It was a miserable wet first day to start this month, but luckily it soon returned to drier weather for a while. The river remained just above summer level for the first couple of weeks before it took a sharp rise after a wet stormy spell.
We had about six or seven feet of extra water coming down the system for a bit but it gradually eased off again. We did have a little bit of storm damage about the waterside but it was mostly just the odd limbs down of trees.
Not sure if it was the unsettled weather but we started to see some more movement of birds along the estuary. We had our first Fieldfare sighting on the 10th, our first Redshank back on the 18th and the odd Mistle Thrush was seen as well. We started to see some Whoopers on the 3rd and it was good to see the return of green darvex ringed Mute swan (PHN).
The three cygnets that hatched out at the fishery are doing well; they are getting up in size and are still with the parent birds just now.
As the month went on the geese and fieldfares started piling through in big numbers, with that and the clock change there is a definite feel that summer has past us now. There was still all the grass cutting to get on with this month but the growth rate has slowed right up, and the hard frost should set it back now. The last day of the month saw the last of the boat trips being run from the pontoons for the 2017 season, overall it has proved to be a hit with passengers who all enjoyed the various trips about the water over the summer, tomorrow the Pontoons will be removed from the water for the winter months but it will not be long before spring time comes round again for another season of boat trips.
The weather was settled for the last day in October and the river was sitting just a bit above summer level.
Dago