Making light work of meadow rushes

 

Greetings!   I was out and about on the lower sections of the Test Valley last week; it is sort of scorched earth territory at this time of year. Nothing is growing. Trees are gaunt. The river reflects blankly back at you. The sheep, our sole animal companions for the past few months are gone, the grass trimmed better than any mower might do but with exceptions.   It is funny what cattle and livestock will not eat. How is it they know ragwort is poisonous, nibbling within a fraction of the stem but never touching it? What is wrong with the dark green grass that grows verdant on ground previously fertilised by manure? Plenty of humans like nettles, but apparently not any of the herbivores. And the common soft rush is most definitely, growth non grata, untouched clumps peppering the shorn water meadows like tumbleweed on a desert landscape.

 

I was reminded of these clumps a few days later when reading an extract from a letter by the 18th century naturalist Gilbert White who wrote to a companion to document the vital task performed by these rushes in providing both income and light to what he called ‘decayed labourers, women and children’ who sustained a craft industry transforming the rushes into candles that would burn as bright lights for over an hour.   It was quite a process but with no shortage a material: a pound of rushes would be enough for 1,600 candles best harvested in late summer, the cut reeds flung in water before being stripped by hand, which seems from his description, an acquired skill and not one I have been able to replicate. Once stripped the rushes were to be laid out on grass to dry for a few days, weirdly best if taking on a few nightly dews, before being sun dried.   The final part of the process was to dip the rushes in grease which, according to White, was obtained by ‘the careful wife of an industrious Hampshire labourer obtaining her fat for nothing from the scummings of her bacon-pot.” A pound of rushes would be enough to light the labourers’ family home for a year or if sold they were in much demand providing eleven hours of light for the same cost as a two hour candle.

 

Rushlight and maybe the origin of 'burning the candle at both ends'

 

 

Why are farmed salmon not triploid?   I do not think there is any doubt that the tide of public opinion is turning against farmed salmon, an industry that is less than a lifetime old but in that short time has helped bring million of years of evolutionary success to an almost grinding halt. It is ironical since, in the early years, many hoped that farmed salmon would be the salvation of wild salmon, reducing the pressure on natural stocks. What fools we were.   The charges against farmed salmon are manifold: Pollution. Sea lice. Poor husbandry. Chemical use. Inferior product. Damaging the gene pool by breeding with the wild salmon. It is this last one that has got me pondering of late. We, on rivers and lakes, have been forced to stock only triploid i.e. infertile trout to protect the natural stocks. I am not pretending this directive by the Environment Agency some 15 years ago was popular, or even justified, but it is the law. Why, I ask myself, does not the same apply to salmon farmers who continue to rear fully fertile salmon which regularly escape, sometime in huge numbers, from their cages.

 

I have asked this same question to two eminent people in the industry, one the head of a major wild fish conservation charity and the other one the UK’s longest established fish farmers; neither could answer the question. What I do know is the barrier cannot be cost or practicality; triploiding fish eggs in their hundreds of thousands is neither difficult or expensive. Does anyone out there know why the salmon industry should not be forced to apply the same standards as everyone else?     Beavers and wolves   Over the weekend the rewilding zealots on X lit up with the exciting news that beavers had arrived on the upper reaches of the River Wylye in Wiltshire, spotted where the river runs through the Longleat Estate.   Of course the Longleat social media was all over this though, and far be it for me to be as equally cynical as some who commented, but the exhortation by the marketing team for all to come to see their new arrivals was slightly marred by the link that directed you to the Longleat ticketing section at the cost of £42 for an adult and £23 for a child. There is clearly money in giant rodents.

 

I am sorry I cannot feel the love for beavers – I have long held that they are not the new Messiahs who are going to save the British countryside from climate change. Indeed, as with the introduction of the White clawed crayfish, Grey squirrel, Coypu and many other non-native species I feel sure we will rue the day back in 2015 when Liz Truss as Secretary of State at Defra legitimised their illegal release. In fact, the same day as the Longleat beavers became PR fodder The Telegraph newspaper carried the headline, EU wolf climbdown has Dutch farmers reaching for their guns.   The story is that wolves having been pretty well be driven to extinction across Europe, were given strict protection status across the EU in 1982, finally returning to Netherlands in 2015 with nine packs now roaming the country. These have been responsible for an increasing number of attacks on livestock and tame animals including the pony of EU President Ursula von der Leyen in Germany. The upshot is that the EU will, from March onwards, allow member states to determine wolf culling policy.  Will we ever reach such an inflection point with beavers? I think in terms of causing more damage than benefit most certainly, and probably as soon as by the end of this decade. But culling? I very much doubt that, ever. Beavers have the highest protection status to such an extent that you cannot even touch a dam, even on your own property, once it has been in existence for more than 14 days. It is madness, but it is where we are. Thanks Liz.

 

 

Last minute Season Rods   I have some last minute Season Rod vacancies on the rivers Kennet, Test and Wye.   Benham Estate – River Kennet Many of you will be familiar with our Park beat, over 3 miles of fishing on main river, side streams and carriers keepered by Gary Allen. A Full Rod at £2,765 allows fishing every day of the week. A Shared Rod at £1,790 allows fishing one day a week with the option to share the Rod but with only one person attending on the day. The fishery is closed to Season Rods on Thursdays. Details ....   Island Farms – River Test NEW Join a small group of ten syndicate members at most, plus one or two day rods, with the ability to fish every day of the season including weed cuts as Island Farms is immediately below the River Test weed boom a mile upstream of Romsey. The fishing extends over 3 miles, The season runs April 17-September with a Rod costing £3,570. Details ....   West Wycombe Estate – River Wye The Buckinghamshire Wye is the clearest of clear chalkstreams running through the grounds of the magnificent West Wycombe Park, with fishing on both the river and lake. The lake has the added bonus of boats and the Temple Island as the grandest of locations for a picnic lunch. Fish a nominated day each week. Currently there are slots available on all days except Friday. The cost of a Rod is £1,440 for a day a week April-September. Details ....

 

West Wycombe lake and Music Temple Island

 

 

Quiz   Back to the normal random collection of questions inspired by the events that took place on this date in history or topics in the Newsletter.   1)       Which Irish band released its first No. 1 UK album on this day in 1983?   2)       In Roman mythology which twins were raised by a wolf?  3)       Where is the ancestral home of Ceawlin Henry Laszlo Thynn, 8th Marquess of Bath?   Answers are at the bottom of this Newsletter.

 

Have a good weekend.  Best wishes,

 

 

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk Founder & Managing Directorwww.fishingbreaks.co.uk

 

 

1)       U2 2)       Romulus and Remus 3)       Longleat House