Woodland in cpt 2

Doing some mucking about with google earth and I see that the woodland to the west of the big pond (cpt 2) comprises about 4 hectares of woodland. Maybe up to 5 now as it extends around the north side. It's a part of the reserve that doesn't get visited much. Last time I really looked there was over ten years ago on a breeding bird survey. I remember it's not easy to get into or through, though. Hopefully I can do some exploration there during this year.

Also playing with google maps seems to show that the big pond is not the 6+ hectares claimed in the compartment map, but something closer to half that size, with all its margins shrunk. It was probably larger in the past as you can see from the compartment map that "pond 3" was connected to pond 1 - presumably the water was much higher. Now pond 3 is a stagnant fetid mess, presumably having been cut off by the lower water. Should be able to walk around the pond and up through the "gap" on the SW corner to the bank of pond 3.

Looking at an old aerial picture of Cullaloe  from 1946, it seems that the area in the compartment map was calculated assuming the northern pond would remain at the same level, rather than be significantly lower: