Appearing on Springwatch 2015

So after a month of waiting the piece I shot with Springwatch was finally shown and quite pleased how it turned out.

We filmed on the River Wye, Monmouthshire ideally hoping to film shad a stunning fish in the herring family that come into rivers to spawn. Though we were in the right place it was a bit early to see them however there was always a chance.

 Minnows

We set up next to the river for the interviews and then I donned the classic combo of flatcap and wetsuit (I'm sure it will take off eventually) and dipped in to see what lurking in the depths. The water was quite clear but very fast so had to watch my foothold but soon enough saw huge shoals of minnows and lots of stone loach in the gravel.

 My view from the other side of the interview with sound man Gary, cameraman Ralph and producer Bill

Shipping out the pole cam to film the fish 

Sitting and watching what unravels

As well as me getting in I had left some static cams in areas I thought fish would swim by and it wasn't until the main show that I saw anything had come by which was nice to see Chub and Brown Trout investigating the camera.

 Brown Trout

 Stone Loach

Chub

Springwatch have in recent years definitely started to show off more of the little guys not just fish but inverts and herps to and it can only be a good thing to highlight them in a positive way, just look at the tremendous response spineless simon the stickleback has had off this years show!

Watch the Springwatch piece here 39 Minutes in

Further Watching

Online British Video Fish Guide

Beneath the waterline: a short film exploring conservation issues with freshwater I made while trying to film all the species.

Photographs of UK fish

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
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Website: www.jackperksphotography.com