A GRAND DAY OUT

                                     

 

This is a fishing story with a nod to Wallis and Gromit, for instead of heading for the moon, we spent the day in heaven. And we didn’t take cheese, but cake!

Our slice of heaven, here being fished by Chris Yates a while back   is a Saxon pond in Dorset’s heartland, one of a pair of ponds that have become sanctuaries for wildlife, saved and nurtured by non other than Peter Rolfe, Godfather of all things crucian.

In his latest book ‘Old Angler Rambling’, [very entertaining it is too], Peter describes the origins of this idyllic wildlife haven, hidden away in the Donheads: 

“Fish are the reason for this pond’s very existence. Rumour has it that there were ponds here in the time of King Alfred, dug to provide tench, eels and bream for the local dignitaries … and later, a priest re-made them in the time of Queen Victoria so that he could fly-fish for brown trout.”

In more recent times, Peter has laboured long and hard for many years, even aged nearly ninety to ensure the weed growth and fish populations of the two Saxon ponds remain healthy and provide a food rich home for tench, roach and above all, crucians. So as we followed in the footsteps of history, every cast became special, with crucians the gold medal winners.


 

Peter is the author of the crucian bible, “Crock of Gold”-  a groundbreaking study of this threatened species, and while championing the crucian, Peter was rescuing two nearby lakes called Eelstage and Brach that had almost dissapeared into woodland.  For many years he painstakingly restored, managed and cared for them as he helped nature recover and eventually, due to his aquatic skills, Eelstage became one of England’s premier crucian lakes.

Peter would often be here when we shared the excitement of fishing these idyllic waters and we enjoyed many memorable days, catching tench, roach and some of the largest crucians in England. He wrote a fascinating book about the lakes rescue and recovery and Chris Yates and I were honoured to be there for the launch party.

Chris and I had a tradition of starting the season at ‘Eelstage’ and while sharing a glass of wine on the evening before dawns first cast, we were privileged to enjoy the silent hunting of a barn owl as it floated within a wing beat of us at dusk.

Thanks to Peter and his extraordinary achievements, we enjoyed many of our happiest days catching crucians at his lakes, fish that will swim in our minds forever.
 

And we are not alone, for he has provided many thousands with memories to treasure, not just due to the fisheries he has created, but through his English teaching, the many books he has written and simply from being in his company.

 

 

Then there's the tea ceremonies  ... let alone the cake. Peter isn't allowed any, so he has to clean any evidence from his hands before returning home to Pam. Photography not allowed!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fishing at Peter's Donhead lakes a while back, this is Annabelle's first ever fish and what a great way to start a hobby for life. Happy days.

And thanks to Peter's leadership, along with other enthusiasts like Chris Turnbull, crucians became the conservation priority for many fishermen, so angling clubs created fisheries where crucians could breed and thrive. 

Our local Wimborne club was just one of many that created a pond just up the road at Edmonsham where the crucians could breed successfully. And they still do, like rabbits!

Friends came to share in the joys of crucian catching and as tench and crucians are good bedfellows, Jim Wreglesworth enjoyed catching both species.

Jim works for the Environment Agency in flood prevention and management, so is used to a good battle with nature, though struggling with tench rather than excess water is a lot more enjoyable. But with the effects of global warming become ever more acute, trying to be King Canute is an increasingly difficult challenge.
 

 

 

 

 

Since Peter's early pioneering work, crucians have become a much loved species, their future survival is assured, especially with the support of the Angling Trust among many others.

And with so much more known about them now, Peter has written an update of his crucian bible and made available all that new knowledge for anglers world wide.

Sharing a day in the countryside enhances the experience no end, with or without fish, so our gatherings have become an annual priority and a joy for us three amigos who join Peter to celebrate his birthday. He reaches an impressive 90 this coming weekend and our tradition involves ace angler Jim Wreglesworth, our happy snapper today, Trevor Harrop of Avon Roach Project fame and myself, free now from travelling the world in pursuit of elusive big cats that always seemed reluctant to be filmed!

