I walked slowly along the high bank overlooking the river rushing past below where over just out off the far margin, over gleaming bright gravel, I could see barbel going through the motions of spawning once more. These fish, probably fifty or more nestling cheek to cheek either in pairs or huddles of five or more fish was wafting around in inches of water. Now and again, the rivers surface became blushed with a sandy coloured slick when the fish mated. This was not the first time that barbel had gathering to spawn as they had done so a few weeks before when the conditions became ideal, but sustained rainfall brought a flush of colder water in its wake putting a halt to spawning for a while. Now however with suitable conditions returning, the whole stretch was once again filling up with barbel yet to spawn and those having spawned already, moving into deeper pools and shallow glides where they will spend the summer and autumn right along the stretch. 

After a few minutes I moved slightly further along the high bank keeping well back from my edge of the river so as not to disturb any fish close in. I parted the cow parsley now waist high with their canopies of white flowers in full bloom and ducked below the overhanging branches of a sycamore, one of three good sized trees that grow precariously on top of the high bank right at the waters edge. Carefully walking down the bank through the cow parsley hidden by the branches of the tree, I came to the edge of the high bank which overshadows the shallow gravel run below with its sheer cut face. This place is a marvellous vantage point to spot fish, especially at spawning time as hundreds of barbel gather here in the fast shallow water. The tree branches form a screen where it’s easily possible to stand right on the high banks edge still hidden behind a curtain of broad leaves and branches.

Literally only a few feet below, there must have been a hundred barbel some forming groups of seven or eight fish in a writhing mass. Pink fins and swishing tails constantly on the move as the group’s male fish competed with each other for best place at the side of the female who was often hidden within the centre of the group. Now and again the female would tease the group by breaking away hotly pursued by her smaller male suitor’s. Elsewhere along the shallow glide other fish were mostly forming pairs occasionally pushing each other this way and that with their cheeks whilst many solitary males sat it out almost motionless waiting for their own date to arrive.

Making my way slowly upriver towards the weir pool stopping in various pitches the story was the same all the way along where shallow clean gravel runs appear, each one in turn playing host to spawning barbel all going through exactly the same rituals. When I arrived at the fast shallow runs below the weir pool I had spawning barbel literally inches from my feet right in at the edge in only a few inches of water. These fish were totally oblivious to my presence or could care less if they were, only a sudden movement made sent then darting off hiding below the sanctuary of streamer weed wafting about in the fast shallow current. Even along the very shallow runs that only afforded about four inches of water flowing over them male barbel were furiously swimming up backs and dorsal fins completely out the water besotted with instinctive knowledge that females were waiting in the deeper troughs lying just ahead.


A couple of weeks on and the water temperature has risen, not a lot but enough to change the barbel’s wine women and song attitude. Now they have life’s other business to attend to and like all wild fish, this either involves hunting their food or resting. But the stretch is also home to other fish that in clear conditions turns the whole stretch into an aquarium with roach, bream, dace, chub, carp, and perch all easily spotted in various areas of the stretch in types of flow suited to their individual needs. Watch carefully along the far side bulrush margin and perch shoals can be seen along their edges in the first hours of light, or in the edges of deeper pools where tangles of tree roots enter the river growing out the bank side. In dawns first gloomy hour or so, the perch will be hunting but come the glare of the rising sun will retreat back into their root and rush sanctuaries.


Chub will be spotted in huge numbers in any slacker area out of the strong current, slower pools below trees where the fast current swirls back on itself are a favourite especially the pool below the sycamores at the bottom of the fishery and the large crack willow pool situated just after the shallow glides below the weir pool. One might easily expect the bream to spend a lot of time in the slower deeper areas but don’t be fooled as these fish are equaly at home in the faster water. Roach are simply everywhere as are dace, often seen in large shoals and often together. In good light mid morning with the sun at your back look for the roach from the high banks nearest the car park. They are often found along the drop off on the far bank but also in the clean gravel shallows especially where the willows have their branches cascading over the river on the far bank.


It takes more time and invariably more patience to spot the carp but trust me they are there. These individuals prefer to stay out of sight in the deeper pools and glides but can’t resist the temptation to show themselves when one throws in some bait! Then like long submarines they appear from the deeps to sail over a few offerings before going down tails up sending clouds of sand billowing out at the side of their bodies as they get their fat faces in amongst the gravel beds!

But what of our barbel, where are they now since spawning activity has ceased? Look for these fish in the faster water, and that means in just about every peg along the entire Lady Pit stretch! Its possible to view the river bed from the sections along the fishery that have high banks where with the aid of good sun glasses you can see down into three or four feet of water. At any given time during the day you will see fish in these areas, mostly chub with a few barbel dotted around coming and going. Now throw some bait in, I simply use pellets, just up stream so they come to land on the general area that you are looking down into. I guarantee within one minute, betting a tenner it will be more like thirty seconds, the chub you already see will be joined by hoards of barbel that before hand you didn’t see as they were lying in deeper water. There’s often so many barbel they look more like a writhing mass of fish where its not possible to see which ones which until a couple break away.

