The boys are back in town...
Two weeks earlier than last year, the Thin lipped Mullet have returned to Lewes from spawning at sea to heal their wounds and salt water fungal infections in the cool clear spring water of the Winterbourne stream at the sluice gate in Railway Land Nature Reserve.
As you may l know, I was featured on BBC Springwatch in 2016 after discovering this, a previously unknown, annual natural history spectacle, right here in Lewes town. It's a marvel to behold so do have a look at this video and go have a look at it yourself.
Best viewing is about 3 to 5 hours after high tide at Newhaven. The reason is that the incoming tide reaching Lewes is enough to close the sluice gate, holding back the spring water that the fish need to bathe in, and that we need in order to be able to see them. The tide is approx. 45mins later each day.
The film you are about to see is a mix of underwater stills and a little underwater video. These are snippets that I have taken over the years. Frame No.2 shows about 1000 fish in front of the sluice, today were only about 100. They arrive in small groups to begin with, about 20 per day at present but increasing exponentially until the entire population of approx. 10,000 are there. Of course only 1000 can fit in the 'Spa' at a time but they all take turns in there over a month or so, (that's why I nicknamed the event as a Murmuration of mullet). One can't ever see them all at once as the main river is cloudy brackish water rather than the clear spring water coming out of the sluice gate.
In this little video you will see one of several fish with a Sea Lamprey attached, approaching the camera, turning and swimming away. A lamprey looks like an ell but is in fact and ancient parasitic fish that predates the dinosaurs by 200 million years! They hitch a lift on the mullet, eating it's flesh and drinking it's blood, up stream as far as Lewes, drop of in the 'Spa' and then make their own way up to Barcombe Mills where they spawn in St. Andrews stream. Others have large bites taken out of them by Seals and Pike but those wounds too can be healed in this spring water!
Eventually they leave in the spring sunshine and disappear back into the main river until the Autumn equinox prompts them to head out to sea once more to breed. Steve