Leaping Salmon

 Hiding in the currents they wait

Now as some of you may be aware of I'm rather fond of fish, So much so I must be the UK's only fish twitcher! However there's one thing I've never witnessed and thats Atlantic Salmon leaping upstream so thought its about time I remedied this.

 Brown Trout leaping

I visited a fairly unknown site that has a steady run of Salmon as well as Brown Trout trying to get upstream. The Brownies would jump much higher then the Salmon but didn't have the strength to make it over the weir.

 Another unsuccessful leap

Brown Trout will jump to reach spawning grounds upstream with the Salmon and in some cases can hybridise with Atlantic Salmon though this is rare. It averaged 3 or 4 fish leaping a minute and although I've seen it on Autumnwatch every year nothing prepares you the actual site which put a smile on my face which would not dissipate.

 The mystery fish

At the time I thought this was quite a silvery fish to be jumping and wasn't till I got home that I realised it was a steelhead a searun rainbow trout which is a unusual fish for a river. Rainbows often find there way into rivers when they get washed in from fishing lakes or can be stocked by anglers but the anadromous form of the rainbow is a rarity in the UK.

Powering upstream

Brown Trout on its way to spawning grounds

Some of the fish almost look like they are taking flight and can really reach a good bit of height some going well over 6ft in the air. The remarkable journey these fish take is extraordinary with them growing up in the river and moving out to sea to feed up on shrimps and small fish before coming back from the northern atlantic ocean to spawn again.

Breaching the water the male has developed its pointed snout

Salmon in Scottish and Northern rivers can take up to 3 years to go back to sea while salmon in southern chalk streams will go after just one year because the warmth and extra food. Chalk stream salmon are under threat because they are at there temperature barrier for spawning so if the rivers increase in temperature they may disappear from them for good.

Hen salmon flung high into the air after leaping out of the rapids

Cock salmon making the leap

The sight of a huge Atlantic salmon breaching the rapids to go further upstream was something that will stick with me for a long time and always a nice change not squeezing into a wetsuit and having to get in a freezing river to photograph fish so i could get used to this kind of fish twitching!

BBC Wildlife Local Patch Reporter

Jack Perks

@JackPerksPhoto
Facebook: Jack Perks Photography
Website: www.jackperksphotography.com

Lincolnshire River Trust: The Witham Catchment

As a child I used to visit Grantham quite a bit to see my great grandparents and I always looked forward to seeing the River Witham in Wyndham Park, along with all the fish and ducks, which really set me on a path to becoming a professional wildlife photographer. So when the Lincolnshire Rivers Trust hired me to film the Witham from source to sea I jumped at the chance at seeing my childhood haunt!

The idea was to produce a film of the Witham catchment showing groups and locals’ opinions of the river and highlighting issues as well as wildlife. As part of the Catchment Based Approach, funded by DEFRA, the Lincolnshire Rivers Trust host the Witham Partnership, which is trying to protect, enhance and restore the catchment.

Upper Reaches: Grantham 

Firstly I joined the Grantham Rivercare Group who had organised a clear up day taking rubbish out of the river, it was fantastic to see locals so interested in their river and I wish more rivers had groups like this.

Duck passes over brown trout

Not wanting to leave the wildlife out i was pleased to find a few fish to film in what was quite a urban setting.

Chub 

Dace, Chub, Roach and Brown Trout! 

 Jake with a male and female

Further up the river nearer to its source we met Jake Reeds of the Environment Agency who was looking for White Clawed Crayfish (under licence). This gave me an opportunity I've waited a long time for…filming/photographing these incredible crustaceans in an English river.

White clawed crayfish are critically threatened

I've been coming to the Witham for years and didn't even know these little guys were in it (lots of water voles too!) which is partly why the trust wanted me to make this film, to show of its wildlife as well as interviewing locals and groups on their views of the river.

Middle Reaches: Lincoln

The Brayford Pool has plenty below the surface

After interviewing the Environment Agency, Sea Cadets and the leader of Lincoln City Council, I went on to film some of Lincoln's wildlife. The Brayford Pool is an area often over looked and I even had a member of the public say the classic line "There's nothing in there”. Well I hope he sees this blog, because we found a massive abundance of roach, perch, rudd and a hungry pike.

Lauren Tewson the Director of LRT and members of the angling match at Tattershall

I also caught the end of an angling match near Tattershall Bridge, plenty of fish were caught including a large tench, and a good mixture of bream, perch, dace and roach.

Lower Reaches: Boston

 Kingfisher looking for a meal

Boston was the biggest surprise for me as it seemed to have a wealth of bird life, including this quite bold kingfisher which was quite happy to let me snap away. It was fantastic watching it catching fish in such an industrial setting.

 Bitten off more then it can chew

Another good fishermen is the cormorant, though maybe not quite so graceful. I watched a group of five and they were expert hunters, it was interesting to note that their success rate for catching fish was very high, about every 3 or so dives resulted in a fish like this huge eel!

