It's hard to tell with my snapshot visit on a Tuesday morning confined to footpaths, but it appears Inert have ceased working on the bridle paths for the time being. I'm sure there will be some fettling, there always is on any project. Talking of fettling, a digger was at work on the east part of Manor lake. I thought they had finished with this area, but apparently not. The digger appeared to be digging into the ground and building up mounds. Whether these are new mounds or existing mounds being built up is anyone's guess. I can't find out until Sunday morning - but so far the weather report does not look good: rain. Two diggers and a bulldozer were at work on the excavation site just north of the Bailey bridge. Well, they weren't strictly working as they had knocked off for a well earned tea break. The area looks a huge mess, but I could make out some structures from where I was stood by the Bailey bridge. Various contours suggested deeper areas. Hmmm, access to this part of Manor lake could be very difficult once these deeper areas (or channels) are filled with water. Kind of makes maintaining Manor Lake difficult. Wildlife has returned to Manor farm with a vengeance. Grey lag and Egyptian geese are returning in numbers. Little White Egrets abound. Wigeon and Pochards are already here in large numbers. I was also pleased to see a Kestrel hunting close to the south footpath. Though it didn't get as close to me as last week. One sight I never, ever expected to see was three Red Kites sharing the same tree. I reckon they are a family unit. Normally they are fighting each other. England lost 15-16 against South Africa to a converted try agonisingly late in the game. Well played England. As you may perceive, dear reader, today's stomp around Manor farm restoration took place on Sunday; sunrise, 7:25am to be precise. To my intense relief, Inert or other contractors were not working. I couldn't be sure that they wouldn't work on Sunday. Such is the big push to get this restoration finished, it is entirely possible staff may have been asked to do so. I'd be demanding double time. On with the show. The north bridle path has been extended eastward to meet the existing bridle path at the Moor Green Lakes car park. Cemex played MGLG a swerve ball here. The bridle path curves suddenly to the north, from its last end, thus missing the lovely signs and rope MGLG had put up to stop people walking on the path. All that is to stop people walking onto the bridle path is a raised bit of ballast, and one of the MGLG signs moved from the existing roped off area. No rope or barrier what so ever. I reckon people will definitely ignore the sign and walk onto the bridle path. Oh, the major dip in the north bridle path on the west shore of Hawthorn lake has been built up, with a large 750mm drainage pipe in place. Unfortunately, there is still a dip in the path of about 300mm. Inert had been working lots on the north bridle path, from what I've seen of my Tuesday stomp along footpaths, but I'm blowed if I can see what they've done - apart from the drainage ditch. Whizzing south along the existing bridle path to the Blackwater river, and I find that the south bridle path has been extended east to almost meet the existing bridle path. It is prevented from intersecting the existing bridle path by a ditch. I did say this ditch was here and needed either a bridge or drainage ditch. No one listens to me. I did actually walk along the complete route of the north and south bridle paths this morning. I didn't see a soul, it being so early on a cold, Sunday morning. As I walked along the south bridle path, I discovered that a small path had been spurred off, heading northward into the peninsular. It northward progress was terminated by yet another ditch. Thus, there is a fair chance we will get a viewing point at the north end of the peninsular. YIPPEE!!! I hope it is a 270 degree one, as viewers would want to look all the way from southwest through north to southeast. Now, just west of the east end of the south bridle path (with me still on this?) or more simply along the east shore of Manor lake, I noticed that a path had been cleared through the undergrowth. I didn't walk along it as I was pushed for time. The Memsahib was waiting for me at home, all togged up for our early morning walk. According to a plan I've seen, there is supposed to be a raised wooden, walkway along here; I guess similar to the ones they have at RSPB Leighton moss, which go through reed beds. I think a raised walkway would be a bit daft. Manor lake has been filled in, and the east side of it is fairly high. A footpath (no horses) would be sufficient. Moving on to the excavation area north of the Bailey bridge. The big hole has been filled in. A small (and I mean small) bulldozer was sat idle in a see of mud and piles of soil and churned up ground. I was a bit surprised to see the bulldozer out. Inert have been taking them back for safe keeping on Chandlers farm. Anyway, the whole area was a right mess, and no way was I going to walk on it. I know about freshly churned up, bulldozed soil. It can have the consistency of quicksand - especially after the heavy downpours we've had over the past week. Inert have made a right mess of about 50 yards of the east end of the bridle path around this area. It will have to be rebuilt, but is about par for how restoration