The cold weather continued into early April with frosty mornings and the odd bit of snow, and the river was sitting steady at couple of feet above summer level.
There was a bit more activity along the estuary this month on the bird front with a few new arrivals making it back; on the 10th we saw our first Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins together.
There were reports of some a week earlier but the 10th was our first sighting. We also had a Bar tailed Godwit along with some Oyster Catchers, but it was gone again by the next day. On the 14th we had some Common Sandpipers back with us which were good to see. The Woodpeckers have been drumming away in the wood, The Dipper is back at the burn, and a lot of the nest-boxes are seeing activity now. Up at the fishery the resident swan has been sitting tight on her nest for a few weeks now so hopefully we will be seeing some cygnets about the place soon.
By the end of the month (26th) we saw our first ducklings that had hatched out on the river up at the back of the Willowgate, the crows were not far away in the trees watching out for a chance at a quick meal!
There were more signs of plenty Beaver activity up in the same area, where they have been tackling some of the bigger trees. Going by the amount of trees that have been worked on there must be a few Beavers on the system now.
We got our cobbles back in the water again for the season after having had a lick of paint to freshen them up; and they were called into action on the 26th when we were helping out putting the pontoons back into the water up at the Ferguson Gallery.
Getting ready for another season of boat trips.
There were some warm days this month but it ended with a hard frost on the morning of the 30th and still a bit of snow on the lower hills!
Hopefully May will bring a bit more warmth and the river drops back that last couple of feet to summer level.
Dago