The first day of the New Year was a very cold, wet and windy one, but thankfully it did not last and we were soon into a better milder weather.
This lasted for about a week then the country was hit with storms and power cuts, and a touch of snow thrown into the mix!
The birds always find it a bit harder to get by at this time and we were kept busy topping up all the bird feeders.
Once again our thanks go out to Ted down at Tayside grain who sorted us out with some more grain to keep the swans and ducks going over the winter.
As the swans come and go over the weeks we had another couple of new green darvex ringed Mute swans come in. These were green ring NHC and green ring YPP.
There was a bit rain, and some spate on the river before the 15th which was the start of another Salmon fishing season on the river Tay, It was not the best weather to be out in but there was some sport for the hardy anglers with the odd elusive springer and a few kelts being caught higher up the system.
The chainsaw was kept busy for a while this month as we continued to top up our store of logs for our wood burning stoves at our Cargill rod beat and the fishery.
The weather continued to get much colder with the mercury dropping to minus five one day, and there was to be no fishing possible down at the fishery during this time because of the ice.
But round about the pond there were still some snowdrops pushing through, and also in some of the more sheltered areas along the river side.
The month ended with a few frosty, dry days and the river was running a few feet above summer level.