Scrape to vanish? Glacial pace again? 17th October 2020

The big news, as the headline says, is that this could be the end of our scrape. This has been a feature for years, appearing and disappearing as water levels drop and rise, added to by Inert with large quantities of sand last year, and very popular with the birds.  Inert themselves have been infilling around the scrape, up to now, taking great care not to encroach on it.

This strategy appears to have changed, with Inert pushing a large amount of spoil onto the north end of the scrape. Does this signal its demise?  Well, quite probably, as I have been hinting over the past couple of years.  I've seen Inert do similar actions before. They go to great pains to build structures - normally mounds of spoil - before flattening them.

I did hope the scrape would survive (it may yet) as it has proved very popular with bird life.

Other news. Water levels have dropped dramatically due, I suspect, to the pump being turned on. I say suspect, as I believe I heard it chugging away, but didn't wander over to verify - I was a bit pushed for time. It's the only way I can see water levels dropping this fast. Anyway, the receding water meant that the land bridge was now quite exposed. I crossed it, and found it very firm underfoot.

Restoration appears to have slid to its normal sluggish pace. I might be unfair, but I have only seen a two or three lorries working on the site this past couple of weeks. Their numbers might have swelled during the considerable time I wasn't stomping around the south footpath. However, I doubt it, as progress has been markedly slow.
 
Saying that, Inert appear to have concentrated on dumping more spoil onto the land mass; mostly the eastern side, encroaching on the scrape in the process.  There are signs (i.e. fresh tracks) that Inert briefly flirted with a quick wander around what was Finch pond.

Oh, I sank up to my knees in mud again. I was most surprised, as the ground was quite firm. I was trying to get around the west side of my mighty mound. I think I picked the one spot where the mud was very soft. To be honest, my only concerns were either getting absolutely filthy if I had to lie down to haul my wellies out of the mud or the ignominy of having to call out emergency services if I really got stuck - unlikely, but ya never know.

The only reason I had to take a detour around my mighty mound was because there is this 'channel' that snakes from the west side of my mound, across the land mass, to the land bridge by the ridge.