The 1st day of the month started with a touch of ground frost; before dulling over, but it stayed dry despite being much cooler than average. The weather was to break by the end of the first week and the river was soon out in spate again as all the rain and snow melt took its toll on the system. The river did gradually drop back over the month as things settled down again.
We had a rare sighting of a Gannet up at the top end of the estuary on the 3rd; it must have been blown off course during the bad weather! And much later than usual the Sand martins finally arrived back in our area (on the 13th). The Swallows and House Martins are all back nesting in their usual areas; and a lot of our nest boxes are busy with Sparrows, Tits and the odd Starling.
After the swan sitting tight on her nest up at the fishery for a while, we finally got some new arrivals on the 21st with five cygnets gracing the ponds.
The Shell ducks are back in good numbers and the Tree Creeper is busy feeding a brood close to our premises. We are seeing some fungi appearing in places just now, not sure if it`s down to all the damp weather!
The grass cutting season is in full swing now, the strimmers are busy and the tractor and cutter has been going over a lot of the pathways about the place.
The weed cutting boat up at the fishery is up and running again as the weed in the pond has started to move a bit, but the boys are on top of it. The fishery has been fishing well of late and the café has been busy; but sadly the café will be closed for a bit now after we had a break in on the 26th, there was a bit of a mess left after some mindless vandalism, so we are in the process of repairing, cleaning and tidying up just now.
It has not been the warmest of months but things keep moving on, as the hawthorns come out in bloom, the Burnet roses are all opening up and Mustard Garlic is very strong in places this year.
As the wild primroses are going back now, we have spent a bit of time again this year splitting some of them up and re-planting more of them in new areas about the river side. We have done this with the Snowdrops and other plants in the past, it all helps to enhance the area and add to the bio-diversity of the place.
The month ended with a dull cooler day and a dropping river level on the system.
Dago