Tay Estuary Diary November 2014

We had a decent spell of weather early on in the month, but things soon changed with heavy rainfall causing a lot of localised flooding and bringing the river out in a big spate.

At one time there was almost 13 feet of extra water registering on the gauge at our Cargill rod beat above Perth, this spate was bringing a lot of debris and bigger bits of tree down the system which then had to be cut up and cleared from some areas along the estuary.

Such was the force of the spate down on the estuary that some of the harbours navigational buoys that mark out the channel on the river were washed out of position, but these were soon towed back into place by the harbour staff and their boat once the extra water had eased off a bit.

For all the extra water there were still some coasters plying their trade up to the harbour again this month.

Later into the month we had our first touch of frost in the mornings, so it was time to start putting out some of our bird feeders about the place and once again we thank Ted down at Errol for sorting us out with a supply of grain to keep our swans and ducks going over the winter months. We saw our first Whooper swan back on the estuary on the 6th, and we had the return of green darvex ringed Mute Swan (JTN) on the 21st. This swan was released on the estuary beside us by the SSPCA in February 2007 and has returned every year since, so it was good to see it back again.

We had some good spells of weather during this month (when it was not raining!) to get on with all our jobs, and most of that time was spent with the spades in hand as we worked our way through fifty large sacks of daffodil bulbs. These bulbs were planted at various locations along the river banks and up at the Willowgate Fishery, where they should add a bit of colour to the place in the springtime and also enhance the biodiversity in the surrounding areas.

The Redshanks finally appeared back on the riverside with us on the 3rd of this month, but there were not too many (5) as the month ended. The bee- hives have been sorted out for the winter with feeding and extra insulation to see them through the colder times ahead.

We had some milder weather for the last few days of the month and the river level was dropping back a good bit as the spate abated.

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