We had a dry mild start to the month and overall the weather in February was kind to us.
We did have the odd bit of frost, snow and rain but we also enjoyed some unseasonably warm days as well! It is always good to get some decent weather at this time of year, as you can get on with a lot of the outside work. We have been busy this month cutting back some of our hedgerows, and the brambles that are taking over in places.
Down in the orchard, we have been doing a bit of strimming, and some selective pruning to give it a general tidy up.
On Incherrit, the tractor and rotavator has been busy preparing the soil in a few areas getting it ready for more wildflower seed mix going in.
This will add to the other areas that were done in the past and should help the overall biodiversity of the area.
There has not been a lot of movement of birds along the estuary this month, we have seen a few more Whoopers, and the mute swan numbers have got up to around the fifty mark. On the 6th we have had another new green darvex ringed (LDT) mute swan in and about the bothy. The swans and ducks have been getting through our winter supply of grain so we had to make another trip down to see Ted, who once again sorted us out with a dumper load of the stuff to keep them going.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Hopefully this lot will see us through the rest of the winter. A lot of the smaller birds have been busy round some of our feed stations enjoying the fat balls, seeds and peanuts but this also draws in the Sparrowhawk who has been picking off a few of the less fortunate ones.
We also had around thirty five Oyster Catchers on the hailing near the end of the month which was good to see. There were a few more new nest boxes arrived, these got back straps put on them ready for going up in the coming days.
There was the odd gun out on the river on the twentieth as the duck shooting season came to an end, but the estuary is a lot quieter these days with less wildfowlers about. There were a few more coasters frequenting the harbour this month which was good to see, hopefully trade is picking up.
It was a bit cooler towards the end of the month and there was a bit of spate on the system again but it was dropping back as quickly as it had risen.
Dago