Tyne count fifth highest since 1996 

THE Environment Agency has announced that upstream count of salmon and sea trout in the River Tyne for 2011 was 35,964 and was the fifth highest since the Riding Mill counter was installed in 1996.

The year did not start very well with a spate on January 16 damaging the counter array. Due to high river levels for the next 10 days the counter was run with only three out of four channels operational.

Repairs were carried out on January 26 and 27 and the counter was fully restored late afternoon of January 28. As a result of damage and the poor river conditions for the remainder of the month, no upstream counts were recorded.

The upstream count for February was five with almost all occurring towards the end of the month, when river conditions became more favourable for fish passage.

Although, conditions continued to improve throughout March, daily counts over the first three weeks were still quite low and sporadic. It was not until March 22 that larger numbers of counts were recorded. The final total for March was 106 and the second highest recorded.

The upstream counts recorded during the first half of April were highly influenced by river conditions. Throughout much of this period, levels were quite high and temperatures quite low, this resulted in upstream counts being quite low except when levels dropped and temperature increased.

As conditions improved during the second half of the month, the numbers of upstream counts recorded each day increased. The total for April was 409 and was by far the highest in our records surpassing the previous highest by 112.

The upstream counts at the beginning of May appeared to be the result of the low river levels. When there were rises in level there was usually a corresponding increase in the number of upstream counts.

This was highly evident on May 9 as a very large number of counts coincided with a noticeable rise in river levels. The total count for May was 1,346, which was the highest recorded total for that month. The previous highest was 1,028 recorded in 2005.

Counts during June also responded to changes in river levels. However, on June 23 the count was only eight despite a rise in level; this rise was far greater than those observed over the last couple of months.

Through observation, it is known that once levels reach approximately 1.3m at Riding Mill, the rate at which upstream counts are recorded declines very quickly and only start to increase when levels drop back to that point.

By June 24, rivers levels had already dropped back 0.60m from the peak and counts responded accordingly.

As in June, rises and falls in the numbers of counts recorded in July appeared to be heavily influenced by the changes in rivers levels; counts increasing with moderate increases in rivers levels.

The largest increase in count for July occurred between July 12 and 15 when there was a slight rise in levels, however, this was not result of rain but by a release of water from Kielder reservoir.

River levels during first half of August were frequently high and were twice high enough to reduce counts to almost zero. However, one of the more modest rises in level result in more 1,000 counts being recorded in one day.

Throughout the second half of August, the river levels were thought to be ideal for fish passage; however, upstream counts remained quite modest. The upstream count for August was 5771 and was the fifth highest recorded for that month.

The river conditions during September, like the latter half of August, were perceived as being ideal for fish passage. However, daily totals of upstream counts remained quite modest in comparison with previous Septembers.

Only on nine occasions did the daily count exceed 300 and of those only two exceeded 400. Although, the total for month (7519) was the sixth highest, it was quite some way behind the fifth highest.

The majority of counts recorded in October occurred during three distinct periods that were separated from one another by a series of spates.

In each of the periods, there was a daily count exceeding 500, one of which was almost 600. Although river levels appeared still to have an influence over the numbers of counts being recorded, water temperature started to show an increasing influence.

Furthermore the time of day when counts occurred was also reducing. At the beginning of the months counts were found to occur throughout the 24-hour period but by the end of the month occurrences had been increasingly restricted to daylight hours.

The upstream count for October was 8,777 and was the seventh highest on records.

Counts during November also appeared to be increasingly influenced by water temperature. Furthermore, the maximum level at which counts were being recorded appeared to be reducing as the water temperature declined.

At the beginning of the month water temperatures were above the average for the time year and along modest rises in levels the there were some quite substantial daily counts. However beyond the middle of the month the number of counts recorded each day is significantly lower than those recorded much earlier in the month and gradually declined towards the end of the month.

No counts were recorded during the spate towards the end of the month. Once levels receded there were a few upstream counts recorded over the final three days of the month. The count for November was 3,304, the fourth highest recorded.

River temperatures continued to fall throughout the first half of December and along with some high flow events, no counts were recorded. During the second half of the month temperatures started to increase again once flows had subsided towards the end of the month there were 11 counts recorded between December 26 and 28.

However, after December 28, river temperatures started to decline again and no further counts were recorded.