Peter has created the Saxon ponds to be the very essence of traditional angling principles, no bolt rigs or boilies here, much to our delight, but on this latest visit, Peter allowed me to use a normally forbidden carbon pole and with the fish reluctant to feed after a cold autumn night, the delicacy and intimacy that the pole provides enabled me to extract an elusive young crucian.

Trevor struggled with a lobster pot full of signal crayfish but when tipped off by Jim to fish ‘up in the water’, he caught lots of scale perfect roach on flakes of bread.

I followed Jim’s advice too and landed some cracking roach.

But I was reluctant to fish 'up in the water' because a final tench of the season was my ambition and they tend to snuffle on the bottom. Jim speedily proved that belief was true as he struggled to land a feisty three pounder, cause for celebration because it was the first he’d managed to extricate from the lilies all season.

As if to prove there is more to fishing than catching fish, Peter didn’t even try so that he could better enjoy swapping stories with us as we avoided whinging too much about not having enough time to go fishing.  

Meanwhile, Trev did a sterling job firing up the Kelly Kettle again so we could continue to tell stories of the ones that didn't get away while munching on Sue’s delicious sponge cake, washed down by Trev’s thirst quenching mugs of tea. We all agreed that friends are more important than fish ... and cake!

And when the cake was finished, the sky started to shed tears, so we reluctantly decided to pack up and leave. And it was a sad goodbye, because the pond is to be emptied of its precious inhabitants before being dredged this coming winter. Recovery will take several years and Peter doesn’t know whether the owners will allow fishing in the future. However, that didn’t stop us vowing to make sure we repeated our annual gathering at some other crucian pond next year. 

After all, we only need to join up for another ten times and we’ll all be sitting by a waterside celebrating Peter’s hundredth birthday! What a privilege it’s been to share so many happy hours with one of the greatest gentlemen you could ever wish to meet. Our warmest thanks from us all.

FISHING WITH FRIENDS

Not alone on the River Wye. Chris Yates was just upstream and Martin Bowler took this beaut. picture of me barbel fishing

If you happen to read this blog because you are an angler then you might think I’ve given fishing up because I haven’t written a fishy story for ages. The reason is simple, I haven’t been fishing!

I still love the idea of being out in the countryside with a rod but our big garden has taken up all our time as we create a flower filled gravel garden for butterflies and bees. We haven’t finished it yet but to see the squadrons of buzzers already feeding there is a joy.

a silver-washed fritillary on a hebe

No fishing might mean no stories but I have many happy memories of fishing with friends, so this will be a celebration of those special days when we shared our catches and time together.

                    Fishing with Friends

Fishing alone can be an intense and rewarding experience and might even lead to catching bigger fish but for maximum enjoyment you can’t beat sharing those moments of triumph and disaster when you both cheer when one of you catches a big one and cry when the big one gets away ... or maybe you laugh when your mate loses the big one!
 
Here’s a selection of some of our catches during the good old days when we had the good sense to ignore all the horrible things going on in our world and made time to breath fresh air. These pics are  just a random ramble through the archives to celebrate the joys of angling together with friends.

First up are some happy gatherings during glorious summer days of crucian fishing at an intimate Wessex lake. We almost always caught a few, even over three pounds but we were sensible enough to simply enjoy the company and take time out for more important matters, like my wife Sue's famous cake.

close friends Chris Wild, Avon Roach Project Trev and Mr Yates getting their priorities right - tea and cake!

happy days of sunshine and golden nuggets

Please read on - there's more friends and the fish grow bigger

SPRING IS SPRUNG

The sun is out … days longer … air warmer … trees bursting … bees buzzing … butterflies flapping … migrants singing … flowers blooming … water temperatures rising … and it won’t be long before the tench are bubbling.  Happy days … Spring is simply wonderful.

I love the variety that our seasons provide and though most folk dislike winter and aren’t all that keen on autumn, I have never heard anyone saying they don’t like spring.

