The plants are in!
I'll put the pictures in as attachments so you'll be able to enlarge them to see details. It looks a bit bare at the moment - the plants are all pretty small, but will bulk up in a year or so (hopefully). I haven't got bulrush/cattails in the end. I decided that maybe this area wasn't the best choice for it. I would still like to try it, but I might put in in near my pond by the river, where there is more space and it won't be in danger of swamping other interesting water plants.
I've mostly buried the feeder hoses now and covered the last 6 feet or so with stones, so they will be easy to find but hidden from view. I've covered the ends so they run out over a rock into the top water terrace to avoid erosion.
So I'm pretty happy with how it looks now. I'm wondering though whether I ought to think about mulching the dry areas. We're going through a bit of a dry spell just now, and the earth is looking a bit dusty. I have plenty of cut grass and I'm thinking a covering of this might protect the soil and maybe give the soil organisms a helping hand.
Some minor issues:
The dogs like to bathe in the water, which is likely to disturb the marginal plants a bit. The caltrop is looking a bit bashed too! I'm not sure it's going to survive. Once the plants get established the dogs bathing won't be a problem.
This area is also not within my deer fence, so I may get issues with deer eating the plants and going in the water.
I've got a bit more planting to do above the top water terrace, and the soil is generally looking a bit bare. I did put in some comfrey and some more elder there, but they will take a bit of time to establish. I'm thinking for this year to sow some buckwheat asd a temporary groundcover. It seems a bit incongruous, but will be better than leaving the soil bare whilst the plants get going. I may put some herbs in there and keep my eye out for other sun loving plants. The top bank has ended up being rather well drained, although the sticks underneath should also help with water retention, it is really above the natural marshy area.