Not a huge amount happening on Manor farm. 22nd September 2018

Inert seemed to be following what I predicted they might do. This is to my untrained eye, and I may well not have noticed a whole lot of what they might have been up to. However, the huge pile of spoil in the north west corner of Manor farm continues to grow, with many piles of spoil added to it.  Also, further piles of spoil have been dumped onto the depression, no doubt ready to be bulldozed.

Speaking of bulldozers, it was conspicuous by its absence. Unusually for me, I visited the proto-reserve on Wednesday. I saw lorries trundling around, dropping spoil around the huge heap, depression and round the boulder sorter outer. There was no bulldozer in sight.  It is possible it was working on the Hampshire part of the reserve or involved in other duties. However, I only ever see one bulldozer, perhaps the driver was on holiday or ill.

Further piles of spoil were dropped around the north end of the copse, plus two huge piles on the shore of Cormorant lake next to the scrape. I noticed these piles last week, but only got around to photographing them this week.

With water levels fast reaching their lowest point, I suspect further work will now switch to sculpting Cormorant lake and its interface with Finch pond.

There were huge numbers of Egyptian geese and a lesser number of Canada geese, this morning. It is amazing the amount of wildlife this proto-reserve supports, and it isn't even ready. I hope the ultimate plans for the reserve do not preclude the geese and Lapwings. They seem to like the low lying scrub, mud flats and scrape type structures.  It would be a pity if these habitats were turned into yet more reed beds.

This isn't a particularly long report as most of the scene looks the same. I hopped around the site a bit, and tried to present the more salient and interesting photos.  Hopefully, the bulldozer will be back in action next week, and we'll see more going on. However, judging by the racket, a whole lot is going on over on the Hampshire part of the reserve.

The light really was as bad as it looks in some of the photos. Quite cloudy and overcast.