Builder's progress.

The pond is full and the leet is filling up.

The builders were due to start today.....

And they did!!!!

The pond.

It has been wonderful watching the pond filling up. It is now full and running down the spillway to the leet. Today has been a clearing up day - the builders are due to start on the conservatory tomorrow.

Here ducky, ducky.....

Somewhere to sit.

Today was a five egg day.

and look at all the different colours!

Today was about spreading gravel on the bottom of the pond.

And then starting to fill it up with water.

Every black dot is a tadpole.

They have done very well especially as we had to move the spawn.

The pond weir.

With an overflow and a spillway.

and gravel on the pond floor.

We had visitors today.

Abbi and Duane are here for the weekend and Greg and Val called in en passant. Or was it en nissan?

Abbi working.

Abbi working.

Duane working.

Abbi working.

The pond with the fabric in place.

Foundation for the pond weir. The posts in the background are the start of the walkway/handrail.

Free (of mud) at last!

All the silt has been removed and now we have an empty pond. The carpet
round the edge and the membrane (not down yet) will be covered by stone from
the field.

Second view

Long view

Eventually the water will go all the way from the pond to the dam in the
distance.

This is the mud pile.

It looks like pillow lava.

Remember Iceland Bella?

Today we made an island.

Last year a mallard visited with her young. We are hoping that they will become regulars if there is a safe place for them. Hence the island. It is sited in a corner so that it doesn't get in the way of the sunset reflection at mid-summer.

Filled with mud inside a porous membrane.

As you can see nearly all the silt has gone. Need to make it look nice for the visitors (Abbi and Duane ).

Hands up all those who thought it always rained in Wales.....

There was a grass fire last night just up the valley (down the valley, boyo)
from us. I can't remember the last time it rained.......

It was nearly too hot to work today.....

Sadly not quite hot enough. So it was back to the mud. Which is now just plain tedious. To make it more exciting I worked out how to get the icky sticky mud out of the trailer when I tip it - it sticks to the trailer and has to be dragged out with a spade. But not anymore. Read on.

Cut a builders bag so that you have a long strip of fabric with handles at both ends. Attach it to your trailer and lay the fabric in the bottom.

Fill it up with mud and drive across the field to the mud-dump.

Then you tip out the mud.

Then you drive off dragging the fabric behind you. Dragging it across the field also scrapes the mud off it.

The Yellowhammer paid a fleeting visit.

The Chiffchaffs have arrived.

Oooh. The gorgeous sunsets have started.

The view from the mud-face

Moving mud is no fun. You have to struggle to get it into the trailer then
drive it right across to the far end of the field and then struggle to get
it out of the trailer. Icky, sticky mud. Can't go over it, can't go round
it, got to go through it.(hands up all those who remember that being sung
around the campfire?)

Signs of Srping.

I have been stuck in the mud again today - so here is a prettier picture.

New watering system

I have set up watering system in the polytunnel. The butt is gravity filled from the garage roof butts, then an electric pump supplies a hose pipe and an overhead pipe that feeds micro sprinklers.

Three new hens.

Kate has added three Light Sussexs to the hen collection we now have seven - (one of the brown ones went to the great big hen coop in the sky).

The dam.

The dam is more or less finished. Just needs some plants on it.

Today we have been carpeting the pond.

As the pond is drained (because of cleaning out the ditch) we are removing about a foot of silt. Then we are putting down the old carpet from the house before covering it over with pebbles and stone. We are hoping this will slow down the silting up.

Moonrise at Ger Y Felin.

Today has been a lovely day.

Pottering in the greenhouse, planting veg and flower seeds.