I imagine they had to drain the water so that they could do the work - having quantities of water around when moving large piles of earth is not very helpful at all and so I can see why they would do that. It is only for a short period of time anyway - the birds soon came back if the report of stone curlews there in the last few days is anything to go by.
Yes, I can understand that, but there should be water around the first part of the reserve as that would not affect the work being done way over at North Brooks. The water that is normally in the first couple of scrapes is entirely separate from North Brook.
The diggers were sitting over the far side of the Brooks, not by the more accessible side where the hide is, so any soil would be nowhere near the other areas.
They carried out surveys recently and over the last year or so, wanting people's opinion on how things could be improved there. The main issue that people had was that the water that 'was' there (at the time) was too far away and many people were unable to see the birds with any clarity - not everyone has powerful scopes etc.
I have just found this on their website, dated 18 August:
Quote:
The 360 digger that was moving earth around on the north brooks last week has finished work - the result of the work should be apparent come the autumn and winter rains that will fill up the pools up again. We are hoping that wintering ducks and waders will appreciate the low ridges we've created, bring birds closer to Nettley's hide and Jupp's view.
Unquote:
It sounds like nothing has been done to the other areas so lets hope that the birds really are closer and easier to see down by Jupp's view.
We might make a visit some time between now and the end of October, so will post back if/when we do.