has taken place over the years. In an earlier post, when Inert had first constructed the south bridle path, I pointed out that it would flood in an area just north of the sewage works. Sure enough, my early morning stomp revealed that most of the width of the bridle path in this area was flooded. I reckon all of it was under water at some point, as any flooding would have subsided since the rains abated late last night. As usual, photos to follow as I have to crack on with more decorating. I couldn't help myself. Incurring the wrath of SWMBO, I decided to post some atmospheric sunrise shots of Manor farm restoration from the north bridle path. I took my Canon 80D with Sigma 18-300mm lens, as it has far superior low light performance compared to my ancient Samsung compact digital camera I've been using of late. Slideshow covering north bridle path. Slideshow covering south bridlepath. I used the existing footpath to walk from MGLG car park to Blackwater river. Bonus slideshow. In walked along the existing footpath from MGLG car park to the rive Blackwater. I timed it, as best I could, to take in sunrise over Colebrook lakes north and south. Here are a few, select, photos. Remember, light conditions were quite low. My Canon 80D was more or less up to the task. Unfortunately, I missed the really red sunrise I saw at 7:30am when I first hopped over from Longwater road entrance. Moor Green Lakes Group have cordoned off access to the east end of the north bridle path and erected Keep Off signage. Personally, I think the signs should either have also had the Cemex logo on them or just the Cemex logo to carry a little more authority. I bet you the daft walkers and dog owners will ignore the signs and walk onto the bridle path whilst Inert are working on it. We've had idiots duck under red/white haz-tape and ignore warning signs about tree work we put across footpaths when we were hedge laying. These idiots walkers do not walk down a bridle path right next to the footpath! We then have to suspend work, and a lead member have words with the walkers. Bear in mind it is dangerous to walk along the footpath as we were using axes, bill hooks, tree saws and chain saws to lay hedges. Thing about the walkers who will use the north bridle path is that they are quite likely locals who should know better. I also reckon it some are owners of houses along the north edge of the reserve. I occasionally see a dog owner walking his dog along what was the mighty north embankment. Well, enough of these idiots. Inert seemed quite busy, this morning. A digger and tractor were working on the east side of the north bridle path. I have no idea what they were doing as I confine myself to footpaths on my weekday stomp. Our maxi dumper truck was trundling to and fro. Well, only twice did I see him complete a circuit in the half hour or so I was there. I forgot to see if the piles of ballast were still on the west side of the north bridle path. I was occupied with photographing a Kestrel. A digger was hard at work digging out more ballast for the bridle path. I was very surprised at this as it looked pretty much complete two week ago. Well, OK, there were one or two bits that needed more stuff on them, but surely not that much. The once mighty crescent mound has been reduced in size as it is being used to back fill the hole created from digging out ballast. The whole area around the current excavations is looking flatter, apart from one, long deep trench where ballast was excavated. Now, I'm sticking my neck out here, but I reckon a fence erector was surveying the bridle path. He was in a dark blue pickup truck, with no markings. I spotted him inspecting the area around the Longwater road entrance, before slowly driving back east along the south bridle path. He had his door slightly open, and was leaning out of his cab as he drove, looking along the edge of the bridle path. Only now do I realise he was surveying the path. On my way back to my car along the south (aka Blackwater valley) footpath, I spotted him driving westward along the south bridle path. When I reached the east end of the bridle path I spotted that a fence post (complete with wire) had been pulled out and left on the bridle path. I twigged then that he wasn't Inert, but most probably a fencer surveying the route. We might actually get some fencing put in during the next couple of months. I may or may not pop down very early on Sunday morning. Saturday is out, as Inert and/or contractors will be working on the site. I can only hope no one is working on Sunday, otherwise I will not be able to get on the site and will have made a wasted journey. At least my hi-vis vest makes me look official. :-) Now a treat for you. There were three Kestrels hunting along the banking between the main reed beds and Manor lake, between 40m and 130m from the Blackwater valley footpath. I was able to get decent shots of the birds hovering and flying. I am particularly thrilled with the following sequence which shows a Kestrel hovering, stooping, pulling out to hover, stoop again then hover over vegetation before dropping down for its kill. I picked it up again as it flew along the banking between the main reed beds and Manor lake, before landing on the banking to consume it kill - a spider! My plan was to nip down to Manor farm at about 7:15 am this morning, but decided to have a lie in.
