No fishing this week for Nigel but despite the rain there has been little rest as there is lots of work to be done around the lakes. Maybe in the next couple of weeks he will get a night or so of peace and quiet by the bank…
When we bought the property earlier this year we were aware that the lakes had not been kept compliant with the current French regulations and an inspection had been carried out prior to completion detailing all of the work that would need to be done. Whilst we knew that we had two years to carry out the all the changes we agreed that the sooner this was done the better.
Caesar Construction have many years of experience working with the authorities and have done a lot of work on other lakes in the region so we know that we can trust them to carry out any required works as well as ensuring that the lakes and most importantly the fish are kept in the best condition possible.
There are about 60 trees to be taken down to a height of one metre on the two dam walls as should they fall and burst the dam there could be devastating consequences downstream. We will then manage these as large bushes, so whilst the initial impact might appear harsh, they will eventually create new features and a new landscape. We also need to have a large amount of stone put into the lakes by the dam walls to try to prevent the legendary coypu from constructing burrows in the wall and therefore weakening it.
Once the works have all been done we will update you with the new look of the lakes with some before and after shots and also let you know if we have managed to get the lakes netted. This is something we are very eager to have done so that we can get a true reflection of what stock we have. However we cannot just choose when we drain the lakes to do this. We must have permission from the authorities as you can imagine how people downstream would be affected if all of the lake owners in the region decided to drain down their lakes all at the same time.
Whilst we are waiting for the work to be completed we are enjoying our morning walks around the lake and noting all of the work that we also would like to do before the 2024 season starts. Nigel has already taken a tree down that hangs over one of the swims on the main bank on Kingfisher lake so that casting is easier and he has removed the splash aerator from the far corner of the lake. This had been tripping out on several occasions towards the end of the season so we knew it needed to be removed and serviced and we have a new aerator ready to go in.
We have had a lot of water in the last week and the path at the far end of Kingfisher lake has only just been passable. Hopefully over the next few weeks we will get this section sorted out in one way or another to try to prevent soggy feet. Maybe Nigel will have a practice run at his bamboo bridge! It seems really strange to see all of the water going through the overflows after such a dry summer. Two weeks ago these were completely dry.
Our autumnal walks have shown us just how many species of mushrooms are around. One of our neighbours has been doing a bit of foraging and has identified 16 different species. Here are a few…
And finally (for today), Nigel has managed to do start some work on the steps in the corner going down to Lac Lucie and they already feel a lot safer.
