Monday 31 March 2014

Welcome to the Luss powan blog if you are a new reader! We are the children from Luss Primary School in Argyll and Bute and our school is on the banks of Loch Lomond.
 
We will continue to bring you details of our special powan eggs, as we near the date of hatching!
 
 


Sunday 30 March 2014

The eggs are looking good today and Luss has some sunshine.

Thursday 27 March 2014

Yesterday the rangers had brought things that meant we could see things the way a fish would. It was amazing! What we did was put some water in and some insects and looked at them. There was a big one which we put in the loch. I didn't have any wellies so I couldn't see into it properly but I bet it was awesome.
By Mollie
Yesterday I found out that when we release the powan, it is better if they are put into deep water. There is more for them to eat in the deeper water. I enjoyed going pond dipping with the rangers.
By Kinvara
We went with the park rangers to check how many bugs are underwater. The powan love to eat the bugs in the loch . If there are a lot of bugs in the river, this means that the river is very clean. The bugs flow down the river to the loch. This is called kick sampling.
By Isla
Yesterday, when the rangers came we went kick sampling in the river. This disturbs the insects so we can count them. Isla and I found a blood  worm and a mayfly. The mayfly was trying to eat the worm. Then we put the mayfly into a tub to look at it more closely. We always put the insects back  carefully into the river.
By Savannah
In writing, we are writing about the blog and the powan.   Today we are allowed to type our own sentences.
ByAthena
Yesterday Olivia and I went pond dipping in the river to check for insects and food for the powan. We caught a flat mayfly. The river flows into Loch Lomond.
By Evelyn
Yesterday Kinvara and I looked after the powan eggs and we found no dead eggs.
By Olivia

Wednesday 26 March 2014

Yesterday Mollie and Evelyn looked after the eggs. We have a rota in the classroom to change the ice and check the eggs. The infant class had a chance to view the eggs with the magnifying glass. Mollie and Evelyn showed them, one at a time.

Monday 24 March 2014


 
 
This is us at the loch today, checking the temperature of the water.
 
Ben Lomond had a lot of snow today.
The loch will get colder again from the snowmelt. 

We check the eggs using a magnifying glass.

The park rangers are coming to visit us on Wednesday. We are going back to the loch to check the temperature.
By Athena
I enjoyed going down to the loch this morning and we had a lovely walk. The sun is shining today and the loch looks beautiful.
By Logan
This morning we walked down to the loch and took the temperature. It was 7 degrees. The ducks and swans came over to speak to us!
By Savannah
Mrs. Willoughby came in on Sunday to put fresh ice into the tank. Miss Struthers changed the bottles of ice on Saturday.
By Kinvara
Over the weekend, the classroom was warm and the temperature in the tank went to 12 degrees. We need to be careful, or the eggs will hatch too early.
By Evelyn
Savannah and I are looking after the fish today. Sadly, when we looked into the tank this morning quite a few eggs have turned white and died. We still have plenty of eggs, but we are sad that they have died.
By Isla
Today the powan tank is 4.7 degrees. The loch is 7 degrees, but that is at the edge in the sun.
By Olivia
Some eggs died over the weekend. We had to take them out of the tank, as they can infect the other ones. They give off toxins when they die.
By Mollie

Friday 21 March 2014

 
This is the eggs today and they are getting bigger!
 

The diver has to go down to the bottom of the loch where the adult powan live. It is very dark and they have to take a torch.
By Savannah
It is hard for the diver to catch the female powan to harvest the eggs. It costs a lot of money to pay the diver.
By Kinvara
When the powan eggs hatch, they look so cute with their small eyes and white bodies.
By Olivia
The powan, a freshwater herring is found in two lochs in Scotland. It is believed to be a descendent of the herring family, having been stranded during the Glacial period when Loch Lomond was first cut off from the sea. Like herring, the powan has to be netted. The most common fish in the loch is pike.
By Logan

We have some rules for the powan tank in the classroom.