Whilst it was very sunny, with clear air and blue skies, it was also freezing cold. Inert did not appear to be doing much on Manor farm. I also needed to crack on with decorating our house, and did not want to lose precious time on blog updates - it can take one to three hours, depending on the number of photos. However, to be brutally honest, I am bored with photographing bridle paths and muddy holes in the ground. Been doing it for over 6 years. With major groundworks completed, and efforts now concentrated on the frilly bits, I figure it was time to take a little break from weekend visits. I can watch more of the rugby world cup. Title says it all, really.
A lone digger was excavating gravel/ballast from a very large hole just north of the Bailey bridge, filling our maxi-dumper truck, which then took the stuff over to Chandlers farm. Presumably to build bridle paths. Of the north bridle path I could, basically, the western bit, no work appears to have been done since my abortive Saturday jaunt. Piles of ballast seen on Saturday were left untouched. I couldn't see the black drainage pipe. Can't tell if Inert used it to rectify the big dip in the bridle path to the west of Hawthorn lake. I shall attempt a jaunt on Sunday morning. At least I won't run into Inert working on the site. An extraordinary spell of hot weather persists into October, after the hottest September on record. Is this global warming or a minor blip due to El Nino? Probably a combination. Inert have been busy since Tuesday. There really is a big push on to finish groundworks, it's hard to keep up. As I've said previously, Inert are completing in days what used to take them weeks. I doubt very much I am capturing all that is going on. Not just on Manor farm. I can see from the Bailey bridge that Chandlers farm has undergone dramatic changes over the past few months. I reported on Tuesday that a digger was clearing top soil for the western section of the bridle path. I didn't really expect much progress. Hence, I was gob smacked to find that ballast had been laid along the entire western section of the bridle path - though it may need another layer. Not only that, but a crossing point had been built to get across the wide boggy area where the path (as constructed) had originally stopped. The solution to crossing this wide boggy area? Simply detour the path southward slightly for it to cross a less wide point. This has meant that a part of the bridle path as originally constructed has had to be destroyed. About par from what I've seen of the restoration process. I'm actually quite puzzled about this wide boggy area. It is where the once mighty north embankment and east ridge used to sit. Whilst there was a dip at this point, between the two, I never, ever remember it being boggy. I wonder if too much soil was dug out of this area by mistake? Inert have also completed the tiny section of bridle path (or footpath if one plan is to be believed) that stops just shy of the Moor Green Lakes Group car park. The mega dip, just to west of Hawthorn lake, is still there. I can only assume that the remaining section of black, wide, plastic drainage pipe will be used here, and the bridle path (or footpath as some plans show) will be made level. I might also be the first person to walk around Manor farm restoration along the new Public Rights of Way. Not entirely. I did not walk along the south bridle path on my return leg to my car as Inert were at work, digging out yet more ballast. Yes, whilst I was traversing the middle of the north bridle path, I heard the sound of heavy plant clanking its way along Chandlers farm. As I approached the east access track, I heard the heavy plant stop on the Bailey bridge, and then the sound of the driver unlocking the padlock on the chain on the gate. I reached MGLG car park, just as he continued his trundling, then I headed south along the footpath to Blackwater river, before turning right at said river to walk back to my car parked on the Longwater road. September was one of, if not the, hottest on record. The warmth spilled over into October, meaning Inert could continue to crack on with work. So much is happening so quickly it is hard for me to keep up, especially as I only visit the site once or twice a week. I have to infer what Inert and other contractors have completed through detective work. One aspect of the bridle path I was reminded of: These will be newly created Public Rights of Way. Brilliant! Long may it last. Unfortunately, it wont put property developers attempting to get their grubby little hands on the site and erect luxury housing. The north part of the site, particularly the grasslands, offer fantastic views of the area, with relatively dry, flood free ground. We need a preservation order and management organisation tout suite to keep the site a nature reserve. This morning, I spied a digger cutting a trench alongside the Longwater road, starting North of the Colebrook