Not a pretty sight, either of them!
Rod McGregor [The anorak] tells me that the water is rich in invertebrates and such creatures. Rod was forced to leave Rover four years ago due to health problems, and being the kind of person that he is, wanted to make something of his life. He enrolled at Rodbaston agricultural college on a fisheries management course and two years later was presented with Student of the Year. What an achievement! He can be seen here receiving the award from Pete Bryant, who runs the fisheries department at Rodbaston [not a pretty sight, either of them!]. Rod was granted a scholarship at Wolverhampton University, where he is currently studying under none other than Dr. Bruno Broughton. Bruno visited the site with his trusty dog, Doddy, and to Chris and his wife Carol's delight, said it was a most worthwhile venture, saying that it was a beautiful sight. With Bruno's enthusiasm as a third party, we now believe that we are on the way.
It is now mid-January and the Gods are with us. With good weather imminent, Chris has hired the services of Phil Bond. Phil works for Ian Campbell, a local contract hire firm. They have delivered a Caterpillar digger to dredge out the bank side vegetation, which has for years been left to encroach into Dragon Pool, especially. Nearly forty feet of reeds have been removed, together with mud and all sorts of other things. Keep quiet when you are fishing? We could not believe it! Each time the bucket was unloaded, it had to be checked for fish. Not large ones, but three different year strains of both common and mirror Carp were heaved ashore, together with the good old Gudgeon. As soon as the machine moved out of the water, some of the larger carp could be seen moving into the disturbed water, obviously for an easy meal.
