... sadly not the feathered kind, but impressive none the less.
The crane's dominating the skyline at the north end of the reserve whilst it removes the metal piling from around the new outfall sluice. As the project nears completion, the flap valve (which is 2m high) has now also been attached to the River Trent end of the pipe, this is a one way, non-return valve, which will allow water to flow out of the reserve but not in from the Trent, it does however contain two eel flaps, which are closed in the photo, but will be open whilst the River is low, to allow eels and potentially other fish onto the reserve. These eel flaps will close as river levels rise and the orange floats pull the flaps shut. When the flaps are open eels will be able to sense the 'sweet' water flowing from the reserve into the Trent, which will attract them to swim up through the sluice into the Langford Lowfields reedbeds.