Tay Estuary Diary September 2018

The first few days of September saw the settled weather pattern continue although it is a bit cooler first thing in the mornings now and there is a definite autumnal feel about the place.

The 1st day of the month saw a busy day up at the Activity Centre where they had 70 scouts booked in for the morning and the same number again in the afternoon. A good day was had by one and all.

It was also the start of the duck shooting season on the estuary on the 1st, but there are very few shooters out and about in their boats nowadays.

The teal have started to arrive back along the estuary again, along with the geese that were passing overhead in huge numbers around mid-month. We are seeing a lot more Mute swans now and also the odd Whooper in with them. There is still the odd House Martin to be seen but the swallows are long gone now. The birds that left earlier before the 19th missed out on storm Ali that battered Scotland with winds reaching over 100mph in some places. It was fair to say that a bit of time was spent with the chainsaw at a few locations tidying up some of the damage that was done with trees blown over and limbs down it was a case of making things safe and getting access back again where it had been blocked.

As is often the case when there have been gale force winds, we end up with guillemots up at the top end of the estuary after they have been blown off course.

It has been a bumper year for crops on all the fruit trees about the place with branches laden with plums and apples; the rowan trees have done well and I managed a pick of sloes again for my annual sloe gin mix.

We are still seeing some weird and wonderful fungi about the place just now, they never cease to amaze!

Further up the river at our Cargill rod beat, work on the new launch hut is coming along and it is beginning to take shape now, hopefully by the time the start of next season comes around in January it will be ready for use.

The rains finally came and there was a good bit spate on the system for a bit but it seemed to help the fishing on the beat with catches picking up! The river did ease level off a bit as the weather settled again right into the end of the month.

Dago

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