Photo-a-Day  (Tuesday, 29th April, 2025)

Once the Trout and Salmon have wiggled up the easy to use weir, it will be plain sailing for them until they reach the supermarket trollies hazards at the DW stadium and Scholes area.

Salmon in the Duggie ?Yes they are hoping that not only Salmon but Trout will use the new steps and maybe Salmon will get has far as Horwich in the near future

salmon in the duggie mick more chance of seeing bengal tigers in haigh hall

It's a lovely walk along the river bank to the weir our community are talking about putting a bench thereto sit on.

Only fish that will get that far up will be in tins at the back of Tesco

Haven't seen the Dougie for years. Probably not since the early 1970's. It was always orange in colour due to the effluent. Nothing could survive in it. Now we are talking salmon and trout!

Mick, don’t be tempted to ‘get your tackle out’ just yet!

There's already Trout that come up as far as Appley Bridge, so it only needs word to get out to the Atlantic Salmon population that there's an easy to use fish pass in Shevington and they will come to spawn on the upper sections of the Douglas.

We had Seine fishing for salmon in the Tivy river since the 12th century (introduced by French monks). Natural Resources Wales introduced stringent regulations in 2019 - no more Seine fishing. A licence cost in the region of £500 at that time, and new rules and regulations meant it was no longer viable. We used to watch the men dragging the nets from the boats to the river bank and bringing the salmon up at the end of the day - each man carrying two salmon - so big that their tails would be touching the ground. These would be sent directly to the London markets and the fishermen would sit on the grass bank and be paid for their catches. Lovely childhood memories. I hope this venture in Gathurst is a success. Thank you for this Mick.

Not many people know this, but Mick’s main job for the Parish these days is Tickling Trout and he is known as “Ye Oldie Parish Trout Tickler” and, as such, he sits by the Duggie with his large Butterfly Net catching any passing Trout that happens to come by.
When he catches one he tickles it under the fins missis, yes he does! Have you ever been tickled under the fins missis? If you was you would say “Oooo how tickled I am to be caught in Shevvy, I think I’ll come back again next year!”

Did you have your glasses on, they weren’t brown trout but washed up untreated overflow from Hoscar Sewage Works.

Mick, you have got a sense of humour after all !

It must have been around 1959 since I last saw this weir, so thank you for showing it to me.
My friends and I used to walk along the canal bank, then cross the river at this point, and climb up the hill through Dean Wood, coming out next to the old nunnery. We did this to earn a few shillings picking farmer Valentine's King Edward's potatoes.
Some mornings, we would see a group of nuns taking a morning walk, holding their hands in a praying position.
Then it was us being bent double doing the picking, and then a walk back home the same way.

Mick, I can't see them getting up the river any further than Green Street, because the river at that point flows through a large mesh or grille before dropping down into a culvert under the canal before resurfacing. This mesh or grille collected detritus and other rubbish and so prevented the culvert pipe from becoming blocked, I'm presuming that the mesh or grille will still in place as it was around 30 years ago when I was last there.

I remember reading that the Douglas was once a famed river for salmon fishing, it could well be again if folks ensured that their washing machines and extra WCs etc., are plumbed into the correct drainage, and if United Utilities stopped their filthy habit of dumping untreated 'raw' sewage into the river, they get enough money off us for treating it - so there's no need for them to dump it in the river!

Good one that DTease, I often wondered what Mick got up to when the Peacocks were not in season.

If anyone thinks "Dorothy Hillman" is me because of our old car which was mentioned yesterday, let me assure you it isn't.....I don't use false names and I was at the hairdressers when the comment was put on.

I watched a Salmon leaping at the DW Stadium only a few years back .
Especially at corners .

Cyril they can soon get rid of a bit of wire netting.
They have already made a fish pass on the sharp bend at Fouteen Meadows Road a couple of years ago. I've sent in a photo, but I don't think it appeared.

Everything on WW is on the back end , either the Glue Works smell , pubs that used to be or something else blocking something else . Even this , there is a blockage somewhere - Does owt flow freely in Wigan without objection or spit - summat must be nailed on !

Mick, the mesh or grille wasn't made from wire netting, it was a proper one made from steel strips welded together, I can't recall if the holes could have allowed a large fish through. It was one day I when I was down there and the gate to the enclosure was open, so I had a look in and there were men clearing away the accumulated tree branches and plastic bags etc., there were also around a hundred footballs which they said were always like that every time they came clearing it, so where all of those footballs would have kept coming from, I wouldn't know.
Maybe they have or shall put some sort of access in for fish to swim through.

