I DON'T think I had ever seen the water level so high here on the River Devon at Cambus, a spring tide having pushed up so far that the weir was almost totally covered.

It also answered a question I have long pondered: Flounders, which are a type of flatfish, are often seen in the middle reaches of the Devon – but how on earth does this marine species negotiate the weir?

Well, at least I now had my answer – they wait for an unusually high tide.

As I made my way along the path by the side of the estuary, several teal sprung into the air from the water’s edge.

Teal are shy and skittish ducks, but the drakes have the most wonderful plumage with their chestnut heads and iridescent green eye stripes.

Goosanders were about on the water too and when I reached the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) Cambus Pools reserve, I glimpsed a moorhen in amongst the reeds. They are rather gangly birds that tend to move in an awkward fashion as they tread carefully through the water vegetation.

It is great to see that the pools here are being enhanced in a joint initiative between SWT and the Inner Forth Landscape Initiative, which will make this an even better place for wildlife.

Scrub and trees were encroaching the area and this exciting new project will create a wider variety of habitats and improve conditions at the pools for wading birds.

Once I reached the mouth of the Devon, a grey seal floated lazily in water, no doubt on the hunt for migrating salmon.

Further along the path towards Stirling direction, a small group of three roe deer grazed in a nearby field. I often see roes in this field and it is obviously a favourite feeding spot; the wide-open expanses enabling them to spot danger from a good distance.

As I made my way for home, a flight of pink-footed geese honked their way over the fading dusk sky, heading down to the fields, mudflats and salt marshes here on the inner Forth to roost for the night.

@BroomfieldKeith