May is almost here already and my “fishing mojo” is all but inactive, I just cannot be bothered sitting sitting around a pond ( or dog shit covered canal towpath).

As I feel at the moment I am in no rush to get out and about…Although the carp monkey is still chattering away on my shoulder

I have however done a little bit of  fly fishing with my mate Dan Stewart-Smith and his dad who is over from Canada.

Dan wanted to take his old man out to Roxholme Trout Fishery at Carlton in Lindrick so that we could get in among some of the “babies” that inhabit this small but extremely well kept fishery.

The Fishery was as always excellent, the welcome was as always warm and the fishing as always was on fire.

Dan was in first with a nice rainbow taking his fly on his new set-up on his first cast. Nice start!!

His dad however was soon off the mark and bagged a scraper double after about an hour or so, these fish can really go and the battle was epic!

I had to wait a while for my first fish but once I had the choice of fly sorted I was away.

After a couple of hours we were joined on the bank by celebrity chef and wild food forager Mark Llyod ( http://www.eatrealfood.co.uk/ )

Mark was up to see what the fishery was like but was unable to get on as Andy the owner is very strict in the number of guests he allows to fish but was able to get onto the “evening rise”

His patience paid off as his first fish was a nice lump but his second was a monster!

What a nice guy and a fish well deserved!!

I had a few more fish and finished on 13 with the biggest one a double of 10lb 4oz a fish that was shaped like a very short breeze block with a head the size of a half house-brick!

 

It was by far the strangest proportioned trout I have ever seen and the picture doesn’t do it justice but that’s life …As I said I finished the day on “13″ I suppose I should have tried for another so that I didn’t finish on the unlucky number but what the hell…Live life on the edge is my motto!!

 

 

A Study of Dandelions

Dandelions are most gardeners worst nightmare…But is that just garden snobbery?

If dandelions were a little harder to grow and a little harder to find would they be quite so hated as they are?

For us humans dandelions are just a pest but for many creatures they are breakfast…Dinner and tea!

And for a few more they are the marital bed, this afternoon I saw a pair of Miner Bees having a proper go at it on a dandelion!

But the best thing that has happened to me recently involving dandelions has been the following shot!!

 

I have been trying to get a decent picture of a Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni)  for ages but the “Imago” Brimstones will not settle until they have mated, they are extremely focused and fly very swiftly along the wood edge in search of a mate, it is only when they slow down for a snack that the lepidopterist stands a chance of getting a “shot off”

Adults emerging from hibernation in the spring will take nectar from a variety of available flowers, such as Dandelion, Primrose, Cowslip, Bugle and Bluebell.

But when it comes to breeding things are a little different and that is why this butterfly shot is very important as it is the “proof” that they are on Bowden Houstead Fields and so I as “Commander in Chief ” of the Handsworth Butterfly and Bumble bee Protection Group can use it as leverage to get some Buckthorn and Alder Buckthorn  saplings from the Council as soon as possible and in decent numbers as female are very choosy about where they lay their eggs, even when there are large numbers of Buckthorns only a very few will be chosen as egg laying sites.

Petition time!

When I was a boy I spent many long and happy hours in woods, Wooley, Scholes, Grange, Grenoside and Smithy.

Smithy was the strangest one, it bordered a coking plant and the trees seemed to be twisted and poisoned but they were old and they were happy.

The wildlife was different to the others as well, there were far more Jays in Smithy than was normal as well as Sparrow Hawk and Carrion Crow.

The woods were ancient but if developers get their way Smithy will fall to the axe and it will NEVER regenerate, how can you regenerate hundreds of years of growth and evolution?

This is wrong, soon we will have nothing left that is wild. please take a moment to follow the link below  and sign the petition, it may be the difference between success and failure.

Failure is not an option that should be easily countenanced.

Go to the bottom of the page and fill in the form.

http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/campaigning/campaigns/protect-ancient-woodland/

And here is another one for the Fire Station at Bowden Houstead

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/63818

And finally

This coming Sunday is the Barbel Society “National”, I will be attending with the Hook Bait Company and will if everything goes well sell a load of buckets with my face on them and get my John Bailey book collection signed.

 

Tata for now!!