Opening of the River Nairn 2011 - video flashback

Thanks to Murray MacRae for this video capturing the events back in March on the Jubilee bridge as Laurie swings the bling once again and throws a dram away into the burn.



More videos available now on Gurntube.

River Nairn Part 6

Here's another Video from fwcampbell52L2L's Youtube pages. We've previously posted the excellent videos made of Gordon's sawmil. You can find other videos of the River Nairn on his account here.

Rivers Findhorn, Nairn, Lossie news

Information on the threats to our local rivers and reports on this season's catches in the Findhorn, Nairn and Lossie Fisheries Trust newsletter.
The threats from Invasive species, plants and diseases are many but there's news of a fightback on the Giant Hogweed, Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed front. The crayfish seem to be thriving in the Geddes burn unfortunately:
"Members of the angling association trapped 400 crayfish in the Geddes Burn this season, compared to 173 last season."

All the information on efforts to maintain the health of the local rivers here.

The High Tide

Sunday's high tide spilt over a little on to the riverside paths. Bratach captured the scene. The other Brian has posted an article too.

Update: RG IV12 also captured a few images.

Sewage in river scandal - Latest!

Autumn Colours River Nairn

Regular Nairn Blogosphere readers will remember the Swan Blogger highlighting the manhole cover and pipe (under the triangular coping stones that run alongside the river just down the wee brae opposite the Harbour Street Stores) that are likely to allow sewage to flood out in times of heavy rainfall. The pipe under the coping stones heads down to the sewerage bridge where there are also problems in times of heavy rainfull. Since this video and pictures taken in 2008 new manhole covers have been installed there but you can still see similar scenes once there is a considerable amount of precipitation.

What is concerning however, is that today, in dry weather, sewage was flowing out from below manhole cover seen in the swan blog pics and dropping down the wall directly into the river. The picture above is of the sewage in the vegetation on the river side of the manhole cover. You can see the edge of the wall where the effluent is falling into the river. Time for Scottish Water to sort the whole section leading to the sewage bridge under the triangular coping before things get worse?

Four dead herons since June

This sad image from our correspondent Jingle Bangles. He tells us this is the fourth dead heron he's seen in the area from the Jubilee Bridge to the harbour walls since June. This pictures was taken by the West Pier. Recently he contacted the appropriate department of Northern Constabulary. Birds, of course, do die of natural causes but four dead herons in this stretch seems a lot. If anyone has any information on anyone harming wildlife they should contact the Wildlife Crime officers at Northern Constabulary.

Exclusive - paddle boat rentals for the River Nairn next season?

Picture will enlarge. The Gurn understands that an application for financial support will soon be going before Nairn's Community Councils. Word on the street is that the paddle boats will be " 'Light touch' and sympathetic to the existing environment."

Dogs and the river

Here's one creature that didn't have Tommy to rescue it - no happy ending there. Best keep your animal out of the river when there's a spate.

Retired angler catches dog

The Gurn understands Community Councillor Tommy Hogg was at the end of the pier on Sunday evening when he witnessed a potential tragedy unfolding as a retriever that had entered the river by the Maggot car park lost its battle to swim against the fast flowing water in the river Nairn. The animal was growing increasingly tired as it was being swept towards the harbour mouth. Tommy, on the spur of the moment decided to make an attempt to save the animal. He went down the steps into the almost chest high water and positioned himself to intercept the creature in distress. Before the dog reached him however it began rolling in the water and went under. Tommy made a lunge for where he thought the animal would pass and luckily for the dog he succeeded in grabbing it. Tommy eventually managed to get the dog out of the water onto the pier where it seemed to be initially in a very bad state but made a recovery, by then the pet’s owners had reached the scene of the rescue. Tommy was fairly knackered too and next time says he will think twice about embarking on any more dangerous rescue missions. The lucky dog and its owners returned to Inverness after a day out in Nairn they will never forget. On Tommy’s return home the response from his wife was apparently unrepeatable.

Crayfish update - the anglers continue the fight

Two pictures from another recent trip up the Geddes burn by Nairn anglers to check the traps. One of the anglers told the Gurn:

"The large cray fish on the left was over 7 inches long from tail to claw tip, the 3rd cray fish from the left was the mother of the 47 young in front of her which we got last week. In total we had 14 cray fish plus 47 young, today we had another 14 plus 32 young. In the last 2 weeks since you did the original artical we have caught 28 plus 79 young, this gives us a total count of 151 so far for the season, and it is only the end of June, (we keep doing this untill the end of October) 151 which will no longer breed! Who says we are wasting our time?"

Over to you SNH - still not supporting the efforts of the Nairn Anglers to protect the local eco-system from the invaders?

Crayfish patrol on the Geddes Burn

Up close with one of the North American invaders.

Nairn Anglers were up as usual checking the traps in the Geddes Burn this weekend for the North American Signal Crayfish Invaders. Above you can see two of the regulars (as not seen on TV) holding one of the beasties. These creatures that like feasting on salmon eggs and other indigenious elements of the local ecology are also partial to catfood. Some more pictures on the Gurn Flickr pages.

The River Nairn as a learning tool

Part 3 is here and there's no sign of Part 1. Part 4 could be in the pipeline however.

Time's up for the River Nairn mink?

Picture taken by Tommy Hogg last November

The BBC reports:
"The largest ever initiative to remove breeding American mink from the north of Scotland is under way. The Scottish Mink Initiative aims to create a 20,000 sq km safe haven for native wildlife in rural Tayside, Aberdeenshire, Moray, the Cairngorms and the Highlands."

The mink on the river have shown themselves to be not entirely shy of mankind and their antics can sometimes be amusing but their impact on wildlife can be devastating. Their days could well be numbered.

Guardian Country Diary - River Nairn

Ray Collier watches the Dippers on the River Nairn. Of course regular blog readers in Gurnshire will have already had the dipper details from Seumas.

Riverside Clean-up - a date for your diary

Friday April 1st meet 10.30 a.m. at the Jubilee Bridge carpark. Telephone 454630 for further details.

New season on the River Nairn

Laurie is just throwing it away as he officially opens the new season on the River Nairn. Click the picture to enlarge.

More pictures here.

The Nairn Angling Association site can be viewed here.

Update: A picture of Duncan Brown fishing the Holme Rose pool now on flickr

Inbhir Narann - Sgrìob mun cuairt na h-aibhne air latha foghair geal grianach

A walk around the river on a bright sunny autumn day.
Thanks to Cuideag for these pictures taken on Sunday. Individual pictures can be seen here.

Whinnieknowe Pool erosion

This picture in from Murray who is concerned about erosion at the Whinnieknowe Pool.

River Rescue - Andrew Brown aided Betty Nelson

More details on the P&J website: Hotelier went to aid of injured OAP in River Nairn.