Elvers

Thousands of them. Actually there were about ten thousand altogether, waiting in polystyrene boxes to be released into the River Severn as part of a conservation effort to boost the eel population in the river. The elver liberation was started off on the day by the new Mayor of Shrewsbury, who managed to conduct the whole process with a suitable air of mayoral dignity, whilst on a jetty that kept tilting alarmingly towards the river. This was all going on as a part of the third annual River Festival, also featuring pirates, rafts, canoes, ducks, dogs, and even the Red Arrows.