Goldsworth Park

The light at Goldsworth Park this evening had a rare clarity, shining on all the new growth, so this had to be the blip. I've just realised that on the lake to the right (if you big it) are the mother and chick grebes I've blipped before - both doing well.

I met the smoothest salesman I've ever come across today. He sold me a garden bench I didn't need at one hell of a good price. I gave him the exact money and he gave me a pound back. "I always like to do that, makes me feel better," he said. "You'll go far," I said. Reminded me of this. The chair is so smart it makes the other chairs look tatty, so I power-washed them down and they look good now. The garden is just starting to turn the corner. I might get a good run at it if the weather holds this weekend but it's come colder already.

A little more info on Kathy's dad's fish (see yesterday's blip): This from Michael on the salmon fishing forum (parr and smolt are stages of growth in young salmon):

There was a commercial salmon fishery active on the Ouse between Cawood and Fulford (mostly at Naburn) until shortly before the Second World War. At peak it was catching more than 10 tons of salmon annually. The main technique was the pan net: imagine something shaped like a giant banjo on a counter-balance mounting, which you swung out over the river, lowered into the water and then raised at the critical moment. Then you swung it in over the bank and emptied the contents. It obviously worked rather well.
Despite the volume of fish taken at Naburn, rod anglers in the same era were catching large numbers further upstream. The Bolton Estate records make interesting reading, with peak annual catches of over 200 fish.
The size of the fish is no surprise. The Ouse salmon tend to be large (my average is over 14 lbs), which I attribute to their very benign habitat in alkaline water and consequently plentiful invertebrate food supply, which breeds big parr and smolts. The bigger the smolt when it goes to sea the better the chance of its survival and the more successful its performance as a predator. There is a cut out of a fish almost 4 feet in length at Bolton, and last year an angler fought a fish for over an hour (in front of a reliable witness) before losing it late in the struggle.