Salmon Run

This week I paid a couple of visits to a Cumbrian river to try and obtain some images of salmon leaping up one of a series of waterfalls and white water in the lower reaches of the river. The salmon fishing season had finished at the end of October and hopefully there would still be good numbers of salmon coming up the river to reach the spawning grounds in the higher mountainous upper reaches.

On both visits there were sufficient salmon leaping the falls to keep the cameras busy.Mike joined me for the first visit and Martin on the second. Neither had seen this spectacle before and conditions were ideal as we set up the cameras. It was not easy to anticipate when a salmon might come out of the water and reactions had to be very fast to capture the action. We did succeed and the results of our efforts are shown above.

We were pleased with the results and we also managed some images of other fish eating residents of the river namely goosander and grey heron both of which posed nicely for the camera. The only event which spoilt the afternoon session for Martin and I was the arrival of a party of canoeists who used the white water of the waterfall to practice their techniques and this was a signal for the salmon to vanish and we also sadly moved on. I may be back to see this wonderful spectacle a little later in the month when hopefully some salmon will still be coming up river heading for their birthplace high in the Cumbrian fells.