Primroses are early

Late January and the Primroses just north of Beccles are getting started:

This was April last year:

Syleham Mill side channel

Lovely paddle last Monday in glorious sunshine, mild and no breeze. This is Syleham Mill side channel. It's a simple waterslide once you get under the chain above the slope and the drop at the end just about gets your hair wet. About 0.5m on the Billingford flow gauge and quite a lot of water going over the main fall, which is not at all practical...

Syleham back drop from Petro Dobromylskyj on Vimeo.

Chet bank snowdrops

Snowdrops are well ahead of last year on the bank of the Chet just upstream of Loddon

Just upstream of the woodland the weeds have been scoured out by the recent spate, much like the Blyth. Time to paddle is clearly going to be early Spring for these little streams...

Owl just upstream of Mells on the Blyth floodplain

This owl gave me the pleasure of about 5 minutes of careful hunting on the River Blyth marshes just upstream of Mells. Lovely. The kingfisher, egret, kestrel and heron didn't stay for long enough to get the camera working!

Summer weeds vs Winter cold on the Blyth

If you are thinking about paddling from Halesworth down to Blyford or beyond, the upper reaches might be easier after Winter floods than after Summer weed growth...

End of Summer:

And after a Winter flood:

Both looking upstream from the bridge at Mells. The Summer picture was absolute basal levels, the Winter one had about 0.6m showing for Billingford flow gauge on the Waveney.

There are a number of serious tree blockages between Halesworth and Blyford. Several might need a difficult portage around.