Salmon passing!

Monday 14^th November; Commandery to Perdiswell Park (bridge 17)

Although the nearby roads are noisy in the evening, it’s quiet here overnight bar the occasional siren.  We even woke late!  But we weren’t cruising till later on, as first we wanted to go down to the new-ish fish pass at Diglis lock, as today is the last chance this year to visit the viewing gallery.  We crossed the Severn on the footbridge below past Diglis lock, approaching the lock from downstream, so we could see the bottom of the fish pass quite clearly.

The fish pass from below

It is part of the Unlocking The Severn project, which has created fish passes alongside the river locks to enable endangered species, such as the twaite shad and lampreys to get past the weirs and higher up the river to spawn.  It had to be the ‘deep vertical slot’ type of fish pass, as the shad is a weak swimmer and this is the most suitable kind as it has areas of calmer water for the fish to rest on their way up.  Before the Severn weirs were constructed in the mid-19^th century there were hundreds of thousand of them along the river - but the shad, which can’t leap like the salmon, has been unable to migrate up the river for nearly 180 years.  Yet in spite of that, as soon as the pass was available to them, up they went.  I think that's wonderful, don't you?

If you want to know more about the different types of fish pass – there are lots! - here is a link to an explanation.  The Diglis one was constructed with the public in mind as well as the fish, so there is a viewing terrace above.

The view from the viewing terrace

Autumn is not generally a good time to see fish so we didn’t see anything from outside, though I bet it’s brilliant when the salmon are migrating in spring.  I would be inclined to moor at Hawford Junction and take the footpath along the river, which overlooks the pass at Bevere lock.

And from the top of the pass

Below water level, in the viewing gallery, a camera records every fish that passes, so they can monitor its effectiveness.  So far twenty-five species have been spotted, including salmon, eels, both sea and river lampreys, and shad (all migratory), and the usual residents of the river like roach, tench and chub, as well as barbel.  Here is a handy YouTube video which shows some of what has been recorded since the pass was opened in early 2021. It’s fascinating, though you have to remember there would have been long periods with nothing happening.

Fewer fish go by in the autumn and winter, and we were told there have been some in the last couple of weeks as the river hadn’t been quite cold enough for their liking for them to come up in the summer.  We were extremely lucky to see a salmon, which was resting before going out into the river and further upstream.

Salmon

In spite of the dim conditions, Dave could tell it what it was, confirmed when it obligingly opened its mouth to show the characteristic shape of its jaw (to a collective Ah! from the dozen or so people in the gallery).  Here are a couple more links if you are interested – the CRT site, and the Unlocking The Severn site.

If you haven't already abandoned this post (I hope you haven't) you get the idea we are pretty keen on the whole fish conservation thing! 😀

We got back to the boat some time after 11, and immediately got ready to move down Sidbury lock to the basin so we could wind.  A boat must have gone up the lock while we were out, leaving it full, so it was in our favour.  The canal has been so quiet I took a chance and left the bottom gates open ready for our return.  Back up we went, and I walked on to turn Blockhouse lock leaving Dave to finish off at Sidbury.

The towpath above Blockhouse lock is closed in the mornings so piling work can be done.  It was gone 12 by now, so there was no activity.

It looks as though piling is being added to protect parts of the towpath wall – we could see that in several places along this stretch there are bulges or missing bricks.   The heavy cloud lifted a bit as we passed Lowesmoor basin and the sun even came out for a while when we stopped for lunch at the park before bridge 12.

Time for a play

A boat came passed heading for Worcester while we were there, so the remaining four locks were all in our favour.  The paint on Gregory’s Mill lock was still tacky in places and I ended up, or so I thought, with just a bit on my hand.  However, I incautiously sat on a beam while waiting for the lock to fill … luckily I only wear old clothes for boating, a throwback to the days when I frequently managed to get covered in grease!  The cloud was coming over again by now though, and by the time we moored at bridge 19 by Perdiswell Park it was distinctly gloomy, even though it was only about 3 o’clock.  The rain started almost immediately and carried on till after dark.

7 locks, 3 miles