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when is it going to stop.

This is not fishery management per se, David, it's land management.
It's related to the desire as part of the valley's protection to see it managed in a way that helps species the authorities would like to see return. The reduction in the trees and opening of the aspect is part of the plan to reduce the roosting of predatory birds and increase the area of land given to being waterlogged, as it is invariably these parts of the valley where copses have taken hold.
Ultimately this land management should have been an ongoing thing for years, but sadly lacking due to lack of money in enabling landowners to maintain it. Now, however, these landowners are being paid for the work making it quite worth their while.


Damian
 
greed damien thats all it is,as i said in previous post the somerley estate and fishery manager?could not give a toss about the fishery but left it to volunteers like yourself and j Mc amonst others to repair things that were outright dangerous,but wave a pound note under their noses they bite your and hand off.
 
You could say it like that Jamie. :)
 
I have been on the Estate working today and felt compelled to post;

I was under the impression that this present round of work was a continuation of the work started by the Estate last year, work that I have to say was a little difficult to understand, given the extent of it. It turns out that what has been taking place over the past weeks has been undertaken by the club at the behest of the Estate. I have to say, it certainly seems to me anyway, has been just a little exaggerated - yes, some of the scrub has been removed, but that's all! The large trees that were present, unless dangerous, remain.
Given the negativity surrounding this work I thought I would post this picture of Steve Gibson and Dave Perkins working (pretty bloody hard) today on the club's new hut. This hut will be open to all members and to serve as both a venue for some of the club's meetings but also as a coaching venue too.
2012-03-17161612.jpg


Hopefully it offers a little balance to affair.

Damian
 
I heard it said once that one riparian tree provides as many insects for the fish to feed on as one acre of meadow. That sounds like one blooming good reason not to chop them down.
 
Having walked and fished the fishery a couple of months ago when I first joined CAC (eventually) and drooling over the 'intimacy' of some of the swims because of the tree cover. I walked it a couple of weeks ago and was horrified at the extent of the de-forestation that has taken place:eek: I feel that the problem is excaserbated by the fact that 'Non skilled' labour is used for a lot of the work (I stand to be corrected) I wish no disrespect to these people of course but if not constantly supervised you are bound to have mistakes being made.
 
Keith Humphreys said:
Having walked and fished the fishery a couple of months ago when I first joined CAC (eventually) and drooling over the 'intimacy' of some of the swims because of the tree cover. I walked it a couple of weeks ago and was horrified at the extent of the de-forestation that has taken place:eek: I feel that the problem is excaserbated by the fact that 'Non skilled' labour is used for a lot of the work (I stand to be corrected) I wish no disrespect to these people of course but if not constantly supervised you are bound to have mistakes being made.
Click to expand...

First and foremost Keith, like I said earlier, the work was undertaken at the behest of the Estate, so to be assumed that it wasn't up for debate. Personally speaking, I think it was work that needed doing, amounting to little more than a clearance of undergrowth. Aesthetically, it's a change yes, but the intimacy will return.
Secondly, both Steve Gibson and Dave Perkins are, I gather, certified in the use of chainsaws - they certainly have to be to use them on the Estate. Further, Steve Gibson is a carpenter by trade and knows a great deal more about the nature of certain species of trees than most might ever.


Damian
 
Damien, when you can walk the whole stretch from top car park to the trout sream point i would call it more than a little bit of scrub clearence imo. a nice photo of the new hut going up but a little to the left would have shown a view of the pruning which the club has done for the estate.i think we will agree to disagree .all the best
 
I think to be honest, Jamie, the fact that this level of work has been largely missing for the past 30 years has skewed your view as to what your average southern chalkstream might look like.
If you have a look at some of the articles from editions of old weeklies you'll see the Somerley features quite regularly in the accompanying pictures - you'll rarely see any bankside vegatation.
 
Damian,

Your staunch defence of the works undertaken is much appreciated and while it may seem shocking to those that knew the stretch a couple of years ago before the tree clearance was undertaken, it remains the case that this work was undertaken by the estate at the behest of Natural England et al as part of the Avon Valley conservation plan. We all have our views on the activities of these quangos but it remains the case that the felling and scrub clearance that was undertaken was not at the behest of, or even approved by, CAC, who had no say in the matter.

John/Keith/Jamie,

May i suggest that a public forum such as this is not the best place to air your views on the merits, or otherwise, of the perceived actions of the controlling fishing club. If you have any issues or concerns regarding the venue, these should surely be addressed to the Club itself rather than an unedifying slanging match developing in an open arena, which potentially casts a bad light on angling in general.


Dave
 
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David Clewer said:
Damian,

Your staunch defence of the works undertaken is much appreciated and while it may seem shocking to those that knew the stretch a couple of years ago before the tree clearance was undertaken, it remains the case that this work was undertaken by the estate at the behest of Natural England et al as part of the Avon Valley conservation plan. We all have our views on the activities of these quangos but it remains the case that the felling and scrub clearance that was undertaken was not at the behest of, or even approved by, CAC, who had no say in the matter.

