Tuesday 26th March, 2019
Thank you to everyone who took part in the recent piscivorous bird survey on the river Usk. This count is part of the Foundation’s study into the causes of the decline in the river’s juvenile salmon numbers in recent years.
Around 47% of the river was covered in the hour-long count on the Sunday morning of 10th March, during which time 36 cormorants, 124 goosanders and 16 herons were spotted. The highest numbers came from the Usk Town water. Otherwise, birds were fairly evenly distributed across the river surveyed.
We will organise another survey in the autumn when we will again be calling on clubs, owners and anglers to walk their fishery and record bird numbers.
After that, we will have a much better understanding of what impact they are having on salmon populations.
