Rivers and Lochs Institute at Scottish Game Fair

The Rivers and Lochs Institute has been out and about in the last few weeks.  We had a stand at the Scottish Game Fair as part of the Fishery Education, Research and Policy area. The event is led and organised by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, and in the fishery area they featured their research into salmonid spawning and migration on the River Frome in Dorset. The charity Buglife ensured all our river invertebrate ID skills were updated with a daily kick sample from the nearby River Tay, and the tray full of river life was a good draw for children and parents.  RAFTS had a wide ranging stand featuring a number of River trusts across Scotland and a profile of the LIFE pearl mussel project.  The big crowd puller was the Tweed Forum catchment model - expertly presented by the Tweed team and perfectly illustrating the issues of surface water run-off in modified catchments. A lunch with MSP Nigel Don developed some interesting discussions around fishery issues, and as the sun shone and Andy Murray won at Wimbledon, the three days was particularly enjoyable and successful.