. I watched Buzzards soaring above upper and lower Bonnie Scotland (the two chalk pits behind the Chalk Pit pub). I saw a flash of electric blue in the tidal channel as a Kingfisher sped upriver beside Tesco. Pieces of Bladder Wrack from the lower Ouse floated on the tide as it came upriver. The moult continues for some weeks. Bladder Wrack pops if you tread on it. Sunday, 20th. was fine and sunny and people were about the Mills no doubt leaving me some rubbish for Monday morning. Nowhere is safe from the litter dropper and as predicted I filled two more sacks with BBQ remains, broken glass, bottles and beer cans the next day. I attended a full Parish Council meeting that evening. I have served for more than 30 years now. I am rewarded by seeing jobs being done around the Parish. A fellow Councillor helped me fill 6 black sacks a few days later from the kerbs along the northern parish boundary. My grateful thanks to my colleague. I noticed that Shortbridge Stream was flowing quite reasonably as I passed by rubbish collecting.On 26th.May a good friend, who also has an interest in rivers, and I set sail for a trip from Westminster Pier going upriver through Teddington Lock into non-tidal Thames bound for Hampton Court. The weather was cool with rain and the trip was most interesting. There were large flocks of Parakeets in the trees and along a natural section of river bank near Richmond there was a small hatch of Mayfly. The river was very busy with many boats and launches heading to the capital—a very good day. I walked the main Ouse from Isfield to Barcombe Mills on 4th. June. The weather was bright and sunny. Quite a large Terrapin had been seen at White Bridge. There was fish activity around the Willows. Swallows and House Martins swooped over the river where there were a few late Mayfly. That morning I saw the first Hobby of the season, Dragonflies and Butterflies. In the river I spotted a large Goldfish, probably a Golden Orf, and a small shoal of Common Carp but still no signs of any Sea Trout. Two families of Moorhen were on the river at different places which indicated to me that thankfully Mink numbers must be low.  I spent three days at the South of England Show on 7,8, 9th. June on the SOCS stand where I was asked a lot of questions. There was a great interest in the Ouse and its tributaries. The weather was kind to us and the heavy overnight rain and thunderstorms fell over the Uck catchment missing the showground. It was time for the Task Force to go out again on 10th. My thanks go to all who turned out. I walked down memory lane on 14th. on a visit to Nymans Gardens. My fellow River Board workmates and I had worked hard improving the Lakes back in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s removing the coarse fish and re-stocking with Trout. The true start of the Coarse Fishing Season began on 16th. June and a few small catches of mixed fish were reported on the Ouse. On 18th. Doreen Prior and I went to the launch of the Railway Land Nature Reserve in Lewes. A few days later I went on a trip to the Avon valley for a Salmon but had no luck. However, I had a large Pike on the first cast into a known spot in this chalk river but the rest of the day was otherwise rewarded by the sight of an Otter, Red Kite, Buzzard, Kingfisher and a profusion of Dragonflies. It is a very interesting river,like ours, with something different around each bend. I watched White Admirals on Blackberry flowers on the woodland rides and edges.What a contrast to last year on 21st. June, the first day of Summer, the reservoirs were full ! The river needed to be watched for over abstraction because after all the rain the flow should have been higher. The next day I cleared up litter thrown from cars around the village yet again. Songbirds both large and small are victims of speeding motorists. Whilst walking I found 2 Greenfinches, 1 Sparrow, 2 Blackbirds, 1 Thrush and 1 Partridge all killed by cars as they speed through the village. There was steady rain on 24th. from 7am and it had rained during the night too. I walked the Ouse in the rain expecting to see better flows but I saw a few Sea Trout. A pair of Swans with eight cygnets floated towards me on the river above The Anchor. More heavy rain fell overnight and it was the start of the severe flooding in the Sheffield area with 4 inches of rain it was the start of a very wet June/July in Sussex and the Ouse valley with an average of around 23 mls around the Isfield  area. The weather continued to have an effect on the local butterfly population. The river flows were up but it was bad news for farmers hoping to make hay. On 28th. I walked around the Lakes and saw Kingfishers, Dragonflies and Damselflies. I found a live Eel of 1½lbs. with a Heron mark on it. It made its way back into the water and I guessed it was too big for the Heron. Green Woodpeckers