As a new year started on the estuary, the weather turned to rain, with strong winds and a drop in temperature, bringing the river into spate again.
The gales did a bit of damage to some of the older trees about the riverside, with some big limbs coming down. There has been large flocks of small birds, including siskins and a charm of about a hundred and twenty goldfinches, feeding along the foreshore on all the different seed heads. We have seen an increase in cormorant numbers lately, and there are over a hundred goldeneye ducks using the harbour area of the river just now.There is also the odd sighting of a mother otter and her young one.
Work is ongoing at Newburgh on the upgrade of the footpath along the foreshore towards the county burn.
Jobs this month have included keeping all boats bailed out and safe above the high water mark, and cutting up and clearing a lot of big drift that has been blown ashore. Another inside job on a wet day has been repair work to damaged nest-boxes(blown down in the gales) and also making new ones, ready to be put up by spring time, to add to the 150+boxes already in use at various sites on the estuary.
Despite the terrible weather of late it is good to see the snowdrops back, and the first real snow arriving.
The swans enjoy a regular feed of grain and the smaller birds are busy round our feeding stations.
The latter part of the month saw a settled spell of hard frost and good days, ideal for getting on with all the outside work.
Dago.
