Galloping horses, frogs getting jiggy & wood chipping machines...

...it was all going off at Sollom today.

I was looking forward to a peaceful bit of fishing when I arrived this morning, but not long after getting to my peg it started.  First, a Transit pulling a wood-chipping machine came over the bridge and a couple of blerks in hi-vis vests began studying the view.  There was a bit of pointing and a couple of trips to the willow tree & back again, then they disappeared.  A couple of familiar looking cars rolled-up - obviously a big job was about to break out.

I was mucking about with my rigs for a good half an hour before I actually got fishing, so I was treated to the sight of three riders on the gallops giving some of the thoroughbreds some exercise.  A couple of the young ladies have taken to wearing pink silks on their riding hats with big pink pom-poms on them.  I'll refrain from further describing what the two of them looked like, bouncing up & down on the horses - but  I suspect what I've said so far will give you a good idea...

Not long after they went round, the little Massey Fergie followed them with the rake, then a strange crying noise started - right next to my box.  I looked down to see a big frog giving a smaller frog a 'lift' as it swum past the front of me.  The noise didn't go away and as I listened for where it was coming from, I heard it coming from the far bank and from various other places - the frogs were definitely getting jiggy with it...

Not long after, I finally got fishing and was into the skimmers almost straight away down the track on the big punch.  That all went west for a few moments when an almighty noise kicked off from the car park.  It later transpired that the clearance of the rest of the land within the fenced area had started in preparation for more parking.  This went on until dinnertime, when Dennis came down the bank and explained what all the commotion had been about.  Apparently, the machine was chomping its way through round timber up to 7" in diameter - no wonder there was lots of noise.  When I got back to the car at around half two, it was clear that there had been a lot of tidying up done - and there might soon be plenty of room for all the SDAA anglers.

The fishing wasn't bad - a few boats came through (& back again) but didn't appear to put the roach & skimmers off too much.

Onwards to Round 2 of the Spring League at Parbold on Sunday.  Porky reckons there's only five good pegs at Parbold, which was two more than I thought there were.  We'll see on Sunday.

Back inside to the aftersun & Dominos pizza...