Pump station is no more? Inert shift into high gear for restoration. Part 2 23rd July 2022

Covering the northern section of the new Finch pond complex

Inert were instructed to fill in the once mighty Finch pond, which used to cover almost all of the western side of the Manor farm site. It took Inert a couple of years to infill Finch pond and then to raise the land.  Now I am watching Inert merrily digging out large swathes of the southern part of this site to form the Finch pond complex, and carting the spoil all the way back over to Chandlers farm, from where it first came from.

The Finch pond complex consists of one large pond close to the south footpath (River Blackwater path) and the sewage works. Unfortunately, the edges of the pond will be smothered in reed beds, meaning you get to see very little. If the edge of the new reserve is to be clothed in trees, then I'm afraid folks, you ain't going to see very much wildlife.  This cuts people off from engaging with nature.

Inert have also done one of their baffling flits about the site, this time taking small chunk out of the east part of the north embankment. They appear to have dumped this top soil in a line close to the Longwater road entrance, as if to mark out a boundary.

Time will tell what this was all about.