18 August 2022
weir
The Club has arranged and overseen work to raise the level of water in the weir pool today. The work was possible due to generous financial support from Mr Ronald Munro-Ferguson of Novar Estate and Mark Armstrong of M A Ventures who provided a very affordable quote to assist the Club. All of the work was agreed in advance and approved by SEPA.
The large amount of gravel that had accumulated in the pool was completely removed to the river bank as required by SEPA and new large granite rocks specially bought for this purpose were placed in the tail of the pool. Some rocks were moved along the bank to the tail of the pool to slow the water leaving the pool. The western bank near the head of the pool was altered a bit to give fish coming into the pool more room to access the fish pass and to further slow down the water leaving. The rocks on both banks were bedded in as firmly as possible.
The result is that the water level in the pool has been successful raised by about 2 feet which means that the entrance to the fish pass is well under water even in these low water conditions. Fish were seen moving into the weir pool within minutes of the work being completed, even while the digger was still on the bank. Several fish were seen over the next 45 minutes or so trying, and some succeeding in getting over the weir along the side of the pass. Any fish going up the pass would not be seen.
The signs of fish being able to get upstream so quickly suggests that the work has done its job. We will be keeping a close eye over the coming months as we, hopefully, see some spates.
