NWT hads completed the major phase of earth moving works at Skylarks for this winter and transformed one area, looks a bit stark at the moment, but come spring and the re-seeding with wetland grasses and flora it will rapidly start to rebuild. You can see a network of shallow lagoons, islands etc. Already the bird population is adapting will gulls, cormorants and lapwings (up to 800) now appearing on site. There has also been some tree clearance at old Skylarks to open up the lake fringes.

The contractors will be on site over the next couple of months (we are waiting for some ‘good’ weather) so there is no point in rectifying the path at this stage, but it will be done prior to the reserve being ‘re-opened’ in April. We still have lots of fencing to go in, the new parking area will go in next week and the hard footpaths will be started soon. In addition there will be two new boardwalks, viewing screens, culverts, ditches and sand martin banks to be completed. It will be very busy over the next 3 months, but most of this is not major work and will not create too much disturbance, although it may well be worth putting in the email that Old Skylarks and our part of the eastern side of Blotts lake (the public footpath) will be closed for the second half of January and all of February. We have the official closure of the public footpath for the whole of Feb.

Keep an eye on the Whats On (printed or web site) for walks on the site this year.