Reynard spotted and Inert continue Saturday working. 17th February 2018

Alas, dear reader, not much appears to have happened this week. Our intrepid bulldozer driver was working away hard at 7:39 am. He appeared to be filling in a rather large crater on the Hampshire side of the reserve. I haven't really been concentrating on this part of the Cemex works as the bulk of it will be turned into playing fields.

Water levels have stablised on all the lakes and ponds on both Fleet Hill and Manor farms; even though the flow out of Finch pond through the culvert is still quite brisk. It is still like quicksand in many places, but much of the vehicle tracks are now quite solid.

Having spotted its tracks last week and surmised that it was a fox, Reynard made its appearance behind the pump. The creature didn't notice me for the longest time. It was the noise of my DSLR that gave me away.  The smooth mud of the vehicle track ways are crisscrossed with its tracks, and no doubt that of foxes.

I've started to record species onto iRecord. A rather nice and easy to use national database of nature sightings. You'll find entries under Fleet Hill farm, Manor farm and Moor Green Lakes.  A couple of other people are also recording sightings into iRecord, but mainly of Moor Green Lakes and Longwater road.

I have a couple of small issues with iRecord. Not so much the system as the recording. One is how to record species I see every week e.g. Canada Goose, Coot, Moorhen, Blackbird, Robin, etc or say, an Oak tree; I mean, that isn't going to move for decades hopefully  I think I found the ability to enter a date range, but it seemed more geared to Activities and lists.

Another is more self inflicted. The natural instinct is to only record the more unusual species. Whereas it is important to record all species.  Then of course there is the sheer amount of species both flora and fauna on and around the reserves.

Anyway, with lack of progress on Manor farm, enjoy the atmospheric photos taken from 7.00 am to 8.00 am on a bright frosty morning.  Light conditions were very bad to begin with whilst I was on Fleet Hill farm, but improved considerably by the time I was making my way back to my car along Manor farm from the works bridge. I will be taking more and more photos of the wildlife, mainly as an identification aid for both myself and iRecord. You can upload photos to iRecord to help verify the species.