Belstone weir blown up to help salmon.

While walking up the River Taw above Belstone last week, I got to the familiar landmark of the  'waterboard hut' as it's always called locally... and did a double take. Where was the weir? It appeared to be just a pile of stone in the middle of the river.

I thought I must be dreaming, but photographed the 'evidence' just to be certain I wasn't imagining things! When I got home, I compared the photo with one taken only three weeks before. I was right!! (See the 'Before and After' pictures above.)

I asked one of the MOD range clearers when this had been done. "Last week," was the reply. "Didn't you hear it?" As to what it was done for, they  didn't really know.

But a week later, the answer has surfaced, thanks to BBC News. It's to help spawning salmon... here's the full story...

Now, as a Dartmoor Commoner, I traditionally have fishing rights within the parish boundary. Where's my rod?