By Victor Hyde

Yesterday was a great day. I and two other undergraduate students from Bournemouth University visited the River Lab (East Stoke, UK) to familiarise ourselves with the site of the SAMARCH project, which is our university placement for later in the year. Located on the River Frome in Dorset, river levels were very high on the day of our visit as a result of the recent Storm Dennis.

We visited the electronic fish counter which was working well despite the conditions and we saw the device used by the fluvarium to trap the outgoing smolt for tagging. The site is home to much scientific research from salmonids to protists and to climate-affected-ecology. We had the opportunity to speak with our university professor Genoveva Esteban, and with Luke Scott from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, and find out about their involvement in the project. A thoroughly enjoyable day was had by all. Victor Hyde.