I visited Baga Fields this morning, being dropped off at Baga bridge to access the area from the track south of the bridge..
When I first went there three years ago the path was being upgraded into a full width dirt road to access the new water treatment plant that had just started construction. The plant at that time was a big hole in the ground with some peripheral construction. There were bushes intact all along the approach path and the track running north between the fields to Baga River.
A year later, in 2016 it was pretty much the same, but the building work was progressing and the dirt road was completed. The bushes at the intersection of the road and the northward track were still there, hosting pied bushchat et al. I found a wryneck and three bluethroats in the bushes alongside both tracks.
Today it was all change. The waterworks is still under construction, but the access road appears to have encouraged access for other developments. Some of the bushes alongside it have been destroyed, but the major damage is from the crossing of the old paths just in front of the works. The old path northwards towards the fields and the river has been ‘improved’ and some of the bushes have been grubbed out. About 6 or 7 agricultural dwellings, residential developments and other buildings have been built and more are under construction. The track has a regular stream of scooters where before there was only foot traffic. The future doesn’t look good for Baga Fields.