were feasting on Ants around the Ant hills making their raucous noise when I disturbed them on this day with very little sunshine. On 30th. SOCS was at the Ouse River Festival at the Lewes Railway Land Local Nature Reserve. It was a very wet day and the SOCS volunteers were soaked but a surprisingly large number of people came to the SOCS display. It was too wet to take people on my river walk but I plan to do it in October. Sunday, 1st. July, ‘07 and the river was up and running high and dirty with the automatic gates open at Barcombe Mills. The next day was fine and fairly sunny which brought out the butterflies. I had a local lad doing work experience with me and I was able to show him a Fritillary, White Admirals, Skippers, Marbled Whites, Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers and a few Blues. We saw Kingfishers, a Hobby and another Terrapin. Later on I attended a meeting at the Police Community Support Officer’s surgery to discuss the concern of speeding cars in Isfield. On the 3rd. the river had started to rise after more heavy overnight rain over the Uck catchment and during mid-afternoon there was a thunderstorm with heavy rain which increased the flow at the Mills. I walked the main Ouse in rather muddy and windy conditions and saw a few anglers about. Four Cormorants were perched on a dead tree at Isfield as I walked home. On 6th. the lad who has been with me caught his first Trout on fly and that made his week! The Task Force went out on the Bevern on 8th. July on an exercise with weed. My thanks to all those who turned out on that warm, sunny day. We saw various butterflies including Marbled White and we identified a Great White Egret flying upstream. There was a profusion of Balsam and Ragwort and one cannot help but notice this tall pernicious weed beside the highway. It might look pretty but it is deadly to horses and cattle when dried out. It is, however, the food plant of the Cinnabar Moth caterpillar identified by black and yellow stripes. The Councils no longer pull this dangerous weed which seeds profusely. The evening of the 9th. was beautifully sunny, the Downs looked great and the verges were full of Downland flowers including Scabious and Knapweed which made quite a show with Blue butterflies dancing above them. I noted a field of grass had been cut and I hoped the weather would hold long enough for it to be collected. The hedgerows were awash with Dog Rose and Honeysuckle. On the river two Carp weighing 19lbs. and 19½lbs. were reported. A few Sea Trout were about but many had run upriver on the high water. I had seen two myself run past at Sutton Hall.  On Thursday, 12th. July, Sam, Neil and I were at the South of England Showground accompanied by Dr. Richard Osmond with his ever popular Hi-Tech Wild-Trek Trailer and two and a half thousand school children ! They had come to learn about the countryside and farming. It was a very successful day. A few days later I had another clear up around the village collecting the usual things and easily filled a large black sack in readiness for the dustmen. There was a loud buzzing sounding like a hive full of bees coming from the bees on the sweet smelling Lime blossom by the village pound. In Church lane where the Brambles were in full flower there were two White Admirals, a Peacock and a Painted Lady. What a difference the sunshine makes for the butterflies. I watched a very unlucky Swallow being caught by a Hobby over the Playing Fields. At home I noticed how busy the House Martins were coming and going from their nests under my kitchen window. They were working all day from first light until dusk feeding their young. At that time the bat activity starts on warm evenings but they do not like all the wet weather which means a lack of insects for them to find.On 20th July it was a day of big heavy rains all through the night and this made run offs. All around there were floods and the rivers and streams were rising fast setting the scene for a large summer flood. There was a flood warning from Slaugham to Barcombe Mills. The road was under water at the Mills. Rainfall recorded at Isfield was 66 mls. We escaped lightly with regard to property flooding in this area. Water is an every day need I could not help but think of the plight of the poor people suffering across the country with flooded homes and no mains drinking water relying on the bottles being delivered to them. Many farmers have ruined crops covered in thick mud left by the floods. Grass has been battered down with hay and silage left unmade. Wheat and barley are damaged or ruined. I wish all our local farmers in the Ouse catchment very best wishes for a successful harvest in these difficult times. I am delighted to say that Sunday, 22nd. was a fine sunny day for SOCS and everyone at Isfield Village Fete.
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