All posts by Mr Pietri

Alevins, North Walls

Alevin photographs from North Walls

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This is a little email I received from some of the North Walls pupils along with some photos they took:

Hello,
Recently our teacher took some alevins out of the tank to examine them under the microscope and take pictures of them. But before we took the shots we gave them clove oil to stop them swimming about whilst we were taking the pictures.
Sorry we haven’t written to you for a while because we’ve been a busy class. We’ll send Mr. Pietri more pictures. All the swimmers are fine. Thank you we will try to keep you updated.
Adele, Andrew and Mia

Alevins, Dounby Primary

Burn of Hourston stocked by Dounby Primary

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Malcolm, briefing the Dounby pupils

The project ran very smoothly at Dounby Primary this session and last year’s disaster when all the alevins died shortly after hatching was soon forgotten!

The pupils managed to follow their small trout through all the stages, from ova, eyed ova, sac fry and eventually alevins. Malcolm Thomson, very kindly, was overseeing the project with the school and on Friday 15th March, he and Mr. Forsyth led a group of very keen youngsters to the nearby Burn of Hourston to release the alevins. The receiving water which we applied for was originally the Burn of Netherborough and the Burn of Hourston was a last minute switch which made sense from a transport point of view, but the stocking consent had to be sought before we could go ahead.  I would like to thank Marine Scotland who were very flexible with the application to release our fish; after a couple of phone calls and an email, we received permission the same day to proceed with the release in the new water.

The burn was a bit coloured but there was  a gravel shelf along the edge where the youngsters could release their fish and watch them for a few moments before they disappeared.

Malcolm also  did a kick sample, literally, stirring the gravel bed and sweeping through with a fine mesh net to collect invertebrates hidden amongst the gravel and to observe them closely, an activity which captivated the children!

The pupils were very keen to run the project again and they may even have an opportunity to attend an electro-fishing session which Malcolm is considering running in April/May in Orphir.

Well done to everybody for looking after the alevins so well. Looking forward to next year already!

Mr.P

Alevins, Sanday

Sanday School release their alevins into Bea Loch

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Release of fry into Bea Loch, Sanday (Click for full view)

This year, the Sanday ova took a lot longer to hatch because of a slightly delayed transfer from the Kirbister hatchery to the school and due to the very cold spell of weather in February/March. In fact, it wasn’t before March 7th (more than 2 weeks later than last year) that the alevins started hatching. The advantage of hatching ova in very cold water (an average of 4.6°C on Sanday this year) is that the mortality stays very low (4 casualties for over 150 ova)  but the downside is that the alevins haven’t quite reabsorbed their yolk sacs by the time we need to release them, before the Easter holidays.

This year, the most noticeable improvement on release day was undeniably the weather! While in March 2012, we had been battling against a westerly gale and released the alevins facing a mini-tsunami, this time, the Bea Loch was bathed in bright sunshine with a distinctive taste of spring and a gentle breeze from the east.

While Mr. Thorne, the Sanday ranger and Mr. Pietri headed for the loch with the alevins and transferred them in small bags for the pupils to release, the Primaries from Room2  and the secondary 1s, accompanied by Mrs. Butler, Mrs. Cawthorne, Mrs. Muir and Mrs. Thomson walked from the school to the loch.

As the last arrangements were made to release the fry, Mr. Thorne gave a little introduction regarding the loch environment and the challenges our fry would possibly meet in the future: mergansers, herons, cormorants, otters, eels without forgetting the bigger trout lurking in the depths…

Then, it was time to part with our alevins,  let them disappear amongst the weeds in the shallows and wish them good luck!

A big thank you to all the staff from the school who helped with the project, to the Sanday ranger Mr. Thorne  and to the Orkney Trout Fishing Association for providing the ova.

Mr.P

Alevins, St.Andrews Primary, Trout life cycle

St.Andrews fry released in the Burn of Quoykea

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Click on the photo for full size

On Tuesday 19th March, the time came to let the small trout go into the Burn of Quoykea, situated within walking distance of the school. Led by Mr. McIntosh, their teacher and Sandy Kerr from the Orkney Trout Fishing Association, who very kindly supervised the project, the Primary 7 pupils were very enthusiastic and knowledgeable, as Sandy’s presentation back in January was still very fresh in their minds. The little burn, in spite of its diminutive size,  remains a crucial watercourse for the reproduction of Orkney sea-trout in the East-Mainland and bringing young people by the burn raises awareness about the importance of its role in the local biodiversity.

Actually, the pupils may well be back in the summer, as Sandy offered to give an electro-fishing demonstration in order to monitor the health and growth of the alevins.

In the meantime, let’s hope the weather improves and that the warmer water brings our fry plenty of food!

Thank you to everybody who helped to make the project happen.

Mr. P

Alevins, Kirkwall Grammar School, St.Andrews Primary

Project still running at St.Andrews!

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Mr.Ewing and Mr.McIntosh releasing the new batch of alevins.

After the very sad news we received last week from St. Andrews Primary, where all the alevins died over the week-end, the Troot in the Shed team and the Orkney Trout Fishing Association were on the case right away! Sourcing some alevins was the a priority as  so much work had already been put in by the pupils, their teacher Mr. McIntosh (see the posters below) and Conrad the janitor. Mr. Ewing came up with the quickest solution and arranged to transfer some of the Kirkwall Grammar alevins to the St.Andrews tank in order to keep the project going and provide the children with the experience of seeing the alevins slowly turn into miniature trout and eventually releasing them into the nearby Burn of Quoykea.

