"YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE LAST THURSDAY": THE LIFE, THOUGHTS AND MEANDERINGS OF A CHALK STREAM RIVERKEEPER. By Ron Holloway. First edition.

2007 1st edition. 4to (180 x 252mm). Ppvi,292. Colour and b/w photographs, line illustrations, end-paper maps, bibliography. Laminated boards, issued without a dust-wrapper.

Ron Holloway has spent thirty years as a river keeper on the upper Itchen in Hampshire. Here are his thoughts on river-keeping, on chalkstream and fishery management, on his anglers and on the natural history and ecology of the river. This copy is inscribed on the title page, "To Vic, with best wishes from the Itchen. Ron Holloway." Chapters include: In the beginning; Discovering the heritage; Riverkeeper at last; Maintaining the status quo; Life along the river banks; Dry-fly fishing; A cast of characters; Have rod, will travel; Aliens! Escapees and introductions; Predators and poachers; River management considerations; More philosophy than science?; The Wild Trout Trust - stocked vs wild trout; What of the future of our rivers?; Winding in; Some terms explained; Further afield; Organisations needing your support; Eight core rehabilitation principles. "Ron Holloway is greatly respected in the world of wild trout fishery management. He keepered the Martyr Worthy fishery on the Itchen for 34 years and visited other fisheries, across the world, to offer his experience and bring back to the UK what he'd learned, especially in North America. In the mid-80s, he was extolling and practising ideas that are the bedrock of today's fishery management: Ron spoke of the need for holistic catchment management and used woody debris to create cover and habitat diversity in his own river. His first book, You Should Have Been Here Last Thursday, outlined his thinking and tales from decades on and in his river. Ron has influenced and inspired many of today's riverkeepers and activists for our rivers and their trout, including lots of students (and staff) at Sparsholt. He was a founding father of the Wild Trout Society, the progenitor of the Wild Trout Trust." (Extract from a Wild Trout Trust announcement when he was presented with the 2016 Bernard Venables Award).