We had a mostly dry start to July, and with some light showers and mild weather in the mix the river level never moved much over the coming weeks.
July was a shorter working month having had a week’s holiday early on, it is always nice to have gotten away but then you are playing catch up on all the cutting and strimming when you do get back to work. At least the weather was kinder for returning to it.
We had a change of scenery this month when everyone was up at the Cargill rod beat helping with the strimming; the roadsides, carparks, paths and around the luncheon huts are always kept tidy but a lot of the riverside was given a good strim to get it back in check.
As the smaller marsh orchids were beginning to die back it was good to see the odd taller lighter common spotted orchid appearing in a few places about the riverside.
The bellflower, comfrey and loosestrife are all adding a splash of colour to the riverside as the season keeps moving along.
Some of the big hedges have had their second cuts and the routine grass cutting regime continues what seems like a never-ending loop. The growth rate has slowed up a bit now which does help a bit. A lot of the nestboxes about the place are seeing their second broods now, the swan cygnets are fairly getting up in size and we are still seeing the red squirrel most days.
The otter has been busy out on the river, and it was good to see the dipper back at the burn again, the first we have seen of it for a while. With the good dry spell of weather that we have been enjoying, the rowan trees have all got a good crop of berries on them this year for the birds to enjoy
and the farmers are ahead of the game this year with the combines having been busy out in the fields for the last week or so.
The month came to a close with a dry warm day and a river level sitting just a few inches above summer level.
Dago