The top meadow stretch is totally different with its deeper slower paced water but the island stretch looks very pretty with lilies all up with quite a few in yellow flower already. There’s something about beds of lilies that get the anglers heart racing especially when the broad leaves floating on the surface start to tremble and shake as there must be big fish brushing up against those long green stems to make them act like that. I’m expecting to have some real adventures up in this meadow as for me it screams good fishing. I’m hoping to find some big perch and big roach behind the island in the top meadow as the lilies and far bank cover of flag iris, reed mace, bull rush and over hanging briars paint a picture of fish hidden away in between or underneath them. There’s a section that narrows slightly behind the island with a crack willow on the far bank and another one on the near bank facing each other. This is another place I’d expect to find large dog chub or pack of large perch lying beneath the overhanging branches. Then further up at the confluence where the main river spits in two at the head of the island this area represents a natural crossing place that all fish species will frequent at different times during the day. Here I imagine huge shoals of bream coming through or good numbers of quality chub milling about with the occasional big carp roaming around looking for an easy meal.


There’s certainly a very good chance of hooking a solitary big female barbel anywhere along the top meadow especially come the first throws of autumn as I always manage to find these sort of fish in this type of area . Right along the top meadow I’ve already found a few likely looking features that will hold lots of fish, drop offs at the edge of rock clusters close in and the sudden drop offs forming deeper pools in long glides. And I’ve already singled out quite a few cracking areas for flood water fishing later on in the season when the river rises and big barbel begin to drop down river seeking the autumn and winter sanctuary they require. I’m also looking forward to having some fun using the lures for pike later on in the year as the top meadow looks like its going to hold some impressively big pike as well. Nothing to serious as I’m far from being a dyed in the wool pike angler. Just a roam about with net, rod and small bag with all the essentials in it for a days sport, when hopefully I’ll have a few exciting contests with some pike when the meadow and surrounding trees have a glistening cover of silvery hoar frost. I love those misty cold mornings where roach topping circles are seen everywhere in the flat calm surface. Those sorts of days when fry leap out the water in a fan of small droplets then a huge swirling boil appears just below the surface telling you a large pike is on the feed amongst the fingerling and fry shoals. A small Devon minnow cast and spun back through the area often finds its mark or just as good on its day a simple Mepps spinner fished steadily through the water a foot or two below the surface. Nothing too serious or complicated just a small box with a selection of say half a dozen tried and tested lures to choose from that will tempt those marauding pike.

Fishing aside the whole venue is full of wildlife, and the sharp eye will find or see things in the most unlikely places. At the car park where the first locked gate is, take a look at the metal post where the lock and chain goes around and you’ll see a “slot” cut out in the post, about fifteen inches down from the top. This slot and the hollow gate post below it has been home to a nesting pair of robins this year. I spotted the robins going in with often huge clusters of grubs and insects in their beaks, so I took to tapping the side of the slot with a fingernail before opening the gate when the brood below would chirp like mad thinking mum or dad had arrived with breakfast. Then later on I was very lucky indeed to see four young newly fledged robins all lined up on the top rail of the metal gate with both parent birds coming and going with food for the youngsters!

Up at the weir pool there’s a long row of metal trench sheets with concrete poured behind that forms the weir pool wall on the opposite island bank. From the weir itself going downstream look along these metal sheets with its concrete skirt on top and you’ll see a ledge and gash shaped hole in the concrete about 20 feet from the weir itself. Be patent and watch carefully and you’ll spot a pair of swallows coming and going feeding their brood. Then a few feet further on you’ll see a cluster of yellow flowering vetch clinging to the concrete wall but behind that yellow trailing growth a pair of pied wagtails have their nest in a crag hidden behind the vetch. These comical birds often fly over to the weir pool beach to search for insects amongst the gravel, wagging their long tails dressed neatly in their black and white feathery dinner jackets.


The chaffinches along the stretch are almost tame if you sit still and don’t make any sudden movements. I’ve sometimes sat at the waters edge eating my breakfast whilst working at the fishery when I’ve shared part of a sandwich with as many as half a dozen of these inquisitive birds once having two perched on my boot toe cap at the same time! Upstream in the top meadow in the place where it narrows having two willows on either bank, we have in residence what I reckon must be the tamest robin I’ve ever encountered. A cock bird, I first met him when I stopped there in my 4x4 for a cup of tea whilst working. To begin with he flew across from the island chattering harshly like robins do when they feel their territory has been threatened, but this display soon gave way to his traditional curiosity. I sat on the steel bumper with the back door open watching him hop from branch to branch until he flew over and perched on the back door just inches above my head. Almost face to face I watched him whilst he watched me for two or three minutes his head twitching from side to side giving me the impression he was sussing me out. Eventually he flew off back over to the island but every time I go past that spot if I’m on my own I stop for a cup of tea and he always appears and eventually comes and perches on the top of my open back door!

