Ivy South hide revealed

The Ivy South hide, closed a fortnight ago to allow reconstruction is now once again open for business. There is still some work to be done putting in the new access ramp but there are temporary steps for now.

It has been quiet a big job. The old hide needed to be dismantled, great work by the Thursday volunteer team to get this all done on the first morning of closure. The next day the base structure had to be removed and the trees that had grown up around it had to be removed and the roots dug out. The site then looked as though a bomb had hit it and so it needed to be levelled ready for the new hide. I also cleared a couple of dead and dying alders that threatened to fall onto the new hide this should also result in an improved the view. A couple of these trees were felled int the water to provide Kingfisher perches. I don't know if they were checking things out, but there were two Kingfishers flitting about for much of the time we were working.

Last Monday the team from Gilleards arrived bright and early to start work. After a few anxious moments when it looked like we might not get the lorry all the way down to the build site. However by then end of the first day all the supporting structure was in place and by just after lunch on Tuesday the hide was built.

On Wednesday the digger returned to tidy up the path and clear the damage caused when we struggled to get the lorry to the site on Monday. This left the way clear for the return of the Thursday volunteer crew, there were six screens to construct, display boards to put up and a set of temporary steps to go in. By the middle of the afternoon this was one so just over a fortnight after we closed th eold hide the new one is up and running.

An access ramp will be constructed as soon as the materials arrive after which the path and area behind the hide will be made good, so the job will not be fully completed for a week or two yet and it wil be necessary to close again for perhaps a day or two.

Hopefully visitors will appreciate the new hide, it is a bit higher, longer and wider than the old one and clearing a few trees has considerably improved the view both to the left and right.