Monkey pull followed by a gentle kicking!

Good spot on the windrush near Brassy reserve

Innovation at the cattle water station to help calves, nicely modelled  'kick net'

River wind rush, small waterfall from watercress beds

Detailed analysis of 'kick samples'

Spent today with GWT at a favourite spot, adjacent to Brassy reserve, the Aston farm watercress beds. The mornings task was to remove Monkey Flower plants and then to carry out some kick sampling to gauge the health {as indicated by micro invertebrates} of the watercress beds which lie alongside the river Windrush. On the way to the beds we passed by a cattle water station where John pointed out an innovation GWT had added to help the calves who were not getting a drink mainly because of their size. At the watercress beds John, task leader {Will joined later}, explained the task  and with waders on we happily stepped  into the cool waterbeds to carefully remove any Monkey flowers plants. Clearly extraction work in previous years had been effective since in just over the hour the Monkey flowers were all removed plus some ash and sycamore saplings which over shadowed the beds. This meant the 'kick sampling' of the waterbeds could begin in earnest with 3 teams of 3/4 each operating along one of three of the watercress beds. The method involved 'gentle kicking' of the water into the sample net at different locations for about one minute duration. The sample was then emptied into a trug before repeating the operation two more times. The contents of the trug was then carefully emptied into white trays containing clear water to allow identification of any micro invertebrates.  Against a list of specific invertebrates a count was carried out. In the sample my team collected ~ 100 shrimp were found along with several  blue winged olive, caddis fly plus an impressive Bull Head fish! Also spotted my first Beautiful Demoiselle of the season. Unfortunately had to leave before full analysis of samples was completed and a 'score' for the waterbeds was given. But on the strength of the sample I was involved with {from probably the 'least healthy looking' area }it should be at least a 6+.

Update on waterbed scores gives a reasonable 5,7 and 9 for each of the waterbeds sampled. Other countryside news this Saturday, on my early morning dog walk, revealed a green woodpecker plus 5 healthy fox cubs happily playing by their den.