How many species of British freshwater fish can you name? You'll know the famous ones - trout, perch, carp and so on - but what about the rarer ones? Could you pick out a vendace, powan or twaite shad? Even keen naturalists might not realise that we have an incredible 55 species of freshwater fish in the UK.Partly, that's a matter of the elements. Fish live in the water people don't. We will see a grebe pootling about in a misty lake but we don't see the fish below. We will search the skies for a hobby while ignoring the slinking of an eel. We marvel over the rainbow carapace of a tansy beetle without noticing the glittery iridescence of a stickleback nearby. We may be a nation of wildlife-lovers, but we tend to be 'fish-blind'.Perhaps it's also because there are few freshwater fish photographers. "There's probably a reason for that," laughs wildlife film-maker, ex-angler and fish obsessive Jack Perks. "Because it's uncomfortable and hard." You have to get wet and possibly cold to document what's happening in the waterworlds.
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