Salmon leap.
Travelled to Inverness today on my own to get some dental work seen too. Rae stayed on site to help out as Simon still struggling with his back. Another stunning journey across the country from west to east coast following the train line that we travelled on last week.
The clouds gradually lifted and the day became bathed in glorious sunshine. The dental technician is a keen salmon fisherman. He told me the following that I found interesting. The salmon returns to where it was born. After hatching they swim downstream to the ocean to return 4 years later. They then swim upstream and spawn. After doing this they are exhausted and most die before they get back to the sea. Those that make it return 4 years later bigger and stronger. These are the prize fish that all anglers dream of. The good news is that they don’t use barbed hooks and most return the salmon after catching it. The bad news is that the salmon stock is rapidly dwindling. Interestingly the salmon don’t eat anything once they enter the river system. So why do the get caught by anglers? Apparently they are hyped up and aggressive prior to spawning. They take this aggression out on the flies and lures that the anglers use. This adds to the ‘sport’ and makes these fish the holy grail of fishing. Unfortunately because they are so strong and built to overcome massive obstacles the are fighters so again better ‘sport’.
Near the dentist are these falls
Beautiful but impossible for salmon to get past. So they build a salmon leap or staircase so they can reach their spawning grounds. Behind the falls is a dam.
The dentist informed me that they are migrating at the moment so I stopped off on the way back to see if I could see them.
Unfortunately the only one I got to see was a casualty who apparently misjudged his leap!
Its a magnificent location and just having the chance to see something like this is a privilege.
This is what I was hoping to see!
The salmon season continues until September so hopefully we can try again here or somewhere else.
The route home was at times subject to torrential rain fog and beautiful sunshine. In short a typical Scottish weather day.
Last night we walked back from the pub after our anniversary meal thanks once again to Simon and Judith it was a great surprise and really appreciated. On the way back we saw seals and otters how many places do you get to do that on a walk home from the pub?
This is the otter you may have to trust us on this one!
We zoomed the family to watch the football which was great apart from the result and the time delay one and a half minutes behind which was a bit odd. We are now working for the next 4 days!