Momentarily poised in mid-air,a hen salmon,fresh from the sea,negotiates a small weir on her way up river to spawn.

Last autumn,alongside her chosen mate she laid many thousands of eggs in a specially excavated trough or 'redd' in the gravel.Once laid,the eggs were covered in stones but many,some unfertilised,were washed away in the swiftly flowing current and snapped up by other fish such as trout,water birds and invertebrates lurking among the stones.

The small proportion of fertilised eggs safely covered in the 'redd' have over winter slowly developed and dependent upon water temperature will hatch in March or April. The young salmon larvae usually hatch together during the night.They have a large yolk sac under their abdomens which supplies nourishment for up to two months and when this is exhausted the young begin to eat tiny water creatures and at this stage are known as 'alevins'.

Growth is slow but after two years they measure about six inches in length and are now called 'parr'.They remain in the river for up to five years before attaining a silvery sheen in readiness for their journey to the sea and now become 'smolts'.

Many internal chemical changes take place to prepare the smolts for the transition from fresh to salt water,then once at sea they grow very rapidly to become fully fledged salmon.Some,now known as 'grilse' return to the river of their birth after only a year but most remain at sea for up to four years.

A truly remarkable sequence of six stages in the life-cycles of truly iconic and aptly named kings and queens of fish.