Memories and Blue-winged Olives

I thought I would send you this picture in case it brings back pleasant memories of happy times on the river.

Blue-winged Olives have recently become a regular feature again on our little village stream… the North Winterborne, which has been classed as a ‘Main River’ – mainly because of the need for flood management in the area. This tiny chalk steam once held a really healthy population of water voles, but as with so many other streams, they seem to have disappeared here in the last few years. The olives including Large Dark and Medium Olives and some Iron Blues have all increased in numbers,perhaps in response to our local management efforts to restore and rejuvenate the ranunculus and other beneficial plants and suppress the rampant Fool’s Watercress, all done with EA approval. Sadly there are no Brown Trout, just Rainbows escaping from the Fish Farm just up the lane and these can occasionally be up to four pounds.

The Blue-winged Olives are out now and I managed to get this picture a day or two ago. It just brought back so many memories of fabulous evenings on our beloved River Frome and the trout caught during a really good fall of BWOs spinners. I hope we will all come through this dangerous epidemic and be back on the beautiful River Frome again before too long.

All the best

Will Bown

Beautiful Frome trout