Halcyon River Diaries

Earlier this year I shared about how I had enjoyed Philippa Forrester's book, The River. Yesterday evening, I watched the latest instalment of Halcyon River Diaries charting the ongoing story of the family's life interacting with the wildlife living on the river. The fact that Philippa is married to a top BBC wildlife cameraman makes for some incredible images and stories, including catching up with the local Kingfishers, Dippers & Otters.

There are another 11 days during which you can catch up with the programme on the BBC iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00x3s5r

Towards the end of the programme there is a really dramatic scene. Discovering a young American Mink setting up territory on their stretch of the river they reluctantly set up a Mink trap. Eventually they check the trap one morning to find the Mink inside. Now that it's been trapped there's only one course of action - it has to be dispatched, much to the distress of both Philippa & husband, Charlie, who has to shoot it. It's well worth following this part of the story which begins at about 44 minutes into the programme. Continue watching for some great shots of the Water Voles living in the town of Cheddar, a sight which helps the family to come to terms with the action they had to take earlier.