 Because they're effective hunters they're not too popular with anglers.

This cormorant even caught a pike, which was in the brackish end of the river, so shows they can tolerate some saline water.

The mudflats provide great feeding for waders

The end of my journey brought me to the mudflats were the Witham goes into the Haven and that empties into the Wash. It’s incredible to see a river change as you go through its reaches and I would recommend anyone to do it in order to see a variety of wildlife and habitats. The finished film will be out before the end of the year and online for everyone to see.

BBC Wildlife Local Patch Reporter

Jack Perks

@JackPerksPhoto
Facebook: Jack Perks Photography
Website: www.jackperksphotography.com

The OakTree Inn seemed very keen to promote the Arctic Charr (and they taste incredible) 

So last week took me to Loch Lomond one of the largest bodies of freshwater in the UK (or scotland depending how the vote goes) 5 miles at its widest and 623ft deep theres a lot of water for me to cover. My main target was one of the rarest fish in Great Britain the Powan which normally live in deep glacial lakes.

Rocking the one strap (Image Josh Jaggard)

Luckily I was in the capable hands of Oliver Hooker of the Scottish Centre for Ecology and the Natural Environment (SCENE) They take eggs from the adult powan and rear the fry to be studied and released back into the loch which is where i got my chance to take a few images.

Juvenile Powan released into the Loch

Powan have a few problems facing them from climate change, eutrophication and one of the biggest threats the invasive ruffe that eats the young and eggs.

A almost shocked looking Powan

The large eyes are ideal for living in the deep dark depths of Lochs

You can just make out the adipose fin between the dorsal and tail which distinguishes the fish from small silver fish like dace and roach which it may be confused with at a young age.

Atlantic Salmon Parr

As well as Powan SCENE study Arctic Charr, Brown Trout and Salmon.

One or two fish in the Loch

Despite its size its relatively easy to find signs of fish in the loch with perch, roach and pike being very abundant.

Brown Trout Parr in the River Endrick

The Endrick flows into lomond and provides a great habitat for Brown Trout.

Gudgeon Feeding

I was surprised to see the number of gudgeon both in the Loch and the rivers that go into and some monsters to! If anyone fancies getting the record gudgeon get to Lomond!

Shoal of Roach & Perch

Even though the water was fairly clear it had a huge amount of back scatter which is problematic for the underwater photographer an largely ruins most shots like this of the mega shoal made up of roach, perch, gudgeon and ruffe near the pier at balhama.

Calm day on Loch Lomond (Image: Josh Jaggard)

Over all the trip was a success and really enjoyed taking some images underwater in Scotland something i hope to build on in the coming years.


BBC Wildlife Local Patch Reporter
Jack Perks

@JackPerksPhoto
Facebook: Jack Perks Photography
Website: www.jackperksphotography.com

Trout and Grayling

The Brown Trout grow huge on scraps thrown in

So this week saw me traveling a little out of my local patch and going to the Peak District looking for Grayling spawning a member of the trout family they unlike salmon and brown trout spawn in the spring once the water starts to warm up and days get longer. Some huge brown trout were present and not camera shy for change normally they won't get close at all! all the images are screen grabs from filming.

While breeding they become so fixated with each other you can get very close to the fish

Here's a female Grayling other wise known as the lady of the stream sometimes seen as a pest to trout anglers i find them fabulous fish that deserve just as much admiration as brown trout.

The River Wye is one of the only rivers were rainbow trout breed in the UK.

Although the exact records are missing, it is believed that a consignment of very small fish was on its way to Scotland from the Washington state in the United States in 1910. for some reason they were put into a lake on the grounds of Ashford Hall to spend the winter. The river flooded that year and the rainbow trout found a new home.

The darker male and lighter female pairing up getting ready to breed. I'll be returning to get more footage of them hopefully breeding. While the Atlantic Salmon is the king of rivers the Grayling is called the lady of the stream and certainly deserves it title.

Even had a photobombing brown trout come into the video!

Video from last year of grayling

BBC Wildlife Local Patch Reporter
Jack Perks

@JackPerksPhoto
Facebook: Jack Perks Photography
Website: www.jackperksphotography.com

Peak District Trout & Grayling!

Living so close to the peak district i thought it was about time i got over there did some photography! having been assisting with the BBC all week filming coarse fish i thought i'd keep up the piscatorial antics but go for brown trout and grayling two fish i have long been after to photograph but as of today never had a chance.

at first they proved a little shy but..

once they got used to my presence they were more then happy to pose for me!

to top it of i also saw kingfisher, dipper and rainbow trout though the brown trout proved a little camera shy.


Video of todays fish below

Peak District fish filmed underwater



bug thanks to Rob Cuss who took me there to get the shots!

www.jackperksphotography.co.uk