I can report for the first time that a zander has been caught from an Oxfordshire river, writes Andy Webber.

The predator, normally associated with East Anglian rivers, weighed 1lb 8oz and was taken by Mark Boyd, who fishes for Drennan as a specimen angler, just before the end of the river season It came from a stretch of the Cherwell just below the Gibraltar straights and took a small livebait.

There are reported to be zander in the Oxford Canal – Gary Barclay caught one in a canal match below Banbury in 2008 – and British Waterways used to cull them.

So what does this mean, not only for the Cherwell, but also for the Thames?

What with otters, mink, cormorants and signal crayfish, there are enough predators about and it doesn’t look look great for our rivers, but zander exist happily in other parts of the country.

Maybe the Environment Agency would like to respond and give some reassurances to the anglers of Oxfordshire.