culvert. It had only just started this morning, judging by the piles of spoil alongside it. Other plant were working on the middle and east sides of the north bridle path, but I couldn't see what they were doing. Too much vegetation in the way. I can't enter the site whilst Inert or other contractors are working. A blue tractor was sitting, doing nothing, on the north bridle path north of the copse. A rather large, black, plastic drainage pipe was visible, sat neatly near the boggy area on the north side of the site, north of the copse. It looks long enough to bridge this boggy area, and provide a nice base for the bridle path to cross it. A couple of birders told me they watched the pipes being transported across the site. I was able to spot, from the Bailey bridge, that Inert have infill a part of the hole they extracted gravel from. What did surprise me was that a big mower had been taken to all of the west side of Manor farm, basically where the once mighty Finch pond once stood. It's brilliant, as the area was getting overgrown, especially with trees like Willow and shrubs like gorse. Trouble is, the willow and gorse and birch (if any) will grow back rapidly unless their roots are either dug out or killed off. Been here when volunteering with MGLG. Photos to follow, as it's back to sanding the banisters for a bit. Last set of spindles sanded. Banisters washed down to get rid of dust, and now await onerous task of painting gloss white. I hate painting spindles. On the last day of September of a very warm month, I hauled myself out of bed at 5:10am and dragged myself down to Manor farm at 6:45am. I had to take a long detour as South East Water take their twice/thrice yearly crack at fixing water leaks on the Finchampstead road south of the surgery. A glorious morning. No wind. Slightly nippy. I parked on Dell road and nipped over the fence on the east access track to the north side of Manor farm. From a photography angle, Manor farm is far more photogenic than Moor Green Lakes nature reserve. Particularly sun rises. Another aspect I've discovered, is that the north bridle path should give brilliant BIF photos as birds fly the length of the valley. I used to get superb BIF photos from the long gone, north embankment. Anyway, on with the show... I was totally gob smacked to see a bridlepath cutting across the access track. Bleedin'ell, I thought, Inert have been busy. In my defence, Yer 'Onour, I was looking for signs that Inert were working on the north bridle path before I took myself along there. I haven't seen any of these signs e.g. churned up ground caused by lorries trundling northward across the site, your actual digger working up there or your actual yellow dumper truck shifting stuff up there. Inert did this whole construction by stealth. Further in my defence, Yer Lordship, Inert did not dig a mighty trench to accommodate the bridle path ballast. The digger appears to have scraped a couple of inches turf for the bed of the path, and dumped said turf along side the edge of the path; I was looking for tons of stuff to appear on crescent mound. One upshot of this is that far less ballast is required to cap the weed proof membrane, meaning it takes at least a fifth, in not less, of the time to create the north bridle path as it did to create the south bridle path. In fact, it is possible most of the path was created this past week. Ground conditions on most of the north edge of Manor farm is fairly dry and firm. This allows far less depth of ballast/gravel to support a bridle path. However, towards the west side of the side, conditions get rather more boggy. It should be interesting to see the depth of trench cut here. Anyway, enough of my excuses and tardiness in not hauling my backside to investigate the north section of Manor farm. What have Inert accomplished? The east side of the path stops some 30m to 50m shy of the MGLG car park. I would suggest that this last segment is not constructed until fencing (with wire mesh) is put along the length of the bridlepath. Without the fence, people will simply roam all over the site, and dog owners in particular will let their dogs run loose. Bear in mind there are quite a few ground nesting birds here, most particularly the endangered Sky Lark. Around Hawthorne lake, dogs will be allowed to run into it, disturbing wildlife and eroding banks. Don't believe the latter? Take a walk along the Blackwater river, and note severe bank erosion at popular 'dog diving in' spots. The bridle path (well, some of it is supposed to be footpath) extends all the way westward until it meets the boggy ground where the once might ridge used to stand; basically due north of the copse. It should be interesting to see what Inert put here to bridge this boggy bit. A pipe/culvert for one, I would say. The bridle path isn't quite finished where the east ridge used to be i.e. where the west access track to Lower Sandhurst road is. This particular track is