March started off with a mostly wet dull day, a pattern that continued for a bit and the river level was quick to hit the eight feet above summer level mark on the gauge, but it quickly settled back down to just under four feet by the end of the first week.
A lot of our time this month was spent tidying up more bankings and path sides, taking back brambles etc.
and of course splitting wood and kindling is always part of the job list.
We had a trip back up to the rod beat again to give the boys a hand turn over their remaining cobbles
so that they could get them fitted ready for use at the start of April when the boats double up on the beat.
From cobbles to coasters! We saw another coaster ( the Wilson Main ) making its way back down river from the harbour on the 20th. It was sitting high in the water and it looked as if it had no cargo heading back out to sea!
It was a very mixed month of weather that we have had, there were frosty mornings, some snow up on the hill tops and some very warm spells too. For all that the river level carried on slowly dropping away as the month progressed.
There has been a bit more activity in the skies of late with the big chinook helicopters passing overhead a few times, not sure if that bodes well for the future!
There has also been more movement of birds along the estuary for the last couple of weeks; with the return of the Redshank and Shellducks, the odd whooper flying overhead, plenty of snipe about and we’ve even had the odd partridge put in an appearance too!
The seals are never far away just now and we have had a young otter with us for a few days feeding away at the mouth of the burn.
The blackthorn is out in blossom now, and the snake’s head Fritillary are also out in some areas too, along with the daffodils,cuckoo flower and the summer snowflake.
We have had the clocks go forward and the nights are starting to draw out now, and finally the mercury has started to move in the right direction on the last day of the month whilst the river level was sitting steady at just over five feet above summer level.
Dago
