We had a cold calm frosty day to welcome in the New Year; but it soon started to turn a bit milder and by the end of the first week the river levels were rising again, peaking at nearly 10 feet above the summer level.
This was the start of an erratic spell of weather and river levels that pretty much stayed throughout January.
During one of the short windows of better weather this month we took the opportunity to open up the bee hive and check in on the bees and their winter feed, all was well inside and the bee hive was closed again.
The 15th was the start of the rod fishing season again on the river; which was put back a day to the 16th as it fell on a Sunday this year. As usual the start of the season saw a good turnout of fishers on the river, on a the river had settled back a bit and the weather was kind but catch wise it was to be a quiet first day.
Some of our outside work just now is spent on tidying along the sides of the pathways tackling the brambles and sukers, and also cutting back some of the canopy overhang that ends up catching the tractor cab when it is doing its rounds. During some of the bleaker weather we endured it was back inside the old bothy; fire lit, giving some of our cutting kit a bit service
and chapping more kindling to stock pile for using later on.
The snowdrops have been later getting through the ground this year but by the end of the month we were seeing a strong showing of them along the riverside in most of the usual areas.
The wildlife about the place has stayed pretty consistent with what we should be seeing at this time of year, there have been a few seals about on the river and we did have the beaver putting in an appearance.
The month drew to a close on a cold blustery day and the river level was sitting around the 4 feet mark on the gauge up at the rod beat.
Dago