We talk about fishermen (and rarely of fisherwomen) but we don’t talk about fish-watchers as we will talk about bird-watchers, do we? Why is that?
There isn’t a Royal Society for the Protection Fish nor a Fishlife nor a Fish Conservation. Yes there are organisations which do some good work for our fishy friends but it is almost as though fish aren’t wildlife. Fish are for catching by men who need an excuse to get away from their wives it seems. Fish don’t have lives except as sporting prey or menu items.
That must be nonsense and this book fired me up to become a fish watcher. I have at times looked deep into the soul of a body of water and noticed some legless vertebrates swimming around, and I have sometimes wondered what they were. This book allows me to go further and know what they are, and know a little more about their biology – probably enough to get me even more interested.
Did you know that the catchment of the Welsh River Dee seems to be the most species-rich in the UK – neither did I. And did you know that as well as the 41 native freshwater fish in UK rivers and lakes there are 12 non-native species including rainbow trout, common carp, zander and topmouth gudgeon – well now you do?
That figure of 41 native species caught my eye. There are a few groups (eg butterflies, dragonflies, bats, and now freshwater fish, it seems) where the number of species they contain are a manageable number for someone to attempt to see the lot in a calendar year. Last weekend i met a very nice butterfly-watcher who has seen all the British butterflies for the last four years and is expecting to ‘get the lot’ this year too. He struck me as being an enthusiast rather than a nutter – and much nicer than the average twitcher of rare birds. Has anyone done it for fish? Is it possible to see Arctic charr without hoiking them out of their deep lakes? I wonder whether anyone has attempted the 41? What is the top UK year-list for fish-watching? I expect someone has caught all 41 in a year, and probably all 53 – have they? This book has got me interested in fish.
Fishermen always say they are conservationists but then they sometimes let the side down by calling for cormorants/otters/herons/ospreys to be culled rather than putting their efforts fully into preventing releases of invasive species and battling against pollution of watercourses. The twaite shad will be a big loser if the Severn Barrage is ever built – and look out eels, salmon and lampreys too! Maybe we fish-watchers will do a better job for fish as part of natural ecosystems?
This book encourages fish-watching explicitly and also through providing the information to make it fun. I like it a lot.
I won’t be attempting the 41 but I am now going to look into rivers and lakes and try to learn to identify the fish I see. i expect I’ll produce lots of duff records at first but it’ll be fun. I’ll keep you posted on progress. Are there any other fish-watchers out there?
Britain’s Freshwater Fishes by Mark Everard is published by Princeton University Press and is available on Amazon as is Mark Avery’s book Fighting for Birds.
This blog is going to feature book reviews, mostly of newly published books, on Sundays for the next few weeks.
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Here in Cumbria we have a number of rare deep water fish like the Arctic Char so how do you see them. The answer is when they are spawning! Members of the Carlisle Natural History Society [One of the oldest in Britain!] have been given some amazing talks in recent years with the Vendace, Arctic Char and the Schelly. The last one was made up of finding an old point on Ulswater called ‘Schelly nab’ and finding Otter spraints full of the remains of this fish. Camera traps were set up and not 1 but 6 Otters were found feeding here along with a Fox which was chased off by the Otters. Even the Environment Agency has come under question asking for a ‘Cormorant cull’ to save rare fish but not supporting the reintroduction of the White tailed Eagle which is the Cormorant’s main predator.
John – I hoped this review would flush out some interesting facts and tales. Thank you for starting them off.
I am delighted you have reviewed this book, I haven’t read it although I have read a number of Mark Everards other works. The ‘Little Book of Little Fishes’ is a good read
(http://www.medlarpress.com/index.php?if=view&pid=7911) as his fascinating book on Water Meadows?
