Tremendous progress on upfill. Tree felling on Cormorant lake (north). 26th September 2021

I feel that Inert were able to hire a whole load of tipper and grab loader lorries, this past week. The upfill of what was Finch pond appears to have accelerated, making a huge jump further south. At this rate, they will be past the Longwater road entrance by the end of next week.

Dare I say, in fear of being proven wrong yet again, that Inert will complete the upfill by the end of October? Nah, don't be silly. Inert will simply flit to another part of the site.

Contractors have started felling trees around the eastern section of the north embankment. I did wonder what would happen to these trees i.e. would they be bulldozed flat. They are mostly Birch, and quite mature. I reckon they germinated not long after Cemex created the embankments; by scraping top soil off the area to get at the underlying gravel.

There were numerous extensions to the quarrying operations e.g. Fleet Hill farm. This allowed these trees to grow over two if not three decades.

It's a shame the trees have gone, they do give a wonderful backdrop to the area, especially their vivid colours in autumn. They are also very good for the environment and wildlife. However, they did have to go.

I will also mourn the lose of the north embankment. It's height gave a wonderful view of the site, and put the whole area into a different perspective. It was also brilliant for Bird in Flight viewing and photography. Birds will, generally, fly east-west parallel along the length of Moor Green Lakes, Manor farm and Fleet Hill farm; often at the same height as the north embankment.

It is supposed to rain over the next week. As usual, the BBC and Met Office weather reports differ as the the amount and frequency of rainfall in this area. They often get it wrong. What rain we may or may not get should not affect ground conditions to any great extent. It has been so dry of late, the ground is rock hard. The only slight snag with rain is that it makes the surface of the chalk land bridges a little bit slippery. No problems for a lorry or human, come to that.

The main issue for lorries is the south vehicle track. As I've mention numerous times, this gets pounded by lorry wheels, producing a fine silt which flows into ruts (up to three feet deep) forming pools of mud the consistency of quicksand. I should know, having sunk up to my knees in the stuff or having to make big detours to avoid these quicksand pools.

Will the rate of progress continue or will it stall, as has happened so often? Tune in, next week, for the latest, mildly thrilling, installment of this saga.