Have you ever seen a wild salmon leap? well come with us on a little walk and we'll let you see one or two........ At the weekend we decided to go out walking and view the glorious autumnal colours against a clear blue sky. The October sunshine made the leaves look like burnished gold, bronze and copper while in the breeze little gold leafed leaves would flutter past us and gracefully fall to the woodland floor.
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| The lade |
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| The lade to the left and the river to the right of the little path |
As we walked along the path which looked like it had been laid with a richly coloured axminster carpet we had on one side of us the strong current from the River Almond noisily rushing over the rocks while on the other side of the path the deep lade waters gliding smoothly and quietly down towards the old mill.
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| The dramatic drops down to the River Almond at the start of our walk |
When we reached the end of the path there was a little bridge across the lade that would take us up into Bluebell Wood if we decided to venture that far but we decided to stay at the weir and watch a most spectacular sight for almost an hour along the river bank.
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| The little wooden bridge that leads up to Bluebell Wood |
Let's set the scene with some very short videos...
Below is the spot that I took my photographs and videos from.......... you can even see one salmon take a large leap in this next video.
The Salmon were constantly leaping!
The wild salmon were coming home to spawn - some of them had probably swam 2,500 miles from Greenland to come back to the very same river that they were hatched in. How amazing is that! They use their God given sense of smell and memory to get back home again.
There were big and small fish on Saturday determined to leap over those rocks and some of them looked like they were 20 pounders. They quickly leapt time and time again to get over the rocks and I'm really not sure how many made it past that part of the river as the current was so strong. Sometimes we even heard the odd thud as a fish would fall back and hit the rocks.
There were big and small fish on Saturday determined to leap over those rocks and some of them looked like they were 20 pounders. They quickly leapt time and time again to get over the rocks and I'm really not sure how many made it past that part of the river as the current was so strong. Sometimes we even heard the odd thud as a fish would fall back and hit the rocks.
Below are a few of the photo's from my point and shoot camera and you can view some more larger ones on my photoblog - Centre of Interest. I only wish I had brought a tripod along and worn some wellington boots so that I could have ventured a bit further out on the rocks of the river. But I'm not too sure if I would have been brave enough to get any closer!
If they managed this leap then the next big leap ahead of them would be at Buchanty Spout waterfall further upstream and believe me that is quite a leap!
The determination of these fish was just so amazing to watch.
That's all for today and thanks for taking the time to visit.
oooOOOooo
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Are there any NBN members here today?
As I'm part of the team behind the scenes at NatureBlogNetwork here is a little bit of the latest news for all members if you're not a regular reader of our blog.
Feed Experiment
We now have introduced a feed system so it should be a lot easier to catch up on members posting new content to their blogs. So far it's just been the team that have been beta testing this but now we're opening the feed to all NBN members. We're now on Twitter so it would be great if you could follow us as we have a feed on twitter as well.
© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com
"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20.
38 comments:
What a beautiful place for a walk! I loved watching the salmon leap. Living in the western part of Washington state we are very careful to not dump anything in our street sewers because so much of them end up running into salmon spawning streams.
Not far from us are salmon ladders which allow the salmon to go from the the salt water into the fresh water lakes. We love watching the salmon make their way up the ladder to return to their spawning grounds. It's a fascinating part of nature.
rosie...What a wonderful post! Absolutely stunning. thankyou so much for putting this up. the determination and tenacity of these amazing creatures is a real lesson in life I think. to go against the current because that's the thing to do in your life. Well I will watch it again and again!!
All of my life, I have heard about the salmon but I have never witnessed them first hand. What fabulous videos and photos. Thank you so much for sharing the beauty and wonder of your world.
Thanks for telling me about this on here!! The kids and I loved watching your videos over and over and over. It was pretty exciting to see them jump! :)
Dear Rosie - A glorious homecoming and what a miraculous sight. Stunning stills and great vid. Lovely, lovely, lovely
Laura x
Great post Rosie, I love the videos, and your still photos are fantastic! Unfortunately, here on the Pacific Coast of California, our salmon populations have been in steep decline. I'm not even sure where to go locally to see scenes like this anymore.
The salmon are truly amazing! Your video and photos are fantastic. Thanks for a terrific post.
This was wonderful, Rosie. Thank you for taking us along with you on your walk. The video of the salmons was much enjoyed. -- Bom @ http://www.plantchaser.com
Wow! What a post! I have read about the salmon going back to the river of their birth, but had not really believed it. Your videos are simply wonderful! Thanks for sharing.
I've seen the Salmon many times when I lived in Oregon, it is always a sight to behold... And most interesting that they always go back to where they were born. Love this post, it never occured to me that the same scene was playing out on the other side of the world.
Hi Rosie,
I remember watching the Salmon leaping at Falls of Shin when I was young and we stayed in Dornoch or Embo up on the Dornoch Firth.
This time of year we'd have Salmon, or alternatively we'd often visit in Spring and would marvel at the Bluebells.
These days we now go further south - to the Cairngorms so never have the chance to see the falls anymore.
Wonderful :)
Rosie, The vids were wonderful. I have never seen a salmon run in person. Your vids brought the experience closer than National Geographic. Very cool. Thanks
jim
WOW! Autumn is so colourful! Salmons are such strong fish.
