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

Cromford Canal Water Voles

Today saw me going after something cute and cuddly for change the water vole, the fastest declining mammal in the UK. Cromford Canal is a excellent site to see them and also holds a good population of rather friendly little grebes (above). I've never been to the canal and not seen a vole so the pressure was on not the break my record!

In some of the thicker areas of weeds i could hear a deep croaking sounds and found some common frogs which is unusual for the middle of the day but made for some up close images.

The canal is mostly unused so this means the water is very clear and you can see the pike swimming in the all the vegetation, i filmed this pike with my Underwater Camera (this is screen grab from the film). Theirs
 a good number of pike in the canal but you hardly see any other species of fish so its mystery what they eat! (though i did see one grab a frog)

In the end i was lucky enough to see four water voles along a 5 mile stretch of the canal but this one showed itself the best. They can draw quite a crowd and you often see groups of wildlife photographers on the banks after them so i try to go on weekdays when its less busy.

BBC Wildlife Local Patch Reporter
Jack Perks

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

Toad in the hole (or brook)

Tolerating dryer conditions, you can find toads further from water than frogs

 Following on from last week's common frogs, I'm looking at their warty cousins, the common toads. Though I have found them in my garden they've never bred in my pond and instead prefer to breed in Fairham Brook, a stone's throw away from my house and, unlike the frogs, don't seem to mind running water.

Lone male waits for a partner

Partly due to their toxic skin and areas of the river that are slow-moving the toad tadpoles can do quite well in the brook. Lone males arrive first and any movement sets them off and can be seen grabbing fish sometimes! In fact when I took this image the toad tried to grab the camera.

Females can be twice as big as males

Toads can have long lives (up to 50 years) and Spring is the only time of year they enter the water so I have a small window to get underwater images of them so have to make the most of it. 

They move mainly at night to the ponds

They have very strong homing instincts and will cross roads and barriers to get back to their pond of origin, this can mean they come into difficulties on roads and some groups set up toad patrols to collect toads and move them across the roads, something I hope to tag along to.

BBC Wildlife Local Patch Reporter
Jack Perks

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