John/Keith/Jamie,

May i suggest that a public forum such as this is not the best place to air your views on the merits, or otherwise, of the perceived actions of the controlling fishing club. If you have any issues or concerns regarding the venue, these should surely be addressed to the Club itself rather than an unedifying slanging match developing in an open arena, which potentially casts a bad light on angling in general.


Dave
Click to expand...

Hi Dave,

There is another way of looking at things, as you are no doubt aware. Club committees, as with any ruling group in any walk of life, tend to ignore the views of individuals, or even groups of like minded members. Clubs are obviously made up of people with differing views on any given matter, that is life. What makes it worse with angling is that the different disciplines within our hobby are seemingly permanently at war with one another. If one particular discipline manages to dominates the ruling committee (as invariably seems to happen) then the views of that ruling group can take sway, even where those views are not those of the clear majority of the membership....and for reasons we won't bother going into, that problem is often not put right at AGM's or other meetings.

I am not a member of your club, so cannot comment on this case specifically, I am merely disagreeing with your generalisation that open forums are not the place to address issues with a club. In light of the above, my personal findings are that open forums are often the ONLY place to do this effectively. 'Naming and shaming' as it's frequently called, can be the only way that some clubs will listen to the views or concerns of members. Sad....but nonetheless true.

Cheers, Dave.
 
Dave,

I take your point and accept that factions can take over club committees and subvert matters to their own agenda. Nevertheless, clubs are supposed to be democratically run on the basis of one member, one vote but rather than attend meetings and actually air their views and try to get things done (perhaps even offer to take a position on the committee!), disgruntled members tend to use forums such as this to give vent to their feelings.

I just don't think it's that constructive and the way that things should be done, but if you can't get the membership to turn out for meetings (or work parties etc for that matter!), then said members can't really complain if things are not run in the way that they would like.


Dave
 
I am not sure how you have come to the opinion that this round of works was undertaken by the Estate, David, but I believe that there is some confusion as to who has done what, no doubt made possible by the number of parties involved in the work.
The initial round of works was undertaken by the tenant farmer on the west bank and included the removal of 3 copses. Last years work was undertaken by the Estate, with this years work undertaken by CAC. It was most likely all a dictate from Natural England as part of the Estate's participation in the HLS scheme.
I don't suppose it matters a great deal anyway.

Damian
 
its a bit hard attending a club meeting with a 240 mile round trip involved,i think their next meeting is a few days before the start of the season they did not think to have it a few days intothe season so anglers from outside the local area could fish and then go and have their say.over a course of a season i spend a good few quid on b&b ,tackle shop,pub grub and takeaways in the ringewood area and if i want to air my views on this site i will do.i have been a member of cac for 20 yrs and have seen the membership fall and it will continue to do so if people arent happy with whats happening on the somerely estate.at the last meeting a friend of mine dare question the river keeper on the state of things much to the horror of the club.the club should have the balls to stand up to somerley estate and pay a lower rent for the water as i am sure there would be no one else who will pay up and shut up.one other thing what a shame natural england is not affected by the cuts from goverment in a perfect world it should be a permenant cut for NE.
 
Damian,

Thanks for clarifying who undertook the works. The point I was trying to make was that the main work (copse clearance and the tree work last year) was carried out as part of the conservation plan and was not initiated by the club. I accept that the more recent work was done by the club (although I believe John Levell may have had a hand in it) but my understanding is that this was more in the nature of tidying up after the previous work rather than further major works.

Jamie,

I fully appreciate that it is not practical for you to attend the club meetings. Indeed, ever increasing fuel costs are, I believe, a significant factor in the declining membership, deterring more 'long distance' members from rejoining the club. Even Stef Horak has retrenched and fishes more local venues these days so I suspect that it is an issue for many clubs with 'trophy' waters that used to attract 'out of town' members.

These are difficult times for us all. I was at the January meeting attended by your friend and while I am sympathetic with the views expressed about the river's decline from its prime, one has to be realistic about what is achieveable at the local level. The problems that we are facing now are the result of years of neglect by the EA as well as Government policy that has completely ignored environmental impacts (e.g. developments on flood plains, abstraction, pollution etc.) and don't get me started on the otter and cormorant problems! The simple truth is that it will take a long time to turn things around and that is assuming that they can be turned around and it is not too late for our rivers.........

One of the problems with any organisation run by a committee for the benefit of the members, is that a lot of the work undertaken by the committee has to remain confidential. I will be the first to admit that the club has had a torrid time of late amid growing discontent amongst the membership (certainly some of those who contribute to the club's own forum) but this has not been helped by poor attendance at the annual meetings. With no quorum present, it is not possible to make any changes, aggravating the situation rather than addressing it........!!!

The committee are fully aware of the members' views and I'm sure your remarks about the Somerley estate are at the forefront of their minds. That stretch of the Avon remains the jewel in the crown of their portfolio of waters and it is in all our interests if the current situation can be resolved to the satisfaction of all. Hopefully there will be some positive news at the AGM in June.

I just hope that we have some meaningful amounts of rain between now and June so that the river is in fine fettle for the new season. If the current dry weather continues, you may well be able to walk across the river on the luxuriant weed growth without getting your feet wet!!


Dave
 
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