APRIL 2009.
The month got off to a good start with a spell of dry, warm weather that had the river dropping further back towards summer level. It was good to see that the mute swans who have taken up residence at the wild life pond at the top end of the estuary are now settled and sitting tight on a nest.
As many birds are busy with nesting locally we have seen a lot of movement of migratory birds this month with hundreds of geese heading back north. This was closely followed by the arrivals of our first sand martins (3rd), skylarks (7th), swallows (11th), and the osprey was seen fishing at the wildlife pond on the 20th.
Next to arrive were the common sandpipers on the 23rd, on the same day we also had our first mallard ducklings at the wildlife pond.
A priority job this month was to spring-clean the bee hives, and it was good to see that the bees had made it through a colder than average winter and were getting out and about in the warmer weather to take advantage of all the flowers and blossom that are out just now.
The butterflies are also making the most of it just now with good numbers of orange tips to be seen some days.
Most of our work this month has concentrated on the renovation of the old bothy at the wildlife pond, and it is good to see most of the external work is nearing completion now. The inside work at the bothy has also progressed at a good pace.
There have been a few fly fishers invited down to the wild life pond for a trial cast before it is ready to open up to the public, and it was good to hear so much positive feedback from them all.
We moved into a wetter spell of weather near the end of the month, this saw the river level rise for a couple of days before settling back again, and as the smolts began to move back down through the system the flotillas of goosanders and cormorants appeared back on the estuary to take advantage of this harvest.
While down cutting the grass on the piers at Newburgh it was good to see that a lot of the trees, daffodils and bluebells planted by the local school children, as part of a Tay Regeneration Project, are all doing well.
Dago
