has now been identified - and my thanks to everyone who assisted. I've
now taken better pics and it's quite clear what it is now. A signal
crayfish.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1087352...KvnlKap1ZvGnQE

--
Old minds are like old horses;
you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.
~John Quncy Adams

On Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:03:19 +0100, AriesVal
wrote:

has now been identified - and my thanks to everyone who assisted. I've
now taken better pics and it's quite clear what it is now. A signal
crayfish.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1087352...KvnlKap1ZvGnQE


Is there a national chart marking where they are? We live quite near
the rochdale canal (I can see it out of my window justabouts) and the
thought of them crawling into my garden makes me feel iccky.

I think they're edible - Hugh FW said so I think - but they look
pretty wierd.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

"mogga" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:03:19 +0100, AriesVal
wrote:

has now been identified - and my thanks to everyone who assisted. I've
now taken better pics and it's quite clear what it is now. A signal
crayfish.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1087352...KvnlKap1ZvGnQE


Is there a national chart marking where they are? We live quite near
the rochdale canal (I can see it out of my window justabouts) and the
thought of them crawling into my garden makes me feel iccky.

I think they're edible - Hugh FW said so I think - but they look
pretty wierd.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

Some information here from the EA:-

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk...th=9&year=2008

Bill

On 06/07/2011 17:04, mogga wrote:
On Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:03:19 +0100, AriesVal
wrote:

has now been identified - and my thanks to everyone who assisted. I've
now taken better pics and it's quite clear what it is now. A signal
crayfish.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1087352...KvnlKap1ZvGnQE


Is there a national chart marking where they are? We live quite near
the rochdale canal (I can see it out of my window justabouts) and the
thought of them crawling into my garden makes me feel iccky.

someone will know I hope ?

I think they're edible - Hugh FW said so I think - but they look
pretty wierd.

It's put me right off crayfish


--
Old minds are like old horses;
you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.
~John Quncy Adams

Yes, they are very tasty. They look less weird once de-shelled, similar to prawns.

The mitten crabs undermining the banks of the Thames are also very edible, and highly prized by the Chinese.

Quite why we don't establish fisheries for these things, and over-fish them to rareness, is beyond me. But perhaps that is difficult to do without damaging by-catch.

On Wed, 6 Jul 2011 17:26:22 +0100, "Bill Grey"
wrote:


"mogga" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:03:19 +0100, AriesVal
wrote:

has now been identified - and my thanks to everyone who assisted. I've
now taken better pics and it's quite clear what it is now. A signal
crayfish.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1087352...KvnlKap1ZvGnQE


Is there a national chart marking where they are? We live quite near
the rochdale canal (I can see it out of my window justabouts) and the
thought of them crawling into my garden makes me feel iccky.

I think they're edible - Hugh FW said so I think - but they look
pretty wierd.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

Some information here from the EA:-

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk...th=9&year=2008

Bill



Thanks! My OH says I'm being silly - LOL but when I find one in the
garden it'll be me who deals with it.


--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

I think they've at least thought of catching the american crayfish for food. They decided against encouraging it because of the very real danger that some people would also take the british crayfish (either deliberately or accidentally), so that you'd probably be making the situation worse.

Up until two years ago I used to put down traps in my local river, The
Bain, always caught more than I could eat after 30 minutes!
Illegal to put them back alive so as they are deemed a pest I ate what
I could and disposed of the rest (dead)
Not as tasty as sal****er crayfish, but not bad, especially when
dipped into a nice garlic, chilli butter. Glass of cold white and a
few slices of good brown bread, perfick.
Maybe I will try again this year, the beggars are rampant again!

John

"AriesVal" wrote in message
o.uk...
--
Old minds are like old horses;

What's a 'mind'?

you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.

The word 'exercise' gives me a heart attack!

Alan


~John Quncy Adams

On Thu, 7 Jul 2011 11:56:59 -0700 (PDT), John
wrote:

Up until two years ago I used to put down traps in my local river, The
Bain, always caught more than I could eat after 30 minutes!
Illegal to put them back alive so as they are deemed a pest I ate what
I could and disposed of the rest (dead)
Not as tasty as sal****er crayfish, but not bad, especially when
dipped into a nice garlic, chilli butter. Glass of cold white and a
few slices of good brown bread, perfick.
Maybe I will try again this year, the beggars are rampant again!

I've always wanted to have a go, but as well as a good spot you need a
licence from the Environment Agency and I'm not sure how easy it is to
get one now. What the penalties are for taking them without a licence,
I don't know; but they could be in line with those for other kinds of
poaching -- which is to say, pretty heavy. I've heard of some pretty
fierce competition between trappers, too...

--
Mike.

On Sun, 10 Jul 2011 18:34:27 +0100, Mike Lyle wrote:

I've always wanted to have a go, but as well as a good spot you need a
licence from the Environment Agency and I'm not sure how easy it is to
get one now.

The native white clawed crayfish is protected. The signal crayfish is
an invasive pest that also carries a fungal disease that is lethal to
the white clawed crayfish. I think the EA would encourage you to take
as many signal crayfish as you can. If you catch one it is an offence
to put it back.

--
Cheers
Dave.

No - googling will show you that this is not the case.

Various problems are described with encouraging people to trap

1) mistaken identity (a man was prosecuted for having trapped and killed 40 native crayfish under the impression that they were signal crayfish)

2) transferring the plague from one site to another on wellies etc

3) inadvertent (or other) re-release of the signal crayfish. (There's anecdotal evidence of someone trapping for the first time, getting cold feet about killing, then releasing the crayfish, not at the site where he caight them, but in the local river)

3) crayfish eat smaller crayfish - if you catch the large ones, you remove a predator of the small ones, so paradoxically can make the problem worse