Flying...

MrM's bike was booked in at the repair shop at Haugh Head this morning, and he suggested a trip to the nearby Haugh Head ford to see whether any fish were jumping. They were, but by the time we got there it was raining quite heavily, so we didn't stay long. MrM's next suggestion was a trip to the tip to dispose of some rubbish and put our bottles and jars in the recycling bank - we seem to have accumulated an awful lot over the past few months. His rationale was that if we go while it's raining, we'll avoid the queues. We did, indeed, do that, but also got very wet!

Time for a few little chores before lunch, and then our supermarket delivery arrived and it took a while to sort out (some of it was for a friend) and put away the shopping. Later, when it had stopped raining, I accompanied MrM to fetch his bike and we returned to the ford.
Sea trout and salmon migrate upstream to spawn, and Haugh Head ford on the Wooler Water makes it very difficult - impossible for most of them - to do this. In about 30 minutes this afternoon we watched hundreds of fish attempt to jump from the river in to the water coming over the ford, and saw only four succeed. It's a huge leap, and most fish either crash headlong in to the concrete on the side of the ford, or simply get washed straight back down in to the river by the great torrent of water.  It was heartbreaking to watch. The fish in the Blip was swept back down. A couple of extras - the first of which shows a sea trout as it hits the wall of water. The Environment Agency and a couple of environmental organisations hope to modify the ford to make fish migration easier, but work has been held up by some local opposition. Hopefully, it will go ahead next year.