It was back to dull and cold for the opening day of April, with some afternoon rain thrown into the mix as well!
Early on there was little movement on the river level from the end of March, but we did have another coaster ( the WILSON SAAR this time ) heading back up river to the Perth harbour on the 1st to ply its trade.
We did then have the odd frosty morning, but some heavy rain by the end of the first week saw the river level quickly rise to around the eight feet mark before it was to slowly start dropping back again. The grass cutting season is well underway now, the mowers are getting round the usual spots, and the strimmer has been busy taking back some of the roadsides in places.
There were some more repaired bird boxes put back up around the place
and some of the old bird tables have had a lick of Cuprinol to freshen them up a bit.
Early on in the month we had a lot of Whoopers flying overhead heading back north for the summer, and on the 9th and 10th, I saw my first sand martins and swallows of the year arriving back for the summer.
The sand pipers, redshanks and odd snipe can be seen some days about the waters edge, and the house martins were back before the end of the month too. The sparrowhawk has been busy round the feeders, and the red squirrel still pays the odd visit too!
There has been an array of colours along the river banks this month with a multitude of wild flowers appearing all over the place, we are seeing marsh marigold, campion, wild garlic, bluebells, garlic mustard and cowslip to name but a few.
Some of the apple trees have had a lot of blossom this year which bodes well for the autumn come harvest time.
Plenty of choice for the butterflies, bees and all the other pollinators that are going about.
Up at the fishery the swan seems to be sitting tight on her nest now out on the island, hopefully we’ll see some more cygnets again this year.
By the end of the month the mercury was well up into the teens and the river level was sitting steady just under the two feet six mark.
Dago