I've only read about the salmon returning to spawn but to see videos of them actually doing so...!! Loved them all and your photographs too. Your area is very beautiful. Love that photo with the little bridge that leads to Bluebell Wood.
The video is still on and I can hear the river! What a sound and what a sight~The calm lade and the rushing river what a contrast. Salmon are amazing~thank you for sharing it! gail
You're right: you and I were on the same wave length today!
I used to go fishing with my dad, so I have seen salmon and other fish do their leaping. Marvelous!
Your photos of the lade are just spectacular, Rosie. I wish you could put together a book of your area.
BTW, what's axminster carpet?
April here's a definition of this famous UK brand of carpet
Axminster Carpet: A distinguished type of carpet because of its vast variety of color and the patterns.
How neat to be a witness to this natural marvel!
Those are wonderful photos of the salmon leaping up the river Rosie. Here in BC this year was a record for numbers of salmon returning to spawn.
Great photos of salmon. Video, too. Salmon are beautiful fish. We have them in the Niagara River.I never saw them leap. They would have a tough time leaping up the falls.
Rosie, This is such a amazing phenomenon. One of nature's true marvels. Your post is fabulous . . . you have some great shots of the leaping salmon. Your walk is so beautiful! I enjoyed the stunning landscape photography, videos and your lovely writing. ;>)
Its really cool to have a refreshing walk and enjoy this natural place.
BTW - do you get to catch those Salmon after they have spawned?
I'm not really into fishing Jim but you need a license to fish here and you can only fish at certain times of the year. The bailiffs are out in force at this time of year to make sure no one poaches the salmon as they leap.
Dear Rosie, Of course I have heard about Salmon leaping but I have never seen it happen personally. so, your posting is a real treat and how clever of you to show little films of it happening. It is, indeed, an amazing sight.
There is, in my view, nothing to compare with the taste of wild Salmon!
This is off the subject - but what name do you have on Ispot?
Lucy
Rosie, I really enjoy this post! I did not even know you had salmon in your part of the world! I certainly learned something. The scenery alone is worth the walk, but the leaping salmon would have had me there for hours. Thanks for sharing!
The lade is so beautiful--what a wonderful place to walk! But as lovely as the walk was through this area, I was even more excited to see the salmon. I can understand why you would have stayed in this place for an hour just to watch. They are spellbinding, and it's just amazing how far they have travelled to get here. Thanks so much for sharing this with us, Rosie!
We don't have salmon here in nature,but i know they do that. I seem to feel that is so romantic for them to take risk of their lives just to give their offsprings the same legacy. And there's always a mystery laden in their story, and your river looks mysterious too. I pity them when they leap and then drop by below the small falls, how sad. I wonder what percentage were able to reach the spawning site. If only we can fathom the beginning why they do that, it seems like they do not have the facility in their brains to adjust to the changing environment, or their aclimatizing mechanism is absent. Oh hoy mysterious, i dont know!
Marvelous post, Rosie! I saw the salmon leaping in the video. They are amazingly strong to go against the current. Wonderful photos.
Wow! After reading this post, I feel like I've been on a beautiful autumn vacation! I'm just dying to share this with my mom!
What a beautiful fall you are having there!
Thanks for stopping by my modest little blog.
Hi Rosie, how delightful and such fun to spot the salmon jumping...and what a lovely name for a river...almond...i am guessing you do not have many almond trees in the locale? the Duke and Duchess went on a fishing trip up in Scotland and brought me back a wild salmon and it was delicious!
I have never seen a salmon leap in real life. I am so lucky to witness this phenomenon here and glad you recorded it.
Fantastic video, love the autumn color. Thanks for stopping by and take care:)
This post lead me to your explanation of the "lade" in a previous post and I read it with fascinated interest. I love learning these bits and pieces of history through your site. Thanks for the time and effort you put into your writing!
great place tospend a day with much to study and enjoy.
Hi there Rosie, sorry I meant to leave a comment here when I spotted this. I love see if I recognise the areas in your postings. Not sure on this one :-D
What a lovely walk but the salmon images are fantastic. Great videos and even without a tripod you got some good clear photos. It's been a while since I've spotted jumping salmon in the wild. Having lived near Pitlochry (until age 17) I do remember being fascinated by Salmon jumping at the Ladder there.
BTW nice to see your face on NBN. I've been a member there for ages although I'm not sure if I have the correct logo on my blog. Great to see things moving forward there. I don't use/follow Twitter. Need I do anything there re my feeds?
Your pictures look like the area of New York State where I live. We live in Salmon country - it's prime salmon fishing season here. The fishermen stand in our river below a dam to fish. A few men have had to be rescued from the river this year. I am visiting Scotland - something I've wanted to do for years. Can't wait to see your country.
Thanks and good to have come across your blog - i stay in scotland and will make my way to Perthshire to see this amazing salmon ladder jumps. Fascinating to see the strength these fish have against the current. Thanks for sharing ....
Thanks for stopping by my blog today and leaving a comment and I really appreciate you taking the time to do so. I'll either reply to you on my blog or else make a return visit to your blog over the next few days.