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Drought!

Neil Blood

Neil Blood

Senior Member
At what point do we need to start seriously worrying about the current low river levels and with no significant rain in sight?

Comparisons are already being made with the summer drought of 1976; however 2025 is very different and in relation to our smaller rivers:

  • Significant larger human population with more demand on water.
  • Virtually all viable UK Otter territories are now taken. As fish retreat to remaining deeper pools, they become very easy concentrated targets. Mink will also take advantage of this.
  • In 1976 there were no English nesting Goosanders, now they are a common breeding bird along our rivers. Late summer, it’s really quite scary when you watch a female Goosander with 7+ young, fish out pool after pool!
All year classes of fish are being hit by predation hard, due to the above points.

We may also loose fish generally, as they become trapped in shallow areas, plus warming river temps and dissolved oxygen crashes could be a risk.

20+ years ago, I attended a local Barbel Society meeting, where Chris Ponsford, who then worked for the E.A, talked about how they had to rescue large trout from the upper Teme annually, as they became trapped in pools. The upper Teme dries out most summers and the large trout were being picked off by the Otters.

It won’t be long before the NFU, drops their “We are the guardians of the countryside” and will be shouting that the priority is food production and not fish. They did this a few years back when extraction of river water was stopped by the E.A. Governments are also shit scared of inflation, and failed crops will affect food inflation.

I for one am starting to get worried!
 
Yes it’s a little scary! The sad thing is various factions will still be arguing the case of defending various predators in some form or another, saying it’s a natural balance! But in truth we all mostly know what the consequences will be? 🤔 very sad times await for us all in the end, mate
 
The predators are only going to eat the same amount of fish anyhow, so I don't think they will do anything different than if the rivers were normal height.
I imagine all the canoists etc will be a much bigger problem, scrambling over spawning sites etc etc.
Regarding dissolved oxygen levels etc, they'll be even less in still waters so how those fish gonna go on?
At the end of the day it's part of the weather cycles and in reality why stress yourself, you can't do anything about it, aybe try doin' a rain dance 😉
 
Had a drop in mid-Sussex a couple of nights ago, it was the first drop in about 6 - 8 weeks. The gardens are like concrete already. It's certainly a worry, though I was up at Ardingly ressie a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty full.
 
Ian Woods said:
The predators are only going to eat the same amount of fish anyhow, so I don't think they will do anything different than if the rivers were normal height.
I imagine all the canoists etc will be a much bigger problem, scrambling over spawning sites etc etc.
Regarding dissolved oxygen levels etc, they'll be even less in still waters so how those fish gonna go on?
At the end of the day it's part of the weather cycles and in reality why stress yourself, you can't do anything about it, aybe try doin' a rain dance 😉
Click to expand...
Rain dance? No way I’m loving it! ☀️ 😉🤣
 
Trouble is no one is investing in new reservoirs. Especially in the Severn and Wye catchments for example. So much water lost to winter spates that could have been collected and used to supply an ever growing population and maintain decent flow rates - especially the Wye which has suffered greatly to poor levels during the last few summers. - last season was the exception where reasonable flow rates were the norm for most of the summer up to early November.

It’s all well and good the dictators saying they’re gonna build all these homes. Where’s the supporting infrastructure ??
 
To be honest, I imagine these connditions will be ideal for spawning fish, and when the eggs hatch there should be plenty of food for them.

Lets hope when the rain does start to fall it isn't the kind to cause floods and wash the fry away before they get strong enough to cope with it.
I know when it has rained regularly at this time of year the river has constantly rose and then fell back down leaving countless fry to dry up in pools each time it doea so.
Be nice if we had a nice bit of rainfall, just enough to keep things from looking like the end is nigh 😶.
 
Ian Woods said:
To be honest, I imagine these connditions will be ideal for spawning fish, and when the eggs hatch there should be plenty of food for them.

Lets hope when the rain does start to fall it isn't the kind to cause floods and wash the fry away before they get strong enough to cope with it.
I know when it has rained regularly at this time of year the river has constantly rose and then fell back down leaving countless fry to dry up in pools each time it doea so.
Be nice if we had a nice bit of rainfall, just enough to keep things from looking like the end is nigh 😶.
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They were spawning a few weeks back here in North Yorkshire which is early and may have another go more than likely which should make it a good year for spawning 🤞🏻 and as long as it doesn’t rain 🌧️ too heavily I think my local rivers will fish brilliantly 🤞🏻
 
Ian Woods said:
The predators are only going to eat the same amount of fish anyhow, so I don't think they will do anything different than if the rivers were normal height.
I imagine all the canoists etc will be a much bigger problem, scrambling over spawning sites etc etc.
Regarding dissolved oxygen levels etc, they'll be even less in still waters so how those fish gonna go on?
At the end of the day it's part of the weather cycles and in reality why stress yourself, you can't do anything about it, aybe try doin' a rain dance 😉
Click to expand...
To clarify on the prediction front, my concern is that normally Otters only pick off the Barbel during cold water temps when the fish are quite dormant. During drought conditions, if the Barbel effectively get trapped in small pools/holes, they become an easy target. Similar to the Chris Ponsford big trout/upper Teme example.

A couple of weeks back I did some fish spotting in relation to a summer/autumn Barbel campaign, which I have in mind on a smallish river. Initially I found a group of quality Chub, which readily took the pellets I chucked in.

I became aware of a squeaking juvenile Otter, so I immediately dropped low down in the vegetation. Sure enough and a couple of minutes later, a female Otter and 2 cubs came through and proceeded to work every bit of cover. The Chub were ignored, which retired to the snags. I was able to watch the Otter family for a few minutes and they only seemed interested in small fish. Managed some nice phone video too 👍🏻 Soon after the Otters departed upstream, I walked upstream around 20 ME to find a group of 6 Barbel, which the Otters had swam right over and again they were completely ignored.

I just worry that if these larger Chub and Barbel end up trapped in a small hole, they become too easy a target?
 
Neil Blood said:
I just worry that if these larger Chub and Barbel end up trapped in a small hole, they become too easy a target?
Click to expand...

I absolutely understand your concern Neil, for sure the possabilites are alarming. As I said about trying not to worry about the low water conditions because it's out of our hands, the same applies with this possible scenario.
In reality, I think otters are far more likely to target the smaller fish, fresh water clams, crayfish etc before they even look at larger chub or barbel.....fingers crossed !
 
Ian Woods said:
I absolutely understand your concern Neil, for sure the possabilites are alarming. As I said about trying not to worry about the low water conditions because it's out of our hands, the same applies with this possible scenario.
In reality, I think otters are far more likely to target the smaller fish, fresh water clams, crayfish etc before they even look at larger chub or barbel.....fingers crossed !
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Ian I hope you’re right🤞🏻 but the pessimist in me thinks otherwise? Mate 😉👍🏻
 
Neil Last week I sent an e-mail asking United Utilities why they have not got a hose pipe ban in place. Next day I got a phone call, the manager started off by saying "We have everything under control", It was the usual PR rubbish these people spout. I told him I was busy, so would he send me an e-mail, this arrived a few hours later. I will send you a copy.
 
Martin James said:
Neil Last week I sent an e-mail asking United Utilities why they have not got a hose pipe ban in place. Next day I got a phone call, the manager started off by saying "We have everything under control", It was the usual PR rubbish these people spout. I told him I was busy, so would he send me an e-mail, this arrived a few hours later. I will send you a copy.
Click to expand...
Please Martin, do share with us all, thank you.
 
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