Hot and bothered, but Inert make great progress on Finch pond jnr II 7th July 2018

It is horribly hot. Temperatures once again heading to the thirties and above. Flora is beginning to suffer everywhere, with parts of the reserve and my garden dying.

Inert have concentrated their efforts on finishing off Finch pond jnr II. The have extended its south and east shores to an extraordinary degree. The thickness of the infill is pretty impressive, leading me to believe that a lot of haulage lorries have been contracted this past week.

I also get the feeling that our bulldozer driver has also been working around the boulder sorter outer.  The piles of sorted stuff grow ever higher.

There were a number of haulage lorries in evidence when I arrived at lunchtime on Thursday. I counted at least three R Collard and four John Stacey lorries. The latter still form the backbone of the haulage efforts from what I can see. It was lunchtime, as I mentioned, so I didn't see the usual backup grab loaders about.

It should be interesting to see what happens after Finch pond jnr II is completed. According to the plans, the remnant of Finch pond should be a lot thinner, and should narrow to a taper. Inert may turn their attentions to the south shore of Finch pond.

However, with the breeding season virtually over for any schedule one birds, and with the water levels so low, it is possible that Inert will turn their efforts to Cormorant lake, the north embankment and ridge.

Our interesting white Aztec 'temple' has disappeared. Probably doing duty as traffic control, it is now part of the infill of Finch pond.

The pump was chugging away on Thursday, with the wildlife making the most of the small islets that have formed in Finch pond.  There were loads of Lapwings, a belligerent Shelduck (which attacked a Tufted Teal), a smattering of gulls, a couple of Ringed Plovers and a couple of Wagtails - I think of the grey variety.

Here is my latest, very badly drawn, estimate of how far Inert have got with the infill.