The last month of the year started with a calm mild dry day and a river level of around the six feet mark that was to continue slowly dropping back for the next week or so.
A lot of our time this month was spent tidying up rougher growth along some of the path sides; cutting back the last of the hedges and as always tidying up some of the storm damage.
The odd big limbs down in the gales were pulled into clearer areas, for sawing up and adding to the log pile up at the cafe for using over the winter months.
There was the odd fire burning some of the scrub and keeping on top of the kindling supply.
It was a real mix of weather as the month went on; we had the mercury hitting minus six one day freezing the bothy water pipes and a week later it was back up to thirteen degrees! The bird feeders and feed station were all kept topped up during the colder spells.
The field fare appeared in good numbers during the cold snap and Sisken numbers picked up too. We saw all the usual birds around the feeders, but it was good to get a rare sighting of the Nuthatch,
and the red squirrel is usually not far away when the nut feeders are topped up.
Along the river banks the Beaver is busy as usual working away at a variety of the trees,
and the swans are always about too.
There was a change of scene and a trip up to the Cargill rod beat this month; to help the boys turn a couple of their cobbles back over so they could get their new flooring fitted, all ready for another season starting on 15th January.
It was back to a very mild spell of weather again around Christmas and boxing day, but the gales and rain were soon to return. On the last day of the year the river level was rising fast, peaking around the 14 feet mark at 6pm, hopefully things settle back quickly for the new year and another season on the river.
Happy New Year
Dago