Giving it Some Wellie

Riverflies Invertebrate Monitoring this morning on the River Wharfe at Addingham. This stretch of river is called Paradise Pool which was pushing it today at least, given it was very cold. Plenty of bugs counted though - included notably a solitary mayfly nymph.

After 5 years of doing these kick samples on the Wharfe, I finally decided to switch to my newer waders this morning. This was rather than use my usual old pair that leak down one leg whenever wading deep. I don’t know why I persevered so long without fixing them, because they have actually left me with a wet leg for 17 years.

It started after I lent them to artist Andy Goldsworthy one week in 2005. He had been wanting to ‘harvest’ pond ice from Tatton Park mere to make a series of ice sculpture as part of an arts programme called Oneplace and somehow managed to puncture them. I didn’t have the heart to tell him afterwards.