The first of the month was a good, dry, warm day, but the weather changed quickly over the next few days to hard frost with freezing fog followed by wind and torrential rain that put the river level up by more than ten feet.
On the 7th the SSPCA brought round ten mute swan cygnets to the estuary for releasing back into the wild.
These cygnets came from their rescue centre at Middlebank, and they quickly settled in with the other swans that over-winter on this part of the river.
This month there was a repair job done to the sea wall at the front of the old boatyard in Newburgh. The collapsed wall was rebuilt and then shuttered up and had a new concrete cap put back on it. The surrounding area behind it then got a general tidy up.
There was also more work carried out on the footpath that links the Fishery and the old railway bridge at Perth, some of this work included putting in drainage pipes to keep areas dry as well as raising other areas. More of the path will be easier to walk now, and less affected by bigger tides.
A local scout group has had the use of one of our old bothies to do an overnight stay that would contribute towards one of their badges. The leaders and scouts had all enjoyed themselves, it was a trip back in time cooking over an open fire, using old tilly lamps and having no running water!
Tay Salmon Fisheries were helping the BBC this month when Coast presenter Nicholas Cranes and his crew were in the area filming a piece on Perth. Some of our staff and boats worked with them as they did some scenes up in the town water. This also involved the fire brigade who were using their rescue boat as well.
As the month was ending the weather took a turn for the worse with heavy snowfall and the mercury falling. The bird numbers picked up at our feeding stations as food became scarcer, and we had more swans appearing on the estuary as inland waters became iced over.
This also affected the Willowgate Fishery which had to close for a while. It has been a good month to see some of the migratory birds – waxwings being one of the highlights.There has also been plenty snipe,
redshank, goldeneye, redwing and fieldfare, along with a few whooper swans.
