The Sulby River - Awin Hulby - Sulby Claddagh, Isle of Man - Flora and Fauna Information Signs on Waymarking.com

The information sign has been placed here by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture.

In addition to information on the fish and wildlife the sign gives information on the 'History of The Sulby River','Conserving Manx Rivers' and 'Riverbank Engineering'.

The sign in the Section 'Fish of The Sulby River' gives the following information:
'Three types of salmond fish are found in the Sulby river. Brown trout are resident all year round, while sea trout, their migratory form, start returning from the sea as early as June, depending on rainfall. Atlantic salmon tend to start running up the river from September and mostly what are known as grilse, having spent only one winter at sea.

European eels, which can grow to over 1m, spend most of their lives (2 to 50 years) in rivers and/or ponds before returning to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. Unfortunately, populations across Europe have reduced drastically in recent decades and they are now listed as 'critically endangered' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The various reasons suggested include over-fishing and climate change. Recent research indicates that the Isle of Man has a relatively healthy population, probably due to the absence of a commmercial eel fishery.

Lampreys are among the most primitive of all living vertebrates and are not, strictly-speaking, true fish. Brook lamprey, the species found in the Sulby River, spend most of their live buried and feeding on detritus and micro-organisms in silty areas of the river bed before emerging in spring to spawn before dying. Unlike their relatives, the sea and river lampreys, they do not parasitise fish and only their sucker-like mouths to construct gravel nests for their eggs.'

In the section entitled 'Other Wildlife' the following information is shown:
'The Sulby River provides food and habitat for a variety of native acquatic and semi-acquatic species, and its riparian trees and shrubs form important habitat corridors for many wholly terrestrial creatures.

Grey wagtails nest in the near riverbanks and oftenhop between stream boulders searching for insects.Wildfowl such as mallard, mute swans, geese and moorhens inhabit slower-flowing reaches, especially where dense bankside vegetation provides nesting areas. Grey herons hunt for fish from banks and shallow margings. Also look out for Doubenton's bats hunting for insects on or near the surface of stiller reaches of the river. One of seven species of bat native to the Island, they often use old stone bridges as roosting sites.

Whilst some river invertebrates, such as acquatic worms and water mites are permanent residents, many of the more familiar, such as mayfly, stonefly and caddisfly larvae, are the juvenile stages of terrestrial insects. As species vary in their tolerance of pollutants, examining the invertebrate community is one means by which the IoM Government monitors the health of the Island's rivers.'

Also displayed on the sign are colour photographs of the following species:
Brown Trout - Breck Awin
Sea Trout - Breck Gial
Atlantic Salmon - Braddan
European Eel - Astan
Brook Lamprey - Lamprey Strooan
Grey Heron - Coar ny Hastan
Grey Wagtail - Skibbag Ghlass
Caddusfly Larva - Crooag Chaddan
Mayfly Larvae - Crooagyn Whaillag Voaldyn
Doubenton's Bat - Craitnag Daubenton.

(The names belwow the photogrpahs are given in English and Manx Gaelic)

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