It was a very wet and windy start to the month as February got underway then after a few days we got a bit of snow but that did not last long.
After that the river level finally started to drop back as we came into a spell of cold dry weather. There has not been a lot of bird activity to report on this month, we have seen a few more Oyster Catchers coming into the area.
Bullfinch numbers have been quite good but Swan, Redshank and Goldeneye numbers have been poor.
The Shell pipeline boys were back on the riverside working again this month, this time they replaced their old navigational pole and light on the north bank. These new green solar powered lights should not need their batteries replaced for six years if they work as expected!
This month the Scone Scouts were back on the river again using one of our old bothies for an overnight stay. They decided on a Chinese New Year theme for part of their trip and the woks were put to good use over the old coal fire to feed the troops. I think some of the old fishermen who have stayed at the bothy over the years gone by might have enjoyed joining in for this meal time!
We had a long wait for a part to be sourced for repairing one of our older bits of plant on the riverside, so it was good to finally get and have our old digger back up and working again.
The House of Bruar opened it’s new fishing department this month which we are very honoured to be involved with helping their display with some of Tay Salmon Fisheries artefacts.
The weather was wetter in the middle of the month but we were having a good dry spell towards the end of it.The mercury was dropping to minus 4.5⁰C some mornings but by mid-day it was warm enough to entice the bees out of their hives and get busy on the heather beds.
It feels like you are shaking winter off when you hear the bees active in the warm garden! With the hard frost slowing up the catchment area of the river the level down on the estuary was getting close to summer level again.
Dago