Assume Environment Agency aware of apparent leak in embankment of the #RiverLark, oozing out onto Jubilee Field? The usual gaggle of Mute Swans, Mallards etc saw me off & welcomed me back plus a strange hybrid Canada/Greylag goose. Egyptian Goose & Pied Wagtail at Gas Pool. #rivers #ukbirding 12/12
The crayfish trap (detached from tether) was actually in backwater of #RiverLark to the north of the island, which had more #fish in it than the main channel, Roach, Minnows & Gudgeon, & more macrophytes, including Yellow Water-Lilies now in bloom. #Mildenhall #rivers #flower #wildflowerhour 11/12
Below the #fish pass, I did spot a colony of Sessilida ciliates & also the only #invasivealien Signal Crayfish I saw, though there was plenty of their holes riddling the river bed further upstream, which is where I found & removed from the #RiverLark an illegal crayfish trap. #cilia #rivers 10/12
Really shocking how few #riverflies I saw in #RiverLark at #Mildenhall. Only noticed this Banded Demoiselle nymph, tho' there were #Odonata on the wing.
Quite a few Duck Mussels (Anodonta anatina) & below fish pass, a mussel sporting Frogspawn Algae (Batrachospermaceae)! #MolluscMonday #Algae #9/12
Here's more of the Minnows congregated at Gas Pool weir to gulp the water enriched with oxygen, especially compared to sluggish, sick river upstream, at low levels due to the drought. Water was about 12°C on Tuesday. #RiverLark #Mildenhall #fishpass #Suffolk #TeamFish #Fish #Fishsky #Rivers 8/12
The only place there were many #fish in the main River Lark at Mildenhall, upstream of the fish pass, was right up at the weir above the Gas Pool. Here, in jacuzzi-like conditions, the oxygen-junky Minnows are joined by a young Chub. #RiverLark #Suffolk #Mildenhall #freshwaterfish #rivers 6/12
There's no finer #fish than the Minnow in full breeding regalia, here in frenzied spawning mode in #RiverLark #Mildenhall thanks to O₂-rich conditions provided by new #fishpass. Was enjoying them when @birdingprof.bsky.social filmed this bsky.app/profile/bird...; his posts prompted my visit! 2/12
A photo of a bridge topped by a flint wall. There are three pointed arches to the bridge and the piers support buttresses against the wall. Above the wall the top of the cathedral tower can be seen. beneath the central arch a white bird can be seen fishing.
The Abbot's Bridge #BuryStEdmunds over the River Lark with a view of St Edmundsbury Cathedral over the top and a Little Egret fishing in the river below. When I was a kid this would have drawn a crowd from all over the country! Now commonplace.
#SuffolkBirding #RiverLark #Suffolk
The 850 m of the River Lark downstream from Judes Ferry, West Row is dominated by Roach, Dace & Minnows. At the top end these fine Perch preside. Saw only 1 small Pike, too fast for my camera. #MySwim #Chalkstreams #WestSuffolk #Freshwaterfishes #RiverLark #Mildenhall 1/10
Cavenham Heath is again wonderfully wet after all the rain - which has now stopped, with a rainbow - the River Lark in full spate.
The rookery is beginning to expand out onto the heath from the birch wood.
#WestSuffolk #TheBrecks #RiverLark #Breckland #CavenhamHeath 2/2
Today the sun never broke through the freezing fog, leaving the vegetation in the grip of the hoar frost all day. Proper winter!
#RiverLark #CavenhamHeath #WestSuffolk #Icklingham #Breckland #TwitterNatureCommunity #MyWalk
🧵1/3
Gudgeon also abundant in the bed of the River Lark at Temple Bridge, and I never remember seeing quite so many Rudd, Roach & Dace here before. And one huge Chub.
#RiverLark #CavenhamHeath #WestSuffolk #Chalkstreams #Gudgeon #Roach #Rudd #freshwaterfish
7/8
Minnows are spectacularly abundant in the River Lark at Temple Bridge, including many in full breeding condition and swarms of fry. I never tire of this beautiful fish.
#RiverLark #CavenhamHeath #WestSuffolk #Chalkstreams #Minnows
6/8
A few lovely banks of Water Starwort have survived between the flowing tresses of Bur-reed and the reed beds, despite the algae.
And I always love to see the startling red roots of the riverside Alders.
#RiverLark #CavenhamHeath #WestSuffolk #Macrophytes #Chalkstreams
5/8
We weren't the only people enjoying the river this afternoon.
Guess the foam in the rafts of trapped vegetation isn't a great sign.
