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Local crayfish from the Kennet and Lambourne rivers are an important seasonal
item on the menu.
After it's commercial introduction in the sixties, the American Signal
crayfish has invaded the majority of rivers and lakes in the UK over the last
few years and is causing a disaster both to the structure of the river banks and
to our native fish. They burrow deeply into the river banks, causing them to
collapse. They are voracious feeders and will happily consume all the fish eggs
that they can find. They have also almost wiped out the smaller native English
crayfish which has declined at a similar rate to the red squirrel.
The only benefit they bring is that they make delicious eating. Try them as
crayfish bisque - very popular.
Mike and Katie set up a local business catching them a few years ago. These
photos illustrate the process.
The River Kennet home for millions of crayfish How many did we catch in this one? Teh Signal Crayfish - a magnificent speciman
Crays are voracious feeders and will take anything. Traps are baited with fish heads or chicken legs. These are contained in a cage within the trap to stop the crays from eating them too quickly After removing them from the river, the crayfish are taken to these large containers and sorted into three size groups. The containers are fed with fresh, cold borehole water and the crays remain in them for upwards of 24 hours. This cleans them from the mud etc. of the river bed. Unlike many of the original crayfish farms, there is no river close to here, so even if they were to escape, they wouldn't be able to find anywhere to breed The graded crays are packed in insulated plastic boxes in two layers, seperated by layers of wet hessian. They sit on a layer of ice which keeps them cool even in the heat of the summer. The hessian layer stops them from eating on another - they are distinctly cannibalistic! He is called a signal crayfish because the underside of the claws is bright red and is displayed like this whenever he sees potential danger.
The River Kennet home for millions of crayfish
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