Against the Current

Video: Atlantic Salmon 2025 – by Charlie Michell

I’ll admit it… I’m not ashamed! I’ve got an unhealthy obsession with rivers and fish. And at this time of year, as the first proper rain begins to fall in earnest and the Teign starts to rise in a spate, I find myself literally twitching with excitement.

While most people are sheltering indoors, I’m usually peering into the likely spots somewhere within the catchment, watching for that first flash of silver. There’s just something about seeing the river come alive again - the raw power, the unpredictability, the sense that something much older and far more intelligent than us has been set in motion for another year.

And for good reason. Each autumn, as water levels lift and temperatures finally drop, Atlantic salmon begin their homeward journey. From the deep Atlantic to the heart of Dartmoor, they swim back with pinpoint accuracy to the same gravels where their lives began. It’s a feat of endurance that never ceases to amaze me every single year.

This short film, captured by TACA volunteer and avid salmon-spotter Charlie Michell, showcases part of their epic journey perfectly. It shows Atlantic salmon navigating Drogo Weir on the River Teign - leaping, slipping, and powering upstream towards their spawning grounds. To see it in person is humbling. To film it is a gift.

A Rarer Sight Than It Should Be

Across the UK, witnessing this migration is becoming an increasingly rare privilege. Once, rivers like the Teign ran silver with salmon; now, many witness only a shadow of those historic runs. The reasons are many and complex - an ever-changing climate, barriers to migration, pressures at sea, but the message is simple: the salmon’s struggle is real, and the odds grow ever tougher each year.

The Atlantic salmon is now listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. We can’t control the high seas - the ocean temperatures, the loss of feeding grounds, or the pressures of commercial bycatch, but we can shape what these fish find when they instinctively choose to return home. Every metre of accessible, healthy river habitat increases their chance of survival and their odds of coming back.

Obstacles & Opportunity

For salmon, every upstream journey is an obstacle course. Weirs, culverts and blockers in the river all take their toll. Drogo Weir, where this footage was shot, is a daunting challenge for any salmonid. And timing is everything. The fish wait for the right flow - too little water and there’s no passage, too much and the torrent is impossible to fight against.

Changes in our climate and weather patterns have made this timing even trickier. The UK’s increasingly deep cyclonic weather systems, with heavy bursts of rainfall over short periods, create sudden surges in river level followed by rapid drops. When the river rises and falls within a matter of hours, only those fish already poised in the lower reaches stand a chance of successfully moving upstream. The rest are left waiting, conserving energy, hoping for another chance before it’s too late.

Long, dry summers, like this year, followed by violent storms, are becoming our new normal. For Atlantic Salmon, whose migration depends on stable cues of flow and temperature, it’s a harsh new rhythm to adjust to and navigate.

Hope in the Headwaters

And yet, in the Teign, at least, they still come. Against all odds, against everything we’ve thrown at them, these Teign salmon continue to return. That in itself is something worth celebrating. Few rivers in England now hold a viable salmon population, but the Teign remains one of them.

That resilience isn’t luck; it’s the result of decades of building awareness, increasing protection, developing partnerships and being persistent. Clean headwaters, healthy tributaries, careful habitat management and an active community of volunteers all play their part in adding another marginal gain to their success story. Every bank we restore, every tree we plant, every fallen log we choose to leave in place all add up to help rebuild parts of the river and the conditions these fish need to survive.

Charlie’s footage captures this beautifully - not just the fish, but a feeling. The fight. The dogged determination. The hope that underpins everything we do to safeguard this population’s future and survival.

A Shared Responsibility

Through bitter acceptance, I’ve learned that we can’t control what happens to these salmon in the open Atlantic - the temperature shifts, the predation in and out of estuaries. the sheer scale of the challenge out there, but we do have a say in what they find when they return to our headwaters. We can ensure a clear passage, cool waters, free-flowing, oxygen-rich gravels, and shaded pools in which to rest. With these small interventions, we can ensure that the next generation has somewhere to start in the best habitat possible.

I truly believe, deep down, that’s our role, and it’s one we take seriously. Because while the salmon’s journey is theirs alone to swim, its success depends on all of us.

So next time you’re walking by the river, take a moment. Watch the water. Imagine the surge of flow beneath the surface. As somewhere out there, a salmon might be gathering itself for the leap - driven by instinct, history, and the faint, irresistible call of home.

They ask for nothing more than a river that still works, so let’s make sure we don’t let them down.