Odds & Sods 2023

A Ring of Bright Water?

Opps, wrong creature.

An unguarded moment.

This morning, 5:50 am, drizzle, overcast, I'm stomping eastward along the Blackwater valley footpath to check up on progress with the restoration of Cemex's Eversley quarry to be a nature reserve, when I noticed a Roe Deer. It hadn't noticed me. I whip out my ancient Samsung compact digital camera, and we both do our best.

Can you spot the beastie? A clue: note the notch in the banking in the middle of the photo. This notch was cut some weeks ago to accommodate a sluice gate; only work was halted due the possibility of LRPs laying a second clutch near the notch.

Zooming in on the Roe deer. The camera's flash fired, it was that gloomy, but totally useless considering how far away the Roe Deer was. I realised the deer was fixated on something in what will be the Main reed beds. Only I couldn't see it. I can now, when seen on a Laptop.

Zooming in even further, and testing my ability to hold camera steady - after only one cup of coffee or tea.

The banking was completed last year, and the site was totally bereft of flowers. It looked like the Somme. Trust me, on many occasions it felt like the Somme, when I was wandering around the site in amongst the mud and churned up ground and vast piles of spoil heaped up in a chaotic mess. Occasionally, I would sink up to my knees in the mud. Freshly bulldozed soil can be lethal during wet weather.

The Roe deer trotted off, no doubts to have words with the intruder, and I wandered on to photograph the infill of Manor lake - thankfully nearing completion.

Always good to see something unexpected ... . Where's the R7?

Wotcha, BD.

A couple of reasons for no R7.

Firstly, we want to keep people off the site. Even though it is still a building site (loads of heavy plant moving around), the area is home to many, many species of birds, animals, reptiles, invertebrates, etc. If people see me wandering around with a big camera and lens, they may get the idea that it's ok for them to do same, even though I wear a Hi-Viz jacket, and therefore am official.

Secondly, I have sunk up to my knees in mud on several occasions whilst recording progress. Freshly bulldozed soil can have the consistency of quicksand. It is an interesting exercise attempting to crawl out of mud, with a DSLR and Sigma 150-600mm lens slung round one's neck.

What I try and do initially is to walk out of the mud. Unfortunately, this can simply make one sink lower into the mud, which clings on to your wellingtons like a leech. At this point, I take my wide brimmed bush hat off, put it on a dryish piece of ground and then put my camera/lens onto it. I can then crawl out of the mud on my hands and knees. So far I have not had to crawl out on my stomach; but have come close.

Of course, now I am covered in thick, slimy, clinging mud. Even after wiping my hands as much as possible on my trousers (which simply covers me in even more mud - think the sludge monster from doom marsh) I now have hands with dryish mud on them - which gets transferred to camera and lens, which then takes me ages to clean at home.

I was just, only just, prepared to risk my second hand R80 with such abuse, but not the R7. I suppose I could take the R80, which now has a secondhand Sigma 18-300mm lens, but for reason (1) above - plus it was just too manky, this morning.

This is the sort of landscape I wander over during restoration. It is actually quite mild compared to some of the stuff Inert build. The mounds can be 20 or 30 feet high. They build 'paths' which is like walking through a gorge with sides 10 to 15 feet high. Basically, the area looks similar to all the photos you see of battle fields like Somme, Ypres, etc.

This area contained a large lake, which has been filled in over the past 9 months. Inert area now building what I call the frilly bits: banking, landscaping, bridle paths, footpaths, fencing, etc.

Their main thrust over the past two weeks has been to build up some existing banking, cap it with soil, then cut some deeper channels, inlets, and frilly edging, and also plant some reeds.

After all the heavy rain we've had recently, the going along some bits of the site was soft to very soft, to the point where I stuck to bulldozer and digger tracks wherever possible. I really don't want to risk my R7 here. The mud was also very clingy, and had the consistency of porridge in places.

The banking I'm standing on is about 10 feet high. The west section was soft - I tested each footstep before walking firmly. The middle to east section was nicely firm and consolidated.

In a month or so, when this area is restored, it is actually going to be quite tricky to get to the banking I'm standing on. The area will be flooded, and consist of low lying reed beds, marsh land, with deeper bits to drown the unwary. At the very least, a deep pair of wellies will be needed. I reckon waders will be required.

Birds (and the previous Roe deer) are already back - they do tend to ignore the heavy plant i.e. bulldozer, digger and heavy earth movers. This morning I saw: Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, about 5 Green Sandpipers, some Lapwing, Black headed gulls, a Common Tern, the usual Coots, Moorhens, Mallards, as well as a whole load of UBBs (Unidentified Brown Birds).

A little Wren collecting food for the youngsters ...