  1. Never put your hands into the tank.
  2. Don't do anything at the tank without getting permission.
  3. Make sure the water is around 4 degrees, or they will hatch too early.
  4. Make sure the lid is closed at all times.
  5. Be careful not to let any eggs go beside the frozen water bottles.
  6. Move the eggs carefully using a pipette, if this happens.
By Athena
The divers go and catch the female fish. Then the Fisheries Trust squeeze the female's belly and then the eggs come out. They are very lively little fish when they hatch.
By Savannah
We need to let the temperature of the water heat up. As the eggs are going to hatch soon, the water needs to be between 4 and 6 degrees.
By Evelyn
I expect the powan to hatch at the end of March or the start of April. We will be very sad the day we let them go, but it is for the best.
By Isla
We want the temperature of the water in the tank to go up a little. It can,t be too warm or the eggs will hatch too early. It is hard to let them go, as we love looking after them. We need to check the insect numbers in the loch, so that they have a good source of food.
By Mollie

Wednesday 19 March 2014

 
We keep the eggs in one half of the tank. We put frozen water bottles in the other half, to keep the water at the correct temperature.
 
 


Tuesday 18 March 2014

 
This is what our powan eggs look like today.
 
 

Sunday 16 March 2014

Our headteacher took the eggs home at half term to look after them. After half term, we moved the eggs to a tank.

Kinvara and Savannah went down to the loch to get fresh water for the tank. Then we put the eggs in the tank.
By Savannah

The Eco Committee wrote a letter to Virginia McKenna, the Environment Minister and the Total Green Award Group, to see if they would pay for divers to harvest the eggs next year.
By Athena
We made up a rota to check the temperature. The teachers check it at the weekend and the older class do it during the week.
By Savannah.
We check the temperature every day. 2 to 3 degrees is perfect.
By Olivia
The eggs arrived in a bag with loch water and went straight to the staff room. We need to keep them between 1 and 4 degrees centigrade. They were in a cool box with ice.
By Isla
The eggs arrived in school on the 23rd January.
Powan post for today.
 
 


We are lucky to have been given 100 powan eggs to look after in our school. These were given to us by the Loch Lomond Fisheries Trust.


Thursday 13 March 2014

 
Other interesting facts we have learnt about the powan.
 
 
The powan is a freshwater whitefish. The powan is a protected species and must not be caught by anglers. It is a distinctive silvery fish with a dark bluish or green back. It has large fins, can grow up to 46cm and can weigh as much as 900grams. Powan can be found all over Loch Lomond. They lay their eggs (spawn) in early January. 60 to 70 days later the eggs hatch into small fish (fry) only 12mm long. They can live up to 10 years in the right conditions.
 
 
 


 
This is an adult powan. Our little eggs turn into this beautiful fish!
Today we are going to start by sharing a few facts about the powan fish.

The powan live in Loch Lomond and also Loch Eck. The powan is an Ice Age fish.
By Athena.

The powan live at the bottom of the loch and like it dark, cold and well-oxygenated. The females go to the shallows to lay their eggs.
By Logan.

The powan eggs are very delicate and very special.
By Kinvara.

Powan are an endangered species of fish and we must protect them from the ruffe.
By Savannah.

The ruffe are a species of fish introduced to the loch by fishermen as bait. They eat the powan eggs but not the powan fish.
By Olivia.

The fish eggs develop eyes that appear as black dots.
By Evelyn.

When a powan egg dies, it changes from transparent to white in colour.
By Isla.

Powan eggs take a while to hatch. We need to keep them cold until they hatch and release them into the loch before the yolk sac runs out.
By Mollie.

Wednesday 12 March 2014

 
This is how the loch looked today!
 
 

We have been learning about habitats in our topic work. Loch Lomond is our local freshwater habitat, where the powan fish live. Loch Lomond and our school are situated in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.

Tuesday 11 March 2014

We are the children of  Luss Primary School in Argyll and Bute. We are lucky to have our school on the banks of Loch Lomond. The loch forms part of our "outdoor classroom." All of our blog posts are written by us. Happy reading!
We are excited to share our new blog with our readers. We will bring you news, views and facts about the Powan fish and their life in Loch Lomond. So please keep reading!!

Monday 10 March 2014

Welcome to the Luss Powan Blog, created and managed by Luss Primary School.