Tuesday 18 November 2014

Pine tree felling

Work has started on felling the row of Scots pine trees right of the fourth hole on the river course.  These have all been killed by the storm surge flooding with salt water.  The Monterey pines are faring a little better and we hope that at least some of these will survive.  We intend to plant a few replacement pines on higher ground in the triangle of rough between the 3rd and 5th holes.

Neil. Danny and Shane clearing the debris



Tuesday 11 November 2014

River course update

The situation on the river course following the tidal surge and flooding three weeks ago is much improved.  The 3rd green and 4th tee are in very good order and due to the very mild weather we have already cut them twice.  The fairway turf that was laid the day before the flood has fared less well but we've saved a good proportion and we're confident that this will recover given time.  The heavy rain over the last couple of weeks has kept the area very wet (not helped by the layer of silt brought in by the flood) but the rain will have helped to flush the salt out of the turf and soil.  We intend to replace the lost turf in a couple of weeks time when the site has dried out a bit.

Craig cutting the new 3rd green for the first time

Wednesday 5 November 2014

Weather summary for October

October was very mild with an average temperature of 13.7°, nearly two degrees warmer than average.  The lowest temperature was 5° on the 5th and the highest 20.3° on the 1st.  The warmest October in our records was 2006 with an average of 14.3°.  October is our wettest month with an average of 58.1mm and this October was wetter than average with 65.5mm.  (February has the lowest average rainfall figures with 36.1mm but March and April are only slightly wetter with 37.7mm and 37mm respectively.)  November has started very wet with over 30mm in the first five days.