---------2007-----------
08 Jun. Cut the grass
on 3 sides of the
scrape.
06 Jun. Made
a skimmer to skim skin off
scrape surface. Put about 1,000 litres of water
into
scrape, as weather is dry.
Empty dragonfly nymph case found in
scrape.
(scrape was only built Feb 06, so nymph must have
been trasferred from Well).
28 May. After 42mm rain in 2 days, river rising
rapidly, and
scrape has
risen 4 cms.
14 May.
scrape full at 29 cms.
04 May.
Found snails, tadpoles, nymphs and newts, all put in
scrape.
16 Apr. Put up a pair of (real) Mallards on the
scrape.
03 Apr. Nearly backed car into
scrape, so erected a corner post.
09 Mar. Tadpoles hatching in the
scrape.
23 Feb. Gravelled some muddy areas
around the
scrape.
21 Feb. Saw 5 more newts in
scrape.
20 Feb. Collected frogspawn from Pamphill and put
it in our
scrape, where
we also saw a newt.
5 Feb. Filled the
scrape for the first time in 2 months.
---------2006-----------
27 Nov. The Plantation is very soggy,
scrape water is brown not clear,
every oak stands in a little pond.
09 Nov. Moved a large pink
Lewissian Gneiss to middle of
scrape.
08 Nov. Transferred 5 large and
5 small Lewissian Gneiss
beach boulders from corner of
scrape (where they could not be seen) to
centre.
07 Nov. Rope in
scrape removed, divided, refixed with screweyes. Now
looks neat, like rope around rectangular boxing ring.
06 Nov.
Rosie sieved a lot of topsoil, while I added two ropes to
scrape interior
surface.
29 Oct. Sat
next to
scrape, I had 3 red dragonflies on my right knee
at the same time!
20 Oct. Completed building the seat by the
scrape, materials paid for by
Stuart Flint of Wirksworth. Red dragonfly beat me being the first to sit
on it!
18 Oct. Using 6" Auger, drilled two 60 cm holes by
side of scrape for seat
legs. Hard work, tips: lubricate well with water, use many small bites,
deposit direct in wheelbarrow.
17 Oct. Bought window board from B+Q for a seat by
scrape, and treated it
with Cuprinol. Bought 10 small fence posts and 1 large post at SCATS and
took to Plantation.
12 Oct. Started drilling borehole next to
scrape with 6" auger. Hard work,
got down to 90 cms, through soil and clay, to where gravel starts.
04 Oct. Ordered posthole auger to try and dig a borehole to supply the
scrape with water.
18 Sep. Cleared the
scrape of blanket weed and uncovered dozens of
water-boatmen and a couple of dragonfly nymphs. Got new bat detector and
earphones working and discovered a loud singing at 26kHz located in well
spoilheap grass which must have been grasshoppers.
15 Sep. scrape full due to thundery rain on 9th Sep
(29 mm in last 7 days).
07 Sep. Topped up
scrape and bath.
26 Aug. Rosie pulled up orache round
scrape.
10 Aug. Erected Gazebo over bench and table by scrape.
08 Aug. Ordered a bat detector as the scrape, pond, river, fields and
plantation are swarming with insects.
05 Aug. I took 3 large logs
for use by the
scrape, and to count the rings.
27 Jul. Terribly hot. Topped up
scrape and bath. Used cultivator hoe to
get rid of a lot of hornwort in the pond. Watched dragonflies patrolling
and laying in the sunshine.
21 Jul. Finished building fixed seat and moveable
table at W end of scrape.
17 Jul.
scrape needs 250 litres of water per day,
most of this is lost by evaporation during heat of the day.
12 Jul. Dragonflies and damselflies patrolling and
laying in the
scrape, most delightful sight.
06 Jul. Placed 35 baskets with earth and water
plants around edge of scrape.
02 Jul. Fished river for small crustacia, placed in
scrape. Hot weather,
scrape water temperature reaches 30.
29 Jun. Above ground syphon for
scrape installed,
previous underground syphon got blocked.
19 Jun. Returned from 4 weeks holiday.
scrape
half empty, little rain here in last 4 weeks.
20 May. Fitted a new
scrape depth measurer.
19 May.
scrape level now constant
at 24 cms, nominal volume is 6,732 litres.
17 May. scrape now full, and heavy rain expected today.
16 May. Pumped 800 litres of water into
scrape,
which is now nearly full. Lifted 2 low points of
scrape perimeter by
pushing soil under the liner.
15 May. Pumped 1,000 litres of water into
scrape.
14 May. Pumped 1,000 litres of water into
scrape.
13 May. Another 1,000 litres of groundwater pumped.
12 May. Another 1,000 litres of groundwater pumped
into scrape by hand.
11 May. Fitted two liners to
scrape, each 4.5m x 10m. Liners so hot that grass was burned. 131 sods
moved to hold down liners. 1,000 litres of water drawn from well and
syphoned into
scrape.
10 May. Liner for scrape
12m x 9m arrived.
03 May. Cut and stacked 131 large grass sods from
the edge of the
scrape, ready to hold the liner in place when fitted.
Shoulders of scrape raised with soil from store.
Syphoned scrape again, now practically dry.
28 Apr. Removed island in
scrape ready for fitting liner when it
is nearly dry, hoping leakage will reduce from 500 to 10 litres/day.
07 Apr. Water still being lost from the
scrape by
leakage, about 500 litres per day.
06 Apr. A design fault in the syphon system to the
scrape was noticed by Rosie and quickly corrected
by me.
30 Mar.
scrape finally full of water, after a great
deal of pumping and puddling. When 25 cms deep it holds 7,000 litres of
water. It has an island in the middle, on which bog-loving wildflower
seeds were scattered.
20 Mar. The scrape completed, after 19 days of hard
digging.
About 8.5 x 3.3 metres and 30 cms deep. 800 sods removed, most placed
on Munro with grass facing outwards, 8 layers and 2 metres high, each
layer held together by wire cable until grass grows and binds sods
together.
02 Mar.
Started building a "Munroe", or pyramid of sods from
scrape.
28 Feb. Used sods from
scrape to build earth platform, on which old bath
placed to give height to enable syphon action to fill
scrape.
23 Feb. Started digging the
"scrape", a shallow pond sealed by existing
grey clay and filled by syphon action from old bath, filled by pulley
and bucket from watertable pond nearby.
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