Unfortunately the buzzards haven’t nested in the large oak at the end of our fishery this year. It’s typical behaviour from buzzards though as they always have a selection of nests to choose from just that this year they chose to rear their brood elsewhere. They aren’t far away though as I often see them circling up over the woods and fields “mewing” to each other. Where ever they are they definitely have young as I sometimes see either parent bird “perch” hunting along the edge of the woods just sitting on a favoured perch waiting for a rabbit to appear from out along the woodland edges. If you’ve never watched a buzzard perch hunting you’ll be in for a treat as the chances of seeing one at Lady Pit hunting like this is very good. These hunting perches are situated in locations where the buzzards “know” prey can be found regularly so as such are used regularly. A typical area would be the side of the wood or thicket where rabbit runs appear trailing out into a meadow or field, or an area where a brown rat colony is located like the side of a bank or in old straw bales stacked in the corner of a field. So long as these locations have a few good spotting perches for the buzzards to sit and wait upon they will be used frequently by them whilst out hunting. These birds are incredibly patient whilst hunting this way and you the watcher must show similar patience if you are to catch them in the act. The wait no matter how long is more than worth it as these great birds are masters of this particular style of hunting.


Once prey is spotted, often still nearly hidden in thick cover, the buzzard uses it binocular vision to home in. It waits motionless on its perch whilst its quarry listens and sniffs the breeze for signs of danger. The bird on its perch never once takes its eyes off it knowing for sure it will come into open ground where its fate will be sealed. If it’s a rabbit say, the bird will wait until it is way clear of cover unless it is fortunate enough to be perched directly over it. In either case it will open its wings and glide almost effortlessly down towards its target bringing down its talon undercarriage at the last second to grasp its prey.

We’ve had more luck with the sparrow hawks as they have nested along our fishery in the woods along the top meadow. These birds have a fondness for hunting over on the island where the large finch population nesting there makes for easy pickings so expect to see either parent bird flying back and forth. Another good place to spot these hawks is in the bottom green lane where access to the top meadow is via two metal gates at the lanes end. Sparrow hawks love woodland tracks like these where they will often fly up them in almost casual style choosing a favoured perch to wait in ambush for passing trade. Pigeons are a favourite quarry in woodland and the sparrow hawk has no problem at all hitting one if it is taken by surprise. Hedgerows are also favoured hunting territory as they like to fly very fast alongside them swooping quickly over the top to catch small birds on the opposite side completely off guard. For their size, sparrow hawks are ferocious birds displaying very similar traits to its much larger cousin the goshawk. The sparrow hawks take partridges regularly in the top meadow and I’ve also seen one take a partridge on the edge of the ditch whilst driving up the track from the main road heading towards the river.


Badgers continue to come right out the woods where evidence of their nightly digging forages for worms and roots can be seen next morning right at the rivers edge on the grassy banks. If you look carefully you will spot their regular runs and latrines going right across the meadow. Those coming to the fishery before dawn will be in with a good chance of spotting one especially if you look along the edges of the woods.


Insect life all along the stretch is in full swing now that the warmer weather has arrived with massive hatches of midge and sedges seen daily. Mayflies are now emerging up the reed stems and the first damsels are all along the waters edge, mostly the common blue and banded species. Very soon, the much larger predatory dragon flies will be out menacingly flying up and down the waters edge like helicopter gun ships.


I have been fortunate enough to watch the seasons change at the fishery whilst doing work there since January this year. I’ve watched the once cold often uninviting river slowly transform itself into a warm vibrant flow of fast running water brimmed full of fish and other aquatic creatures. I’ve seen the stark branches of winter slowly come alive with each species waiting in turn to receive their cloak of green leaves. I’ve marvelled at the new growth pushing up through last years decay that has completely transformed the ground level landscape. Smelt the damp earth after heavy rainfall and watched countless sunsets in their hot molten skies. Watched the rivers turbulent ripples rushing over boulders being lit up by moonlight, standing alone in the silence of night save for the ghostly owl calls in a far away wood. All this and much more besides has been an absolute delight to behold, an audience with nature where the wise Mother herself has allowed me to see her wondrous bounty.

But now comes the urgency, a will to be there amongst this watery landscape that draws and pulls with each passing day. In the last throws of glimmer before sleep finally takes us, we think it, then dream it, and long to be there. And whilst we are away, kept apart from this paradise as the glorious day draws closer and closer, dark shadows are gliding over deep pools or lying half hidden in a tangle of weed that billows above them.

But when the heat of the day turns to the chill of the night, and mist rises up from the river spreading out onto the meadows above, the Lady is waiting for you all to return.

And then we will all be touching angels wings.