Update

20/12/2007
It’s been another week and not much is new. I have been enjoying my last few days and opted not to take any days off this week. We did the last of the netting on Wednesday for the year. I really enjoyed this part of my job but the majority of the salmon have run and so we must call it quits. The major focus has been sorting out the hens (female) salmon that are ready to spawn. You can tell because their stomachs are soft to the touch and when you hold them up they look like they have too much skin by their tail fins. It is amazing how simple it is to tell. We go through the tank about once a week to see how many are ready. As of now only about half have been stripped. For the males the only way to tell is to grab one and try milking it. Most of the males are mature by this time of year. We stripped about 70 hens on Monday and Tuesday. And yes I mean we, I stripped the last three. There is a simple technique, but getting the fish to hold still is the toughest part. I was quite excited they let me have a go and I thank Lawrence and Giles for their patience. I’ll go through the fish again on Sunday before I leave for good. I am sad to go. I can’t believe my six weeks is up already.
So this week my excitement came in the form of a pantomime. I went and saw Cinderella. David’s daughter was the lead, and all his kids and wife were a part of the performance. It was hilarious and very well put together. It was everything theatre should be in a small Irish town. I also got to go beating on my first shoot. The lodge host woodcock shootings. David had me crawling though thickets, and blackberry patches along with 7 others to scare the birds out. It was a lot of fun and I have plenty of scrapes from briars to prove it. The hunters only got 4 birds but they had a great weekend getting over 40. They stand on the outside of the timber, and brush and shoot the birds as they leave. It was a good time for everyone and lots fun seeing a few birds.
Today I helped hang some Christmas lights and painted the hatchery. The roof is now on and it is looking very nice. I would say that it will be up and running again in the first weeks of the New Year. That’s all for tonight, cheers!