October month started quietly, the same as September had ended, but the weather changed very quickly and soon Scotland was in the grip of storm Amy. Once again this year thousands of homes and businesses were left without power; river levels spiked quickly and there was a trail of destruction all across the country.
In our area the rise on the river was up to around the ten foot mark above summer level, and there were a few trees and limbs down that needed some attention with the chainsaw to clear pathways and access.
It wasn’t long though before the weather and the river were soon settling back down again. Early in the month we did get a late spin of honey off the bees, before the hive got some attention to set it up for the coming winter months.
The grass cutting is all but done for now this season, but there will still be some rougher areas of path sides and banking that will need a tidy up over the coming winter months. There has been large numbers of geese overhead again this month, and we are also seeing more Redwing and Fieldfare about.
Teal numbers out on the river are picking up, and the feed stations are getting busier as a lot of the smaller birds are beginning to flock up for the winter. We have also been putting more of the fallen fruit from the garden out into the woods near the feed station for the birds to enjoy.
The 15th saw the end of another season for the anglers on the river up on our Cargill beat, their annual catch was a little back on the previous year, which was a familiar story for most beats on the river this year. Their boats are off the river now, all turned over ready for a bit of annual maintenance before it starts all over again in January.
By the time the clocks went back the weather had turned much colder and damper, and the river level was back down to under two feet above summer level,
it did spike again into the last couple of days of October where it was over nine feet and rising at the end of the 31st.
Dago
