No 6 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 6.

Path from Owl wood on far left, all the way to the cricket pitch, looking south east

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This photo is difficult to locate if you are not used to it. The observer is high over Pippingford with the b2026 across the top of the picture.  The bold strip across the centre of the picture is presumably the start of a scrape that was being done on the plateau heath.  The road at the bottom is the military road along our boundary.

There is a secondary scrape path around the edge of what is the current plateau heath, and I assume this was being used as a marker for the operation.

Is it possible that one can see the beginnings of west pond, or is this just a smudge?  It is in the middle of one of the tracks.

The tracks on the reserve side looks very uniform, with clear vehicle tracks.  Was this the result of regular mowing?  It is clear here that there were two tracks.  Nowadays this is only obvious quite near the hunt gate.  I cannot think of any reason for there to be this short bit of dual carriage way!

There is no obvious bog or stream down the slope to the boundary, and everything is covered with bracken.

There is a powerline pole in the cricket field, as well as some ominous yellow clumps of ragwort.  The boundary fence across the field is clear, but I am not sure why.  There was perhaps some sheep grazing done on the reserve side?

There is a break in the line of trees opposite the cricket pitch, which has not been scraped yet, and is covered in bracken.

There is a good patch of heather to the east of the track from the cricket pitch to the cross roads, with some odd strange blotches in it.  Was this some tree stumps?

The clear area of OL2 and OL1 looks as if it has a lot of low vegetation on it, from this angle, and maybe dense birch saplings.

The area between the cross-roads and the bridge and the equivalent the other side, looks like very close mowing, rather than scraping.  I cannot remember seeing any peat mounds here.  There is a very strange unmown square on the other side of the stream, which is untouched, and looks to be where we now have difficulty with the birch growth.  I have no idea what this is.

There is a strange pale patch to the right of the high beeches, possibly at the end of the v-shaped mound.  No idea what this is.


martin