Work continues a pace on Manor farm. 4th November 2017

The first week of November was quite mild, and last night we saw our first appreciable rain in some time after a very dry October.

I happened to talk to a bird watcher when I got back to the car park after my stomp. Seems like the whole proposed reserve is already well known for its wild life.  He said he had counted 40 Lapwing and several Snipe on the proposed reed beds north of Manor lake.  I am also wondering if I have wrongly maligned anglers. It is possible that the some of the paths I see were trampled by bird watchers. Probably a combination of the two.

You'll not be surprised to hear that the pump keeps pumping, water levels keep dropping in the lakes, whilst Cemex appear to be concentrating on restoring Manor farm.  Once again there are extensive signs they have been at work (e.g. tractor tracks in the mud) but it is hard to say exactly where they have been working.

Piles of topsoil have appeared along the shoreline of Cormorant lake. I think they have been working on the north shores of Finch pond and Cormorant lake as the area is looking increasingly cleared of vegetation.  One obvious sign is that they have widened the track they cut last week on the west shore of Finch pond; I now do not believe it is a track. I feel Cemex are clearing the area of scrub.

On the boring side: what a difference a new battery makes. A cheap jobbie was bought online, but the charge held up very well. Even after taking 79 photos battery drain appeared negligible. Compared to a battery that was almost completely drained last week after taking about 30 photos.

I also found out how to set the white balance, which I duly did. Only I had upped the EV by one notch last week, which means the photos appear slightly over exposed.  Still it was a very manky grey cloudy day. I never realised there was so much to using a DSLR.