It was a foggy start to the first day of the month but it soon lifted and we got a bright and dry warm day.
The river level was up and down a lot this month as the rain was never far away. There was some localized flooding with a big spate around the 23rd. We were to see the first of the snow on the hill tops on the 5th but thankfully it was not there long.
There has not been a lot of bird movement on the estuary this month, very quiet for the time of the year. We did finally get our first Redshanks back on the river on the 11th, but there were only two of them and by the end of the month there was only three in total! The Goldeneye returned to our stretch of river on the 18th but again it was only a couple of pairs, not like the numbers of old. There are a few Dabchicks going about and we are seeing a few more Greenfinch about but a lot of our usual winter visitors are not showing up just now!
The Cormorants have taken to perching on top of the navigational light poles between feeds during the day. There are a few bigger seals feeding in the top half of the estuary just now and the otters are putting in an appearance on a regular basis.
A lot of our work this month has again been cutting and planting. We have been doing a lot more cutting down at Newburgh recently where we have been concentrating on the two kilometres of footpath between the old boatyard and the county burn. This year there was a lot more tree limbing work for the pole saw, taking away overhanging bits of tree that were beginning to catch the tractor cab. But after a few days of cutting, all the trees and grass were cut back and tidied up. Then we had a quick litter pick and the path was looking good.
There was an interesting variety of fungi to be seen in some of the damper areas of the pathway. It was good to see regular walkers using the footpath and we were getting good feedback from them about how much they enjoy using it.
We had a few more coasters on the river again this month, plying their trade up at Perth Harbour.
As the hard frost arrived at the end of the month it was time to get the fat block and seed holders filled up, and put out at the feeding stations for the birds. We also put down the odd bucket full of chaff in these areas so that there is a good variety of feeding for the various birds that can be about.
With hard frost getting a grip up in the high ground the river system slowed up and the river level dropped back to normal.