Today is the 10th January and it is heartening to know that the daylight is now 40 minutes longer than it was on the shortest day of the year just before Christmas. It might seem hard to notice but we can’t argue with the facts! The best thing to do once you are all in your bubble is to go an a walk and meet no-one!! That’s not too hard to do around here. We have the most beautiful local walks and once the rain holds off for a while you can enjoy some lovely winter air. The trout season is not much more than 4 weeks away now and if there was salmon fishing within 5km that would be even earlier on the 1st February. However staying safe, avoiding others, not in your bubble, are still the number 1 priorities.

The one thing that keeps your mind focused when looking out across the water is the fragility or our lake – even in these winter days what is apparent is the extent of the invasive weed Lagarosiphon that is being washed up along the shore over the winter. Here on a slipway at Baurisheen there is loads of it this week having been broken by the winter winds and blown ashore. Its the same at the sheltered slipway at Oughterard pier. If left to rot it will safely decay as it bears no seeds – but no-one should move it to another water body or bring it home for a fish tank as it has no natural pathogens or predators and reproduces just by fragmentation and spreads like wildfire. We are extremely grateful to the small team of divers and weed cutters who work tirelessly, year-round, to keep this lake open for anglers and to protect the vulnerable native trout and their Charaphyte weed beds on which much of the trout food lives. Keep up the good work lads!