It’s “ all my eye and Peggy Martin” there’ll never be trout or salmon in that river. They wouldn’t survive with all the filth in it. I love salmon but if it was caught in there I couldn’t eat it knowing it was from there.

Irene I thought straight away that wasn’t you with that Dorothy Hillman and don’t understand people that use fictional names they are obviously hiding from something.

Just to say that I’ve witnessed dippers feeding under water along various sections of the Duggie in recent years , also kingfishers nesting in the banks , before the dam was constructed .

A lad of my acquaintance regularly pulls fish out of the river between the dam and Tesco’s , and I’ve also seen large fish stranded on dry land upstream of the dam following the occasional floods .

Another lad showed me a video he’d taken of an otter in the same area .

No, it wasn’t a mink , it was confirmed as being an otter by some university or other in Manchester .

So there you have it …

The Duggie ain’t quite as mingin’ as many would have you believe .

The burgeoning population of Tesco trolleys downstream is testament to that fact .

I wouldn’t dip my big toe in the Duggie. It may have been a beautiful river centuries ago but not now. There’s been too much poison settling in the silt of the river bed. It could take centuries to heal Ozy and that’s my opinion. I remember when it was a river of many colours. The point is it needs to be clean everywhere it flows not just between Appley Bridge and Shevvy for example. If it’s filthy as said ( not my words) between Scholes and the DW Stadium how can it be clean anywhere else.

Well , there ARE fish in there Veronica … trust me .
Possibly not the most discerning of species I’ll own , but they are in there .

Nature has the ability to recover from almost anything that we can throw at it . Nuclear annihilation included …
given enough time .

Filtration of the water from the yellow brook and the closure of the bleach works and that mill up at Adlington have all been contributory factors to the improvement of the quality of the water .

The evidence is already there to be seen , and I would imagine that whoever was behind the construction of this salmon ladder could quite possibly be slightly better informed than me and thee … wot’s reckon?

No way I would eat fish from the River Douglas Ozy and I don’t care what the ‘Scientists’ come up with…
(Most certainly not the species of fish that’s evolved in there either at this time). Even Salmon from the farms don’t taste the same. I prefer Cod these days from the sea. It’s more expensive than Salmon and tastes a lot better. Which was never the case previously. The thought of eating any fish from the Duggie makes my stomach turn. As much as I love the River Douglas as part of the scenery that’s as ‘far as it flows’ for me. We shall have to agree to disagree..

I don’t actually advocate eating the fish Veronica .
I’m merely stating that people are catching fish with a rod and line at the bottom of Coppull lane, and following the decades of abuse that the Duggie has had to endure , that fact alone must surely be an indication that the quality of the water must have improved .

I’m not saying bottle it and flog it to the supermarkets though … not just yet anyway .

Also , if the water quality has improved around Bottling Wood , then it follows that the same water will empty into the Ribble estuary at Tarleton several hours later .

And as far as I can see , there is little opportunity for contamination across the Lancashire plain , other than chemical runoff from the farmers’ fields and the odd sewage treatment plant here and there , but if these privatised utility companies would just get their act together instead of paying obscene amounts in bonuses to their directors or prioritising the payment of dividends to their shareholders , then everyone may ultimately benefit .

But I wouldn’t hold your breath if I were you .

I can’t see the point of having Salmon and Trout swimming in the Duggy if it’s not for the business of eating it Ozy? Not by me any road….I’m a bit too finicky about certain foodstuffs…. Even if it passes muster in Appley Bridge and any other pretty villages the river flows through.

The salmon and trout probably can’t see the point of sharing the planet with us either if it comes to that Veronica .

Let’s face it , as a species , Homo sapiens is probably either directly or indirectly culpable for the annihilation of half of this planet’s wildlife one way or another .

Take America’s passenger pigeon as just one prime example.

And we’re still killing exotic endangered creatures to hang on the wall as trophies , either that , or destroying their natural habitat and crowding them out of existence .

A couple of tiddlers in the Duggie is just a minute piece of the worldwide jigsaw , but at least it’s a step in the right direction … eh ?

I don’t think there’s a great deal more that I can add to the topic at the moment tbh .

So all the very best my dear .

A bientôt … Ozy .