After the river was finally dropping back a bit towards summer level at the end of May, it was back to spate and a rising river again in the first week of June! This did not last for too long, and it was soon falling back again. There was a bit of activity up at the Harbour at the start of the month, with the odd coaster making its way up river with a cargo of timber.
The weather did improve a bit over the month; dry, dull and mild most of the time but still not quite feeling like summer! It did let us get on with a lot of our outside jobs though, and again grass cutting took up a lot of our time this month. The old barge was called into action again to ferry the tractor and cutter about the riverside where normal access is not always so straight forward!
The cobble was also used to ferry more wild Primroses about the riverside for planting out; these were ones that had been dug up and split up from areas where they have done well over the last few years, ready to be put back into the ground in new areas.
Invasive species along the foreshore were also on the hit list this month; with Knotweed and Hogweed coming in for some attention, so the strimmers and billhooks were out for a couple of days.
The wildlife on the river has been much quieter this month; we are not seeing many ducklings at all, but the swans and their cygnets from up at the fishery are out on the main river now and moving about with the tides.
There have been a few seals about, and the odd sighting of the Otter and Osprey. On the 26th we had a visit from the SSPCA, who brought round five young Oyster Catchers from their rescue centre with them. These birds were safely released back into the wild and hopefully they will do okay.
There was more changing colours along the riverbank as the succession of wild flowers continue over weeks; the Burnet rose has lost its flower now, but has been replaced by the Dogrose.
The Marsh orchids have been a bit later coming through this year, and there has been a good show of Ragged Robin and Yellow Rattle along the old net green.
As June came to a close, we had rising temperatures and a dropping river level but it remained dull to the end.
A view of Willowgate Fishery from the top of Kinnoull Hill.
Dago