Tag: nine-foot

December 23rd – An evening return through Chasewater revealed, unsurprisingly, ever increasing water levels. I’m hoping the lake will be near full by new year, and by the state of the forecast, that looks distinctly possible. At the moment, I’m most interested in the waterline around the pier. After so long high and dry, I’m wondering how being soaked again in the water is affecting the structure, with let’s face it, was knackered a long time ago. I can’t figure out why it hasn’t actually been removed…

December 16th – I went back to Chasewater in the daylight to investigate how the water levels were behaving, and to seed what was going on with the balancing culverts between the main lake, Nine-Foot pool and the spillway. It seems the sluice that was open from the Nine Foot to the spillway has now been closed, and looking at the output side it seeks very well indeed. Water should now continue to rise until it reaches the top of the breakwater on the left. This means there’s about a metre to a metre and a half to go before the lake is full.

Last time I checked the level, it stood at 6cm from the top of the lower metre scale on the pier. That was on November 25th. Today, on December 16th – a mere 21 days later – it stood at just shy of 58cm on the upper metre scale. That’s an increase of 48cm or about 19 inches in 21 days. This is astonishing, and is largely due to the heavy rains on already saturated grounds, causing runoff to fill the reservoir. I don’t think anybody ever thought such a rate of fill was remotely possible.

I noticed while I was mooching around the Nine Foot that the red deer had been and had a look before me…

April 1st – Didn’t get time to go far today. I did get to Chasewater during the dog-end of a gorgeous afternoon, however. There was a stiff breeze, but it was still relatively warm. I noticed along the canal that the hawthorn leaves were coming out, and the gradual greening of fields and woods has started in earnest. I noticed at Ogley Basin in Brownhills that the dredging equipment and silt screens from Anglesey basin were now finished with, and the stricken dredger was still in dry dock. Little dredging actually seems to have been done, so I’ve no idea what actually happened there. At Chasewater itself, access has now been opened up again to foot and bicycle traffic from the canal, and access now seems possible to the park once more. During an enjoyable hour talking to a very knowledgable old hand by the new nine-foot, I learned that the contractors will be offsite by next weekend. I also discovered that the marsh in the spillway isn’t the Sphagnum Lawn, but a different bit of preserved wetland from the old nine-foot. Whoops… must correct that on the main blog. 
The works are looking pretty decent, and all that’s left to do now is a little rain dance and hope the water level rises as quickly as possible.