We had a hard frost and a bit of fog on the opening day of the month and the colder weather was to continue with us for a while, but the river level did continue to fall back a bit to around the three-foot mark by the 10th. Up at the fishery the snowdrops are all passed now but the daffodils are out in force now
looking good all around the pond.
The resident swans have staked their claim on the island again for this coming nesting season, they have been busy nest building for a while.
The white Egret is still about up there too and seems to have a partner in tow just now, they have been frequenting the field on the other side of the railway, so it will be interesting to see if they end up nesting locally.
There has been a mixture of jobs undertaken this month, there has been painting done inside on some of the wetter days and outside on the drier days. The lawnmower had a bit service, the blade was all sharpened up and some of the lawns have had their first cut of the season.
Another job done was cleaning out a lot of the guttering round some of the properties, some were a bit choked up after the wet spells. The river rose a couple of feet again mid-month and then was pretty much stable give or take a few inches until the end of the month. There was a bit more activity this month out on the river
and the big tides saw another coaster making its way back up to Perth harbour,
there were also a few canoes and skiffs about some days. A lot of the hedge buds are beginning to open now, and the wild primrose and snakehead fritillary are appearing at different locations about the riverside now which is good to see.
There has been a lot of geese and whooper swans flying overhead this last week and we are seeing some curlew passing through as well. For all that it is still quite cold, and we had a bit more snow on the hill tops round about the estuary as the month came to a close.
Dago