The great joy of all the seasons is the variety of wildlife that each month brings, from the wildfowl flying south after a summer in the wildest Arctic wilderness to the spring songsters arriving from dusty African savannas.

Wildfowl are a speciality here in Corfe Mullen, probably because we have five ponds linked by a small stream that runs through marshy areas I’ve dug over the years. Sometimes it seems more like the Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge. 

We have regular visits from the delightful mandarins and mallard nest on the island in the main pond and produce broods of ducklings. This year one of our females had an escort of six males. She must be some lady to attract that many men!

our annual production of mallard ducklings numbered fourteen this year, though another pair will hatch soon

We’ve also attracted a gorgeous male pheasant that we’ve called ‘Prince Wilhelm the Second’. He’s recently pulled a bird that we’ve simply called ‘Princess’. She’s nesting somewhere in the garden and her offspring had better not eat our precious plants.

there are still a few days to go before our giant oak bursts into leaf

Wilhelm has been keeping an eye on us for several weeks now

Our garden comes into sharp focus in the spring, not just because the migrant birds come here to take advantage of the habitat we’ve created for them but because all the flowers and shrubs turn our patch into a colourful wonderland.

we love our camellias, amelanchiers and magnolias and reckon it's a privilege to live here

Admiring these flowering shrubs while listening to the fluty calls of blackcaps and blackbirds is an annual treat.

blackcaps sometimes overwinter in the garden, though spring is when they serenade from the shrubs © Raymond Ching

Sue has done a lovely job planting lots of pots so that we have colourful displays throughout the year.

The snowdrops might be finished but the daffs are still blooming and have recently been joined by great clumps of vivid yellow marsh marigolds.

These in turn attract butterflies, especially the yellow Brimstone and as the sun’s warmth increases, these are joined by all the usual suspects such as peacocks and commas, the wild flowers providing an early nectar feed.

One lawn has been left to become a wild flower meadow where numerous orchids rise up in the summer but until then, we have to make do with the delightful snake's head fritillaries. Unfortunately the pheasants took a liking to them so next year our adopted 'pets' with friendly names might simply be called dinner!

 

stock doves are among many birds that enjoy a bath in our clear spring water

Our ponds provide a home for hundreds of minnows and when the water temperature rises enough, they gather at the streams entrance.

Once confident enough, they migrate up the shallow flow to spawn in the gravel. It’s quite a sight to see the violent contortions as the dozens of males compete to fertilise the eggs, sometimes causing the females to become stranded.

This doesn’t go unnoticed by the magpies and even the blackbirds. They are always quick to take advantage of an easy meal.

Hundreds of eggs are laid each day but the ducks soon thin them out. An otter visited four years ago and destroyed the pond in front of the house while chasing and eating the minnows. It looked like a bomb site by the time it left, the lilies ripped up and almost all the fish gone.

We’ve recently stocked it with four golden orfe to go with the two surviving rudd and hope the ‘playful’ otter doesn’t return any time soon.

over the years, most of our treasured fish have been killed

I love otters because I enjoyed the privilege of living with them in Shetland for three years while making the first ever films of truly wild otters for the BBC. Their return to almost every county in the UK is a conservation success story but after a deadly raid in our garden I sometimes wish they had stayed in the far north!

Our twenty year old cat called Tiger used to fish for our minnows but he's a bit too slow now, just like me when trying to catch roach.

Once the local waters really warm up, the garden will be abandoned in a quest for a tinca or two. Happy days to come … even if I can't catch them.

I have only managed a few days fishing, mainly with my pal Trev of Avon Roach Project fame and he snared this cute little tench last week while all I could catch was large perch. I was trying for a big roach of course but they have so far proved elusive.

this perch did weigh over two pounds but I still wished it had been a roach

However, we have lots of colour to enjoy in the garden and a summer of sunshine to look forward to. We hope you are able to be out there too, enjoying those long, warm days by the waterside.

the magic of a summer dawn