390 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



THE BLADENOCH. 



Angling and netting seasons same as those of Cree. 



The river Bladenoch and its tributary, the Tarff, drain the exten- 

 sive moorlands of Wigtownshire. The main stream flows down to 

 Wigtown in a south-easterly direction ; the Tarff joins in from the 

 west about 10 miles above the mouth. The Bladenoch rises from 

 Loch Maberry, and receives also a head branch, called the Becock 

 Burn, from Ochiltree. The gradient is very easy for the most part, 

 and the course very sinuous. The total length is about 23 miles. 

 The Tarff rises from a little lochan on the Ayrshire border close to 

 Benbrake Hill, and on considerably higher ground than the Blad- 

 enoch. It also winds very much in its course, and while on its 

 southerly course, before it is turned off to the east to join the main 

 river near Kirkcowan, is crossed by the Portpatrick Eoad. 



The mouth of the Bladenoch is tortuous and tidal for some little 

 distance up, but there is here no gradual widening into a broad 

 estuary as in the case of the Cree at the head of Wigtown Bay. 

 Netting is regularly carried on in the lower reaches of the river, 

 where the river passes through a deeply cut defile with much 

 wooding. Fish begin to ascend in March, but the stock is not what 

 it might be, and the greatest number of fish are therefore expected 

 in the autumn. 



The water of both the Bladenoch and the Tarff is a good deal 

 used for mill power, the Tarff, being the smaller stream, being 

 affected more prejudiciously than the other. 



At New Mills, about a mile from Wigtown, there is a dam dyke 

 3 ft. 9 in. high, and with a down-stream face of 12 feet. This height 

 does not seem excessive, more especially since there is a fish pass 

 of the simple shoot order in the centre of the dyke, but the sill is 

 formed by a beam, however, which makes an abrupt rise in a manner 

 most formidable to any fish attempting to ascend. The water is 

 necessarily comparatively thin and quick on the down-stream face, 

 and when a fish reaches the top of this it has no " take-off" to 

 enable it suddenly to surmount the abrupt sill. At the head of the 

 pass, till a comparatively recent date, as great an obstruction as the 

 abrupt sill was introduced in the form of a stout board. This was 

 not, I believe, placed across the head of the pass for the express 

 purpose of preventing fish from ascending, but in order to provide 



