Atlantic Salmon - Stainforth

Although I have visited Stainforth Force a couple of times previously I have never seen the run of Atlantic Salmon which attempt to negotiate the falls each Autumn.

Atlantic Salmon - male f8 1/640 ISO 2500

The appearance of the falls depends on the water level and this too is critical for the Salmon run. Each Autumn the Salmon, which spend several years maturing in freshwater, before undergoing physiological changes which enable them to spend most of the remainder of their lives at sea, return to the falls. They return annually as adults to the spawning grounds at the headwaters of the River Ribble and the Salmon must negotiate the falls in order to get there. In order to leap the falls there must be enough water flowing downstream to enable the Salmon to negotiate them, too little water and the Salmon cannot get through the rocky areas, too much water and the flow appears to be too great for them to swim against it.

Stainforth falls - bottom section

The peak time for this migration is October/November, the Autumn rains open up access to the higher areas of the river so the Salmon congregate below these obstacles until the conditions are suitable for their onward passage.
Small numbers of Salmon can be seen attempting to leap the falls at any time during this period, and at other times of the year but the mass run of Salmon coincides with the first suitable conditions during the late Autumn. 

I had been watching the weather and was aware that there had been no significant run of Salmon and with heavy rain forecast overnight on 28th October I decided on an early start on the 29th. It was raining when I arrived but I went over to have a look at the falls at around 8am. There was plenty of water coming over the falls but no sign of any Salmon. I walked back and picked up my gear which included an umbrella, which proved very useful, and returned to the falls. I saw the first Salmon around 09:30 and that marked the start of a steady stream of fish attempting to leap the falls, sometimes there were gaps of several minutes between sightings but it continued until about 13:00. The water level had continued to rise during this time and the metre drop at the downstream end of the falls had all but disappeared due to the volume of water going over it. It may be that there was, by then, too much water flowing for the Salmon to negotiate but for the following hour there was perhaps just one or two Salmon attempting to leap the falls which was a shame as it had rained steadily until 11:00 and didn’t start to brighten up until mid-day.

Atlantic Salmon f6.3 1/800 ISO 4000

Atlantic Salmon f6.3 1/800 ISO 4000

Atlantic Salmon f7.1 1/1000 ISO 2500

Atlantic Salmon uncropped 70mm ISO5000 f8 1/800

In all I estimate that I saw 100 - 150 Salmon attempting to leap the falls. Clearly, many of these could be fish making multiple attempts but there was a big variation in both colour and size indicating that many fish were involved. Salmon could also be seen in the water at the base of the falls so there could have been more in the area that did not attempt to negotiate the obstacle. The lower fall is about 15m wide but the majority of the leaping fish were concentrated between 1m and 7m distance.
I’ve mentioned that the fish varied in both size and colour, the smallest fish leaping were about 15-20cm, most looked around 0.5m but some were significantly bigger than this. The colour ranged from almost black to a pale silver but this varied with the angle the fish was viewed at, a small number of fish were bright orangey/red, presumably these are the breeding males?

Comments on photographing Salmon

Unsurprisingly there were several other photographers around for some of the time I was there. I positioned myself in line with the lower fall, this had the advantage that the fish were more likely to be side on but also gave a good contrast in the background with white water below the falls contrasting with the brown colouration of the water on the falls. I found that the fish stood out most against the white background but the image had more impact and colour if the brown water was also in view. 

There were a mix of people taking photos with and without tripods but, like the umbrella, I think a tripod is essential. With a tripod the general set-up was to have the camera with a short focal length lens of around 70 -100mm pre-focused for the main area where the fish were jumping and an aperture of around f8. I used a 70mm focal length which at f8 focused at say 8m would produce sharp images for any fish jumping from about 6m to 13m. Once the camera is set up it’s just a question of pressing the shutter to capture as many images as possible for the second or so that the fish is out of the water.

Without a tripod you had to hold the camera to your eye for as long as possible waiting for a fish to pass through or raise the camera when you saw a fish, but the fish would be gone in most instances before you had the camera to your eye.

A longer focal length would produce a larger image in the frame but the number of fish crossing the narrower field of view would be reduced, on balance I think 100mm is probably about right.

I aimed for a shutter speed of about 1/1000 but because of the poor light this was a compromise with aperture and ISO setting. I started off at an ISO of 5000 and managed to reduce this to ISO 2500 when the light improved but used a shutter speed as low as 1/500 and aperture of f6.3.
General information
I decided to stay overnight, although the weather forecast was poor and it rained heavily all the following morning.

I stayed at the Knight Stainforth Camping & Caravan Park which was excellent and the site is next to the river and waterfall. 

There is parking for about 4 cars on a very narrow road, by an even narrower bride, which is about 100yds from the falls. Alternatively you can park in Stainforth which is about a 1/4 mile walk. 

Stainforth is close to Hawes so this could be a combined trip for the Red Squirrels at Snaizeholme but I didn’t bother due to the poor weather.

Watching these fish battle against the raging river makes you appreciate what fantastic animals they are. Some of the adults may have made this spawning journey several times, returning back to the sea once the eggs are laid - incredible!