Salvaged lots flotsam incl. a ring that fitted my finger perfectly.
Shame so much jetsam, mainly in form of drinks cans. #RiverLark #Cavenham 3/8
Invigorating snootle up Lark in full chalk stream mode, to Gas Pool where retrieved a fishing lure & donated to angler on bank. He'd caught a Roach but we saw only tinys. Wonder about the inflow coming in from South bank? #riverlark #chalkstreams #RLCP #Suffolk #naturelovers 4/4
In the River Lark at Gas Pool & downstream, lots blackfly (Simulid) larvae holding fast to objects in the fast, shallow flow, £1 coin & nestled among the gravel, a little ceramic bird that has scrubbed up nicely. #chalkstreams #mildenhall #WestSuffolk #RiverLark #ceramicbird 3/4
Delighted to see some fish still active in the freezing River Lark today - some stonking Perch (though 1 had a sore on its back), as well as shoals of Roach & Minnows.
#Jubileefields #Mildenhall #WestSuffolk #freshwaterfishes #perch #roach #minnows #Chalkstreams #RiverLark
4/4
An exquisitely beautiful winter's day on the River Lark at Jubilee Fields, Mildenhall, but the Mute Swans, Mallards & Black-head Gulls were disappointed that I brought them no food.
Still, I did do something for them...
#birdwatching #BirdsSeenIn2022 #RiverLark #madfriday
2/4
In River Lark upstream of Flempton, great swathes of this jelly like substance on rocks and vegetation. Assume Bryozoans? The only other aquatic live fauna I saw in c300m was this Annelid worm & Water Slater (Asellus aquaticus). #chalkstreams #suffolk #RiverLark #WestStow 3/3
Never seen so many Stone Loaches as on River Lark Catchment Partnership restoration upstream of @FullersMill weir. Only 1 Bullhead tho', down from weir. Most abundant fish: Gudgeon & esp. Minnows.
#MySwim #Chalkstreams #stoneloach #Gudgeon #Bullhead #WestSuffolk #RiverLark
1/2
Found the hooked Brown Trout in same place as y'day - bad pic as focussed on trying to rescue it in an old keep net I found in Cut-off Channel. It again let me approach but didn't quite manage to catch it. Will try again. But tame 90cm Pike & 60cm trout.
#MySwim #RiverLark 1/2
Can now spend quality time at night with magnificent Brown Trout without disturbing them. A Chub kept photobombing my sesh with a 60cm trout afflicted by 2 leeches - big & small - Common Fish Leech (Pisicola geometra)? #MySwim #BrownTrout #RiverLark #chalkstreams #sundayvibes 1/4
Our glowing accounts of 1st chalk stream night snorkel in River Lark tempted daughter to come on our 2nd. Amazing intimate close encounters with sleepy monster Chubs (c 60 cm) inspired her handsome portrait of one. Water a reviving 18.9°C.
#MySwim #Chalkstreams #RiverLark
🧵1/5
I❤️#chalkstreams! A small tributary of River Lark W of @SWTLackfordLake PACKED with dozens of Chub, including lurking under fallen trees with Gudgeon, & Minnows in breeding condition. However several were sadly diseased/damaged.
#Lackford #RiverLark #freshwaterfish #teamfish 3/5
In River Lark, upstream of A1101 bridge, found these unwise Gammarus freshwater shrimps in a Bullhead nest - Bullheads like to eat them (as do trout).
Also what is this grass-like macrophyte?
#RiverLark #chalkstreams #macrophyte #freshwater #wildflowerhour #WestSuffolk 2/5
Here's the confluence of the Culford Stream (11.2°C) tributary with the River Lark (10.4°C) at @FullersMill. Would have expected the Lark to be warmer than Culford Stream, a more pure #chalkstream? #RiverLark #Chalkstreams #CulfordStream #WestStow #Suffolk #Brecks #Breckland 7/9
The River Lark runs grey past No Man's Meadows parallel to the A14 and on past The Crankles. Not tempted to swim! On #NoMansMeadow some well tended Willows - by @BuryLung? - and one I assume to have suffered from #StormEunice. #RiverLark #BuryStEdmunds #Chalkstreams #Suffolk 3/4
Yesterday in a soggy lull between #StormEunice & #StormFranklin intrepidly found the confluence of River Linnet with the River Lark just upstream of Bury St Edmunds Abbey Gardens. Both #chalkstreams an even grimmer colour than usual.
#MyWalk #WestSuffolk #RiverLark #Suffolk
1/4
