The 1st saw a cold windy start to a month, it had a bit of everything thrown into the mix over the weeks, from overnight snow, heavy rain, warm sunny days and hard frost!
The second week saw the river level at our Cargill rod beat rising to about thirteen feet above summer level after some mild weather started a quick snow melt higher up in the catchment area. We had a variety of jobs to get on with again this month; these included finishing off the last of our hedge planting, and getting some of our wild flower areas all rotavated ready for this year’s new growth coming through.
The old barge was back in use again, moving the digger about between jobs on opposite sides of the river. It is always good to get out in the boats for a sail when the weather is calm.
As the Snowdrops began to go back we spent a bit of time with the spades in the woods digging up and splitting up some of the thicker areas. The surplus bulbs were then moved and re-planted around the place to enhance the woods and river banks.
Some of the big yellow flags were also split up a bit and then re-planted at various locations too.
The crocus seemed to be a lot stronger in some areas along the riverside this year, during the warmer spells the bees were very active around them.
Our new Sand Martin bank has been finished in time for the birds returning to nest in the next few weeks; we have put a few starter holes along it to help attract them in so hopefully we will soon have some new residents!
There have been a lot of new and repaired bird boxes put up about the place this year, and the birds are quite active around them now the milder weather is here. The sparrow boxes have proved a big hit with a few pairs using them on a regular basis now, before these boxes went up we never had the sparrows about the place. There have been a lot of birds passing through the estuary this month with Snipe and Whooper numbers being very good some days. We had the fieldfare back in our area on the last day of the month, and the Greenfinch and Goldfinch numbers are picking up a bit now. It was good to see the Pied Wagtails back again, and the Yellow Hammer putting in an appearance.
As nesting time is near the crows are never far away when it comes to a feed and the ducks eggs are taking a bit hit already.
There is a good show of Daffodils just now and it was good to see the Snake`s Head Fritillary starting to show in some areas around the bothy.
The river was almost back to summer level by the end of the month; before it rose slightly as the wet weather closed in again.
There were sleety showers and strong winds on the last day of the month.