meant to be, on one map, where a spur of the bridle path will be. One big problem with all this bridle path is keeping anti-social yobs from riding their motorbikes on it. I've seen them do it on Fleet hill farm. I mentioned, in my first visit along the route of the north footpath, that culverts or drainage pipes need to be fitted along some drainage ditches to allow the bridle path to go over it. Well, Inert have placed big drainage pipes in these ditches. Two of them surprisingly small. Stop press! Cemex have informed me that this is pure temporary. The small bore pipe will be replaced with one of 750mm diameter. Keeping my ramblings for historical context. One of these crossing points will cause considerable trouble. Inert have simply placed a small bore pipe in the bottom of the ditch, and contoured the bridle path downward by about 3 feet i.e. it dips down. It's a lovely slope but the ballast will be eroded away (particularly by horses) and the bottom of the dip will become saturated with water, and so erode away even quicker. This needs to be revisited - see photos. Inert have also dug a mighty drainage ditch alongside the Barn owl box. It flows into Hawthorne lake. Shame is, the Barn owl box will have to be moved. Barn owls will not appreciate hoards of people passing so close to it. Secondly, as witnessed by the felling of the Hadrian's wall Sycamore, some low life will either steal the Barn owl's eggs or chicks, or kill the barn owl or chop its box down. Plenty of photos to follow. Firstly though, I have to spend an onerous day sanding down banisters. SWMBO wants them painted white - rather than their current (hideous) dark brown. A brief warm spell envelopes south England. Possibility of more to come at week's end.
Dodging showers, I ventured to Manor farm. An idle digger, north of the Bailey bridge, heralded what could be a very, very slow build of the north bridle path. I realised the path was being built, as I spied a maxi dumper truck driving very slowly southward towards the yellow bridge. Each round trip of the maxi dumper truck takes between 15 and 20 minutes; if not longer. The truck does not carry much ballast. I think the heavy earth movers carry three or four times as much. Hence, we are in for a very long build process. I might pop down this weekend. Not sure. Another cold night is forecast for Friday/Saturday. Inert complete bridle path east of Bailey bridge. Yellow pump falls ill. 19th September 202320/9/2023
The glorious weather we have had of late came to a spectacular end on Sunday night/early Monday morning. A thunder storm, accompanied by heavy rain, that went on for hours. Remnants of hurricanes continue to track across the south of England, with high winds, low temperatures, a possibility of ground frost and heavy rain hitting the area from Wednesday 20th; before calm and warmth return. Despite the dark, dank, heavily overcast conditions, with the odd sweeping burst of drizzle driven by high winds, I dragged myself down to Manor farm to see how Inert have progressed. Much to my surprise, I found the section of south bridle path east of the Bailey bridge had been completed! Has someone put a rocket up Inert and told them to get a move on? Or have I been overly unfair and pessimistic about the pace at which Inert have been moving? Who knows, but I prefer the Saturn V hypothesis. Well, I say completed. In reality it is more or less completed. The very eastern section ends abruptly, about 15m shy of the existing bridle and foot paths. Now, there were some Inert management types, buzzing around the area (in their natty Defender MKII, with a proper, working person's paint job - not the daft, pastel wrap around travesties liked by the Chelsea tractor hooray henry brigade), and they drove down the newly created eastern section of the south bridle path. I can only assume they went for a look see and pow wow completing the confluence of all the various paths. Prior to their jolly jaunt along the bridle path, they were clustered around the yellow pump, which was feeling decidedly ill. They started the pump, at one point, and it sounded awful. Think, ball bearings clattering around the drum of a tumble dryer or washing machine. The digger operator and maxi dump truck were doing what anyone would do in this situation, stand with hands in pockets, well away from management types; then go off to Chandlers farm, as it was time for tea break. About the only other thing Inert appear to have done is put a skim coating of top soil along some of the south shore of Manor lake extension. I don't know if the plan is to apply a skim coat across the whole of Manor lake extension, but if they do so then it is basically good bye to Little Ringed Plovers. Inert may have been up to plenty of other tasks on Manor farm, but without forensic evidence I cannot say. I also have no idea if they have started actual construction of the north bridle path i.e. digging its footings. I can't get