Over 100 alevins made the trip from KGS to St.Andrews and after measures were taken to prevent alevins from being sucked up by the pump, the tank was buzzing with life again!

Mr.P

Click on picture for full screen view!

Alevins, North Walls, ova / eggs

Troot activities at North Walls!

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These are the beautiful photos I received  yesterday from North Walls. Adele, Andrew, Ben, Cameron and Molly to name but a few, explained how they used the data from their mini-hatchery to produce graphs during maths classes and how they managed to take those great shots by using a microscope linked to a laptop. Details of alevins are very difficult to capture but the North Walls pupils, thanks to a very clever use of ICT have managed to produce these during a science class.

Apart from studying the alevins closely, they’ve also done a very good job at looking after their ova as they only lost about 10 since the project  started.

Congratulations to them and their current  teacher Ms Allen!

Photos taken by the North Walls pupils.
Alevins, General info, ova / eggs, St.Andrews Primary

WARM WEATHER WARNING

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After the St. Andrews incident which wiped out all the alevins, and some concerns from other schools regarding the rise in water temperature caused by a few warm sunny days, Mr. Erskine, who has been overseeing the project on Hoy, has come up with a few simple steps to cool down the tank and prevent water quality from deteriorating; here they are:

KEEPING THE TANK WATER TEMPERATURE LOW

Ideally, the tank temperature should be less than 7C and never allowed to exceed 10C.

On sunny days, the shed temperature will be higher than the outside air temperature, due to heat transfer from the walls and roof. Opening the shed door and windows will keep the tank temperature down. Wetting the shed floor and the sides of the tank will also help. Windows which are not facing North should be kept shaded from the sun.

If the temperature is very high, ice made from bottled or burn water could be added to the tank, keeping it as far away from the ova or alevins as possible. The pump should be kept running to avoid water much colder near the ice.

To calculate the amount of ice needed:

Measure the length and breadth of the tank and the depth of water in centimetres.

Multiply length X breadth X depth to obtain the volume of water in cubic centimetres.

Then, assuming that the ice is at freezer temperature of -18C:

Divide the volume by 98 to calculate the weight of ice in grams needed to lower the water temperature by 1C.

For example:

V = L x B x D

= 60 x 40 x 20

= 48000 cubic centimetres

48000 / 98 = 490

Add 490 grams of ice to lower the temperature by 1C.

Once all the ice has melted, another batch could be added. Try to lower the temperature in 1C stages to avoid thermal shock.

ova / eggs, Stronsay

Stronsay news…

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Just off the plane with the precious cargo...

For the third consecutive year, the Stronsay School are running their mini-hatchery. I bet Arna and Wilma, our cordon-bleu school cooks whose freezer shed is shared with our ova, wouldn’t mind a couple of trout to spice up school dinners but unfortunately, they never get the chance to see them grow big enough…

When it comes to looking after the ova, the Stronsay school is “a well oiled machine”!  and Steve, our janitor, takes the younger pupils at every break to remove casualties and monitor water quality, temperature, etc… and the older pupils keep a watchful eye and are ready to swing into action in case things don’t go according to plan! Since last Thursday, when the eggs were delivered, only 4 dead eggs have had to be removed.

Keep up the good work up there!

Mr. P

ova / eggs, Sanday

Sanday school up and running!

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Mrs. Muir explaining the tank monitoring process.

Today, the Sanday school received 119 ova from Swannay Loch brood stock. After a car journey from the Kirbister hatchery to the airport, a flight on board the Islander plane to Sanday and a short run on the minibus to the school, only one single ovum didn’t make it alive to the tank!

Class 2 were given a presentation on the sea-trout and brown trout life cycles and it was good to see that the young captive audience had remembered so much from last year’s Troot in the Shed programme. Such words as ova, alevins, spawning, obscure as they might be to most people, had no secrets for our pupils. They were also shown various clips of trout embryos wriggling in their shells and sea-trout spawning in the shallows. A big thank you to Mrs. Muir and Claire who are actively supporting the project with the monitoring of the mini-hatchery. And I was going to forget… Another big thank you to Mrs. Newton for providing us with the tank water, but not any water… Roo’s Loch premium water which we hope will give our future alevins the best start in life!

Hope to hear from the young folks on Sanday whose contribution was much appreciated last year.

Mr. P

ova / eggs, St.Andrews Primary

Eggs delivered safely at St.Andrews Primary

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Very tidy set-up at St.Andrews Primary!

St. Andrews Primary received their trout eggs today! A big thank you to Sandy Kerr who delivered the eggs and who had to drive all the way from Stromness, with a detours through Orphir and the Kirbister hatchery in very wintry conditions! He was met there by James Harcus who helped selecting the ova. Once at the school, Sandy was welcomed by Mr. McIntosh’s class who were eager to get the project started! Staff and pupils were delighted with Sandy’s presentation about the trout life cycle and some only realised then, that their school is trategically located between two very important sea-trout spawning burns. The eggs were transferred safely into their new location for the next couple of months: Conrad, the school’s janitor, had carefully set up the tank and the place looked like it had just been polished! A great attention to details has gone into the preparation and even the Holm gravel which covers the bottom of the tank has been sterilised with Milton! All the conditions seem to indicate that the project at St. Andrews should be a great success! A big thank you again to Sandy who was glad to share his expertise.

Hope to hear from you shortly.

Mr. Pietri