There is an excellent fish spotting spot in your neck of the woods Mark, on the Willow Brook. If you go and stand on the bridge on the aptly named Bridge Street just below Apethorpe, you will be able to see a large shoal of Chub with the occasional Brown Trout, Dace, Roach and Perch. On a bright sunny day it is like staring into an aquarium. As for all fish watching, a pair of Polaroids glasses is essential.
“Is it possible to see Arctic charr without hoiking them out of their deep lakes?”Highly unlikely without the aid of deep diving equipment and x-ray vision, I think the same applies to Vendace.
“I expect someone has caught all 41 in a year, and probably all 53 – have they?”
A couple of anglers set out out to catch 35 species in 30 days as part of a series which was shown on Discovery, the series was entitled The Great Rod Race. Why only 35 ?Some species such as the Twaite Shad, Allis Shad, Sparling, Powan and Vendace cannot legally be fished for as they are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Some are too small to fish for, others far too rare.
“Fishermen always say they are conservationists but then they sometimes let the side down by calling for cormorants/otters/herons/ospreys to be culled rather than putting their efforts fully into preventing releases of invasive species and battling against pollution of watercourses”
Sadly this is too true, however it was my interest in fish, freshwater habitats and fishing that inspired me to pursuit a career in conservation, so don’t tar us all with the same brush. A real angler spends far more time observing fish and appreciating the environment they live in than they ever do casting a hook at them.
Did you know that Dick Benyon has opened up the floodgates for more cormorants to be culled ? His latest brainwave is new catchment-based approach which will allow for cormorant control based on ‘local needs’ rather than arbitrary national limits….
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fish-eating-birds-management-policy-review
Apparently Goosanders and Red Breasted Mergansers are safe….for now!
Joe w – many thanks for the comment and for the well-judged tip about where i can get my fish-watching off to a good start. Best time of day? Best time of year? I am a complete novice as you can see.
Anytime of year when the water clarity is good, the levels are not too high and the fish are not busy spawning elsewhere. Anytime of day is usually good, the brighter the better as it is easier to peer into the depths, however take great care if the sun is behind you as the sudden appearance of a sillouette on the water will almost certainly spook the fish and make them dart for cover.
The most important tip is to take a pair of Polaroid sunglasses, this cannot be over-emphasised. A local tackle shop will sell them and an adequate pair can be picked up for around £10. A peaked cap also helps to block out the glare.
The wooden footbridge on the footpath below Kings Cliffe is also reasonable spot, especially looking downstream. The nearby Cross Keys serves good beer.
Joe w – great tips, thank you.
Clearly it will be a lot harder to see some species than others. Pike can often be seen floating motionless in the water near the edge of lakes and are always a beautiful sight. A glass bottomed bucket could be a good investment to get a clear glimpse of the underwater world.
Are you going to count fish seen in the bills/talons of piscivorous birds or only those that are completely free, alive and in their natural environment?
P.S. for a shorter challenge you could aim for all of the British amphibians (7) or all of the reptiles (6)!
I use one of these from a boat for peering into the depths of shallow meres. Very useful bits of kit, as are life jackets.
https://www.tacklebox.co.uk/boats-and-fishfinders/boating-accessories/various/nouva-rade-collapsible-aquascope.html#product41561
I couldn’t agree more Joe. Anglers will always be the best nature watchers because they immerse themselves in it, they become part of it. But it needs more and better engagement on both sides to resolve differences, the race to the most sensationalist Daily Mail headline rarely makes good long term conservation objectives and action.
Watching fish is wonderful – soothing, good for the soul. I’ve always wanted to create a fish watching platform after enjoying a great US Forest service one, but never got round to it. Noah’s hide at Shapwick NNR is great on a good day – great views of shoals floating gently below the surface – I’d love to know for sure what they are and I think you may have made another sale for Mark Everard !
The other thing I’ve got into recently (probably quite closely connected !) is aerial plankton watching – when the sun is low on a calm summer evening you can sometimes see what the swifts & hirundines are in to as the air lights up with glowing insects.
