GOING WILD

20lbs of golden carp ... and we were kneeling down to protect it's beauty

Camping out on cold December nights is wearing a bit thin these days but this week it was worth it.

Milton Abbas - such a beautiful lake

I was asked by Martin Bowler to help him out with some filming in the hope he could catch a winter carp. No one had caught one from the lake for three weeks [and that was by Martin], but as you see from the pic. Martin delivered yet again. He’s a bit of a star when it comes to catching fish … and to work with too … the ultimate professional.

sliding it carefully back unharmed

It was good to be filming with him again, for we hadn’t done so since completing the epic series, “Catching the Impossible” in 2010 and having the A team back again resulted in two more carp to 25lb+ … and when we weren’t filming I caught a raft of roach up to 1.4. Lovely fishing and all on waggler and sweetcorn.

when filming allowed I caught loads of lovely roach to 1lb+

cooking Martin's curry in the old VW - as used for 'A Passion for Angling'

We apologise for the lack of posts recently … finishing the River Allen film for our fund-raiser on behalf of the Dorset Wildlife Trust will have to do as an excuse.

filling up ... and every penny of their ticket money goes to protecting the rivers wildlife

tales from the bush - talking tigers

We had a successful night, filling the Allendale Centre in Wimborne with about 300 supporters and raising about £2,000 for habitat enhancement work for all the special critters in the river, including endangered water voles and white clawed crayfish and our lovely native brown trout. [I have added the film at the end of this post.]

I find being in front of an audience scarier than facing an angry polar bear or man-eating tiger. I survived both to tell the tale but I’m still recovering from the film show!

such a glorious wild landscape of eagles, choughs, otters and sea trout

In late October, Sue and I returned to the beautiful Hebridian island of Islay to celebrate our 42^nd wedding anniversary. 

we camped on this exact spot 42 years ago

We camped here before we were married because the bird watching and walking is as good as it gets. 

great walking in this watercolour landscape where eagles fly

barnacles flighting out at dawn

The malt whisky isn’t bad either and with eight distilleries around the coast, there’s plenty of choice.

a fascinating tour around the Laphroaig distillery

mid-day bathe in a streams fresh water

the skies are filled with geese all day

our 'home' is the white one on the left

the view from our window

no wonder the farmers don't like the grass eating hoards

With some 36,000 barnacle geese, along with Greenland whitefronts and  greylags, along with nearly ninety other species, it was a memorable trip, despite getting a hammering from numerous storms sweeping in from the Atlantic. 

good book reading weather

we had plenty of cappachino seas

It was a rainbow holiday and attached are several of our happy snaps so that you can share the spectacle.

 empty beeches washed clean by Atlantic storms

otters search the bays for fish

whooper swans feed on the many freshwater pools

Penny, Michael and Sue on one of the many amazing beaches

Islay is a beautiful island with marvellous skies - you should visit there soon

approaching Brownsea Island as the sun started to shine

Last weekend we had a jaunt on our local island in Poole Harbour, Brownsea … and good it was too, hundreds of avocets and black tailed godwits and weather to die for. 

birding at it's best

little egrets were just one of many species on the lagoon 

December warmth in a sea of gold

We enjoyed a shirt sleeve picnic under the beech trees as the red squirrels scampered about.

haven't the autumn colours been glorious this year

fungi decoration on a fallen stump

an ancient survivor of the storms

beautiful Poole Harbour - and it's just down the road

You don’t have to travel the world to find some wonderful wild experiences, though I’m off in January with some good friends for a couple of weeks of Mahseer Magic.

Christmas present?

In the meantime, Sue and I are hoping you loyal readers enjoy a great Christmas and a wild and fish-filled year.

wedding anniversary happy snap on Islay

Here's our most recent film about the lovely River Allen in Dorset and the value to the Dorset Wildlife Trust of the volunteers who help enhance the river's habitat for it's impressive diversity of wildlife.

TIGER TENSION

                            

a stalking tigress - tension indeed © Mike Richards

“Tiger, tiger, burning bright” … one of the most powerful predators in the world. Beautiful but deadly, elusive and endangered, a few still survive “in the forests of the night”.

a tiger's roar makes your heart leap © Mike Richards

Tigers are one of the most desirable creatures in the natural world so I was keen to film these magnificent big cats, to show them hunting, the cubs playing and the beauty of their forest home, most of which would have to be filmed from elephant back with a twenty foot tripod. We got charged by Lakshmi when filming her cubs ; she certainly got our attention. The elephant wasn’t happy either!

big aren't they - this one was killed by an even bigger male

stars of the show - two of our three cubs

Our film was made for the BBC and National Geographic and is set in Kanha National Park in central India. Ace cameraman Chip Houseman and I decided to tell the story of just one tigress and her struggles to raise her three cubs in this dangerous [for tigers] world. We called her Lakshmi, after the ‘Goddess of Fortune’ and hoped her name would prove prophetic.

Lakshmi resting in the shade © Tom Mangelsen

It certainly was for Chip and I, for the film won us a BAFTA for cinematography, the ultimate accolade … and if you wish to see this film, it will be showing in the second half of a fund raising film show I am giving on behalf of the Dorset Wildlife Trust. I’ll be telling a few stories about the filming and some of them might even be true … and answering any questions you may have.

as good as it gets - awards are always earned by team effort

'the eyes have it' © Tom Mangelsen

All funds raised will go towards the habitat creation and enhancement being carried out by the DWT on our lovely local river, the Allen.

