It seems like a great time to see these lovely animals in Salisbury at the moment. Although across the country their numbers have been suffering they seem to be surviving in Salisbury at the moment.

Mink that have escaped from fur farms find them easy prey and changes in farming and flood control over the last 60 years have resulted in the loss of their riverside habitat

Water voles have dark fur, a round body and a short, fat face. They have a long, fur-covered tail. This is different from the brown rat that has a longer hairless tail and pointed nose.

If you want to spot them in Salisbury look out for them swimming or feeding on plants at the waters edge.

Good places to look are along the flood relief channel in the central car park, town path and the river by Ashley Green but there are many more places too…

The trout in the Library are doing well at the moment. We took possession of some eggs in January and have been watching them grow over the last couple of months. They now look like the trout they are going to become. Why not pop into the Library and have a look. Thanks again to Wessex Salmon & Rivers Trust for all their help with the system.

The River Avon (and its tributaries) has a catchment that covers a land area of over 1700 km2. A catchment is an area that is drained by a river.

The River Avon is home to 184 plant species.

The River Avon is home to 27 fish species.

The River Avon is 85 miles long from Pewsey (near where it starts) to Christchurch (where it meets the sea).

The importance of the River Avon and its tributaries has been recognised for several internationally rare or threatened species, such as sea and brook lamprey, bullhead, Atlantic salmon and Desmoulins' whorl snail.

And finally a 13th century poet spoke of the River Avon and its tributaries as ‘live-giving Streams’ and ‘lighter than a spark, brighter than crystal, purer than gold, sweeter than ambrosia, is this liquid’.

If you have are keen on rivers and wildilfe and enjoy photographing them too, why not be part of Photosynthesis. This is a project as part of this years Salisbury International Arts Festival that will see the back of the Library in Salisbury transformed. We are replacing the blue and brown panels that face the river and need your help.

We are running workhops in the Library on the 19th and 20th February when you can work with a professional photographer and leave your digital photos to be part of a giant work of art. For more details contact the Library on 01722 324145. Places are limited so you need to book.

Hopefully see you there

Keep your eyes open if you pop into Salisbury Library at the moment. The Library has a new arrival - about 500 of them to be more accurate. A new fish tank has been put in place by the Living River project with 500 newly laid brown trout eggs.

The eggs are part of The Wessex Salmon and Rivers Trust Trout in Schools Project which provides fish tanks to schools so they can grow trout.

The fish tanks have become mini rivers in the classroom, and are a great teaching aid for subjects like evolution, reproduction, classification, food chains and webs, pollution and water resources.

Not everyone can see them when they are in schools though so we have teamed up with them to show everyone along with the help of the Library

The young trout are released into the Avon at around Easter, with the proper consent from the Environment Agency. In the meantime though – why not pop along to the Library and see how they are doing?

Although it is winter and work on the river has stopped (if we worked in the river at this time of year there is the danger of damaging salmon and trout eggs) we have still been busy beside it. This month we have been working in Laverstock with St Andrews Primary school who have designed a bench for their local riverside walk. Not your everyday park bench but hopefully one that people will enjoy sitting on while resting their legs. If you want to see it click this link but why not go and see it for real at Whitebridge Spinney, Laverstock. Hope you like it…