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Work
is now underway!
After
a delay of three days we have closed the inlet to Willow so the
lakes levels will drop. Over the next 2 days we will be pumping
out of both Ashford and Willow ready for de-silting. Today (Wed
6th June) we have been electro-fishing the stocks out of the lakes
and stocking the fish from Ashford into Foresters and returning
the fish from Willow to the farm for restocking at a later date. |
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Electro-fishing
in Ashford and Willow |
Fish
being taken from Willow lake |
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Sun
10th June |
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After
yet another delay waiting for machinery, we started draining the
lakes on Friday. Saturday we took delivery of a much larger pump
and overnight the levels had dropped by roughly 5 foot. It became
quickly apparent how much silt has come in off the river over the
last couple of years! (below
is the inlet end of Willow) |
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Thurs
14th June |
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Weather
has been a big problem this last week with sudden downpours putting
us back, and we had an awkward but welcome surprise in the discovery
of what seems to be a spring in Ashford! Awkward in that it keeps
trying to fill the lake for us while we are draining, but welcome
in that it should supply the lake with cool water throughout the
year (pictured left)
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Thurs
21st June |
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Progress
is finally being made in Ashford, with most of the silt now removed
and deepening of the lake has begun. We are in a peat area which
has probably added to our problems over the years, but we have
found gravel just a little way down, hopefully creating a much
healthier bottom to the lake
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Tues
3rd July |
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Well,
the weather still hasn't improved! But we are near completion of
the digging of Ashford. We have started bringing out some of the
gravel from the bottom to spread around the edges so that people
can move around the lake until the grass grows back. We will start
filling Ashford probably by the end of the week.
Willow
lake has been more tricky to dig than Ashford as there is very little
space for the silt and peat to spread out and dry, but we are getting
there slowly but surely! Once the silt and peat are dry we will
use it to landcape around the site, for example raising the bank
along the river to reduce risk of flooding.
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Friday
27th July |
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Apologies
for the lack of photos of late, but Ashford lake has now been refilled
for 2 weeks. We are hoping things have settled down in the lake
and introduced a small number of trout yesterday (Thurs 26th July).
We will monitor how these fish get on over the next few days and
providing all is well start to reintroduce stock ready for re-opening.
Work
is still underway on Willow introducing a silt trap and also a cage
around the inlet to prevent fish escaping. We are hopeful that it
will be completed by the end of next week. |
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| Back
to Newspage |
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