Trackway through ridge cut, water levels rising 28th July 2018

It actually rained, dear reader. A fair amount, with the prospect of more to come. Finally!

Even after all the deluge we had overnight the ground on Manor farm was still quite solid. There was no sinking up to my knees in mud, particularly on the freshly bulldozed soil. It was actually quite pleasant to walk on.

With the pump being turned off for the past couple of weeks and the afore mentioned deluge, water levels in the Manor farm lakes and ponds have increased by quite a lot. The south end of the 'causeway' which was totally clear of water last week, is now flooded. That isn't going to help with the infill.

Finch pond jnr II has been filled in, and operations continue to infill even more of Finch pond.

Inert had built a very impressive earth ramp (roughly twice the width of a haulage lorry) along the ridge leading up to the trackway cut across the ridge on Thursday.

Naturally, I took a walk up to inspect it. I was completely surprised to see how devoid of water Cormorant lake north was. I haven't seen it for months, keeping off this part of the nascent reserve during breeding season. I reckon it must have been almost completely dried up, seeing as water levels have risen considerably over the past two weeks. I did not walk along the south footpath this morning to see if the pump had been turned back on.

Our bulldozer driver had driven along the gravel spit that separates Cormorant lakes north and south. he doesn't appear to have done anything else except drive to the east end of the spit and back again. See addendum below.

I shouldn't really try and second guess what Inert will continue with next week. I will, however, postulate that the infill of Finch pond will continue (starting with the long line of soil piles) and that the trackway will be consolidated to allow lorries to trundle along it. This will enable them to deliver spoil to be bulldozed into Cormorant lake (north).

There was abundant wildlife around this morning. Many geese and ducks, plus the odd deer, most totally ignoring me.  A couple of Grey Heron took off from Cormorant lake north, but they are extremely wary birds.

I have been wondering about the ramp and new trackway. All that effort and the lorries having to drive all the way around Finch pond. In my naivety, I would have thought it much more efficient to drop a couple of large sewer pipes into the channel between Finch pond and Cormorant lake, and then cap it with soil from the ridge.  That way Finch pond can still be drained via Cormorant lake south, and the lorries have an easier route to Cormorant lake north. They need only turn right near the former location of the Yellow bridge (now occupied by the boulder sorter outer), and then trundle across the feature I call 'the land mass'.

Of course I might be totally barking. I'm not a civil engineer, and I do not know what exactly is the need for the ramp and cutting.

The memsahib and I took a walk along the south footpath, late Saturday afternoon. One aim of the walk was to see if the Moor Green Lakes renovation and extension had been completed. Sadly no. It has a projected completion date of 4th August.

Whilst photographing a huge flock of Lapwings landing on the north end of 'the land mass', I noticed that the east end of the gravel spit (separating Cormorant lakes north and south) showed signs of bulldozer activity. I reviewed some of the photos I took of this area earlier, and sure enough there appears to be the beginnings of infill. Right now I am kicking myself for not wandering down the gravel spit. It's some pretty skilful driving, but I am perplexed as to where the soil came from.