River Tyne 5^th June 2018

The very dry month of May saw 616 upstream fish counts at Riding. In the low clear waters late smolt activity was apparent throughout the system.

During this period of low flow and high water temperatures a small number of salmon mortalities were reported.

Thankfully the storms over the weekend created a welcome increase in river levels, the Alston hydrograph makes interesting viewing as it shows a substantial vertical rise in a very short time, much of this spate came down the Blackburn from Hardside watershed.

As the waters cleared fish were seen accessing Hexham Bridge and my grandchildren enjoyed seeing running fish going through the Haydon Bridge footings on Sunday 3^rd June.

Riding Mill fish counter recorded 616 upstream counts for May. From the 1^st to the 4^th of June 532 upstream counts were recorded with over 180 counts in one day. Some travelling fish were seen near Haltwhistle and a clean 13lb salmon was caught a little further downstream.