Roamin in the Gloamin

Yesterday saw the penultimate bottle of last years sloes being drained off for the amber nectar of Sloe whisky, With one bottle still remaining with the sloes still working their magic that combined with these should see me good till its time to grab the bucket and head out for this years crop of sloes.

Last night I left it late on to head out as the water is back to below its normal summer levels after the slight rise we had midweek. It really was a joy to stand at the back of the car on the back lane tackling up and listening to the birds and nothing else, then suddenly a commotion broke out when a sparrowhawk came bursting out the trees at great speed chasing a wood pigeon, which was doing its hardest not to be the sparrow hawks evening meal, as they sped up the lane through the canopy of the trees solitude resumed and it was only the songbirds breaking the silence.

I walked up to the spot where I've been getting the odd trout on dries but nothing was moving so I continued to head upstream searching out the fish. The faster water was now but a mere gentle glide and there was a lot of almost standing water with no flow at all.

Deciding to walk to the upper limit of the beat where I sat down and watched 2 curlew serenade each other on the opposite bank and 4 oyster catchers on the dry shingle bank which used to be the riverbed calling to each other.
Life was good, far flung from the hustle & bustle of modern life, a few moments to just sit and unwind and watch nature at its best.






I seen a small dimple of a rise just off the corner of an overhanging willow bush and decided to see if i could tempt it, a few casts later and the most gentle of takes, hardly breaking the surface of the water produced a much better trout than anticipated.

I think at some point in its life it has seen the inside of a  stock pond but was surprised at the most delicate take that it gave, it hardly broke the surface to take the fly.

Looking back upstream at the fast approaching sunset saw an array of fly life hatching in the last few moments of daylight, it hasn't showed very clear in the photograph but all the darker dots in the middle of the photo are nothing but a large cloud of insects on the wing.

I made my way downstream to the point where I always look to see if anything is rising and sat for 20 minutes until the gloaming almost engulfed the river and I heard a few splashes of fish taking flies from the surface so edged myself into the middle of the river and cast in the direction of the splashes, almost as I seen in the dim light the fly line settle I heard a splash so struck and a lovely fight ensued with a wild brown trout coming to the net a few moments later.

By the look of the nose on the fish its been searching through the stones and rocks looking for food as its nose skin was all scuffed  but that didn't take any beauty away from the bright red spots along its back and a nice way to end off a few hours on the river, with peace and solitude.