It might only be thirteen miles long but it is a jewel flowing through the Dorset countryside and through Wimborne on it’s way to the River Stour.

the River Allen - a jewel in Dorset's crown

The Allen is a chalk stream, one of only 160 in the world and one of the best examples, for it is a stronghold for the white clawed crayfish and still supports a small population of water voles, both seriously endangered species.

source of the river, water so clear it's invisible

brown trout thrive

grayling to record size

The crystal clear nutrient rich water provides food and a home for an impressive sixteen species of fish, most notably proper native brown trout and seriously big grayling, the river having once provided the rod caught record at 3.10 to our ex.postman and friend, Owen Wentworth. Lots of big roach and dace come up the clear stream from the Stour to spawn on the clean gravel in April and two years ago I saw a roach that had my eyes out on stalks ; it must have been close to three pounds.

sixteen species in all, including big roach

filming but wishing I was catching

I have made a film about this lovely river for the Dorset Wildlife Trust in the hope of raising the profile of this important waterway and showing people the hidden treasures below the surface. ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is an appropriate saying when it comes to our fish life and the film certainly succeeds in making folk sit up and take notice.

perch in the mill pools

I am in the process of updating it to include some of the hard work being carried out by the Trust to enhance habitat for the white clawed crayfish, water voles and fish life … and the river certainly needs all the help it can get. In October the flow was 50% down on the seasonal norm and some of it had dried up … and with 8,200 new houses planned for this area in the next few years, I wonder where all the water is coming from?! Add to that the substantial amounts of water required for ‘fracking’ and the future seems bleak … but it doesn’t have to be if we keep fighting for our gem of a chalk stream.

plenty of kingfishers adorn the chalk stream

So please come along to the show and support the work of the Trust before it’s too late. DWT staff will be there to answer questions and I’ll be on hand to add my bit too. I held a fund raiser like this in May and we filled the place, the 300+ folk raising sufficient funds to enable more habitat enhancement to be carried out this Autumn.

The film is called “Liquid Gold” … ‘we can live without gold, we die without water’! Tickets can be bought from the Allendale Centre in Wimborne where the films will be shown, also from DWT HQ.

ALLENDALE CENTRE, WIMBORNE – 01202/887247

DORSET WILDLIFE TRUST – 01305/264620

Friday 29^th November – 19.00 for 19.30 start. Tickets £10 or £5 for children – all proceeds go to the River Allen Project …details on the DWT website.

BEGINNER'S LUCK?

                         

Charlie with a cracking roach

Charlie showing us older anglers how to do it

It’s easy to dismiss a child’s success in angling as beginner’s luck but I believe there is something more fundamental going on here that we more ‘mature’ anglers should take note of.

Bernard Venables' Crabtree' lean'

  

pike imagery at it's best

pure Crabtree as Ben fights a monster

It is wonderful when our young anglers catch good fish and when friend Jim sent me pics of his two boys, Charlie and Ben before the end of the river season, I felt it was an opportunity to explore the reasons why they were successful when we were struggling.

a cracking fat thirteen pounder from a small carrier for Ben

Jim happily blanking for roach

Jim works for the Environment Agency and along with several other friends I have working there, does everything possible for our rivers and fish life that tight government budgets allow. I know it is fashionable to knock the EA, as it is the NHS, but in the case of the work carried out from the Blandford HQ, criticism is inappropriate and unfair. If our government actually cared about our environment and did something instead of just talking about it then we would all be better off and so would our fish and other freshwater wildlife. Anyway, rant over.

a beautiful big brownie for Jim

Charlie and Ben have the first requirement to be successful and that is a knowledgeable Dad who is keen to take them out and help them catch. But more than that, both boys have enquiring minds and are prepared to try smaller bits of water in the Hampshire Avon water meadows that we ‘grown ups’ might overlook or dismiss.

Charlie trotting successfully for grayling

Secondly, have you noticed how you are often successful when first visiting a water but never quite as successful after that? It’s a tricky one as knowledge is meant to be helpful … and it’s essential when making wildlife films … but I for one suffer from a lack of open mindedness once I’ve visited a water and don’t think it through as thoroughly ever again. Your mind is already cluttered by past experience and so you are less likely to make a decision based on the conditions facing you at the time. You naturally tend to head for a swim where you have caught before when you should be at the other end of the lake or different stretch of river.

using a pin - good boy!

No such problem if you’re a beginner, you just do what comes naturally and catch! You are more inclined to explore and try different things and different places, so the lesson for me at least - “must try harder”!

the cue's for the show stretched into the street

… and now for something completely different. I’m certainly a beginner when it comes to giving talks and film shows, so Friday night saw me well out of my comfort zone. As those who’ve read this blog before, I decided to attempt a fund- raiser to help support the Dorset Wildlife Trust and their sterling work to restore our local gem of a chalk stream, the River Allen.

struggling with the lapel mic - it didn't work

if it can go wrong - talking about pumas instead of showing pumas

I booked the largest hall in Wimborne, a big projector, large speakers and twelve foot screen, then wondered if anyone would show up! In the event, thanks to tireless work by DWT staff, we filled the place and 310 folk contributed £2,000+ to the project funds. The auctioned pic. of Penny the Puma raised an impressive £230 and might have done even better if the DVD hadn’t failed to play after twenty minutes!

 heavy gear - no wonder I needed hip replacements

The audience had to put up with me rabbiting on about my lovely pussy cat instead but they didn’t seem to mind, especially as I was asked if I was ever near to getting eaten by her.

the lady winner of the portrait of Penny the Puma with DWT staff

I survived to tell the story … and survived the even greater ordeal of being in front of an audience, so I guess, if invited, I might even do it again, especially if the river will benefit from the effort everyone put in.

Our BAFTA award winning tiger film next - maybe?

two of our three cute cubs