We had a cold dry day with a touch of frost to start us off this month; a cooler dry spell that was to stay with us for a while, and out on the river there was a little spike in the level towards the end of the first week, but it soon passed and after that it was to gradually drop back all month to near summer level.
As cold as it was some days we were still seeing plenty activity on the river with skiffs, canoeists and paddle boarders & first aid courses all out and about
there was also the odd coaster seen making its way up to the harbour,
and the Fair Maid and the Badger were also to be seen on the water too.
After a busy old spell of work and a big final push from a variety of people it was good to see our cafe finally back open to the public again on the 27th, The opening day went well with a mixture of old customers and new, by all accounts the feedback was positive.
Down at the Activity Centre they have had a very busy spell, apart from all their usual groups the school holidays boosted their calendar with plenty of kids all enjoying the various activities on offer.
There was also all the usual grass cutting to be getting on with which is now well underway, so no rest for the strimmers and mowers now.
The swan is still sitting tight on her nest up at the fishery
we saw our first ducklings out on the fishery pond on the 25th
the common sand pipers have been back for a while, and finally on the 27th we saw the first of our swallows arriving back, definitely a bit later this year! The odd warm spells have seen the butterflies and bees enjoying all the different flowers that are out along the riverside just now
we have a fair old variety with the marsh marigold, cuckoo flower, wild primrose, snakehead fritillary and bluebells to name but a few
and there has been a very good showing of daffodils up at the fishery too.
Towards the latter part of the month we were starting to see a few more salmon getting caught up on our Cargill beat, which is always good news for the anglers.
The weather has stayed pretty much in a cooler dry pattern all month with the exception of a few warm spells and as it drew to a close we had a river level sitting around the 9 inch mark on the rod beat gauge, hopefully things will warm up soon!
Dago