United Utilities, which owns the reservoir and the land around it, is using specialised equipment and high intensity floodlighting to carry out the work that is being done during the hours of darkness in a bid to minimise disruption.

Roadblocks go up at 8pm and are removed at 6am with the night-time phase of work expected to be completed by March 21. After March the workmen will go back to day-time working which will continue until spring 2008.

The trees being removed will be replaced with species indigenous to the area.

Manchester Corporation established much of the present forest in the early 1900s by planting large numbers of coni-fers to stabilise the banks of the reservoir and protect water quality. Conifers were chosen for their fast growth and valuable timber rather than their visual appeal.