Maybe there is no RSPF or BTI (ichthyology!) but the rspb is involved in fish management and conservation. With many reserves having a predominant watery environment it is inevitable that fish play an important role in any biodiversity plan. On our local rspb reserve the effort to attract breeding bittern requires a good number of fish in the reed beds. Many fish will find their way in naturally through interlinking feeder streams and ditches and can, I believe, be brought in as eggs on birds feet. The stock has been increased by the introduction of young Rudd bred elsewhere. Volunteers also provide breeding areas and refuges for young fish by placing drainage pipes and sinking weighted brash into the reed bed.
I’m enjoying your book reviews, Mark. I wonder if you’ve seen the essay by Richard Mabey in yesterday’s Guardian about modern writing on “Nature”. It is basically a critique of a previous article by Steven Poole which was highly critical of modern authors. I don’t agree with all that Mabey says but it is a thought provoking article. Here is a link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/18/richard-mabey-defence-nature-writing
One book I hope you will review is the new one from Mark Cocker, Birds and People. I am looking forward to Mark’s talk at Blackwell’s bookshop in Oxford where he will talk about the book and sign copies (an activity close to your own heart, Mark!) Aug 13th 7.00pm. I’m sure there will be other venues.
richard – thank you. Mark’s book – which I am almost sure will be almost perfect is on order!
I was for a few years in the 1980s a keen reservoir trout fisher. For quite a long time, fish that other people had caught were the only ones I saw. There were only two species – rainbows and brownies. The ones in Blagdon and Chew were the best, especially if you caught a rare overwintered one. However, they all tasted of Mendip mud, which was a large factor in my eventual loss of interest.
Fly-tying increased my knowledge of entomology, and I became an avid reader of all the trout comics. They contained some interesting notions – like how it was essential to spoon a fish in order to find out what it had been feeding on. You already knew this – it was whatever fly you had used to catch it. Another was that the (artificially stocked) trout population in a region or water “learned” to like a particular pattern of artificial. If a mechanism for such learning exists the immediate demise of the fish knocked that theory on the head, as it were.
The two other factors in my retirement from fly fishing were boredom – I wonder what this is? A rainbow! What a surprise – and the fact that all the fish I caught in Chew Valley Lake in 1989 were damaged by cormorants. And, once I invented a lure which was an amazing imitation of a perch-fry, I caught so many 3lb mud-flavoured rainbows at Blagdon I didn’t know what to do with them so I gave up and went to the Jolly Huntsman instead.
Filbert – thank you.
One ‘trouble’ with the study of fish (apart from the aforementioned difficulties of seeing them) is that there have been so many introductions of species to ponds, lakes and rivers, there can hardly be any waters in the UK lowlands where a native fish fauna can be found ‘unpolluted’ by exotic species or UK natives that have been introduced or both.
BTW, if you want to see some wonderful paintings of our native fish try going to the website of the fish artist Carl Ellis (who is a member of the excellent Society of Wildlife Artists – SWLA).
Try this gallery for a start: http://www.carlellisfishart.com/APastel.htm
Nick Bee
Mark you could start your fishwatching at Welford reservoir. From the carpark head along the dam wall to the bridge, here in the shallows you’ll see plenty of perch,roach and young carp and as the water drops off quickly massive carp patrolling the edges you’ll also see carp breaching like whales which is a fantastic sight, you’ll be able do some birding too with great views of Kingfishers peeping as they head from the pub to the reservoir, yellowhamers in the bush behind you etc, you might even get a glimpse of an Osprey, whilst there you can talk to fishermen who (yes they don’t like cormorants,but some do) will speak in awe of Ospreys rather then “dis-taste”, like Joe W I too was an angler before a birder and know of plenty who are very serious birders as well as good anglers.
I personally think that fish suffer from the out of sight, out of mind problems of not being that easy to observe (when compared to say, birds). This may also be one of the reasons we are struggling to gain comparable recognition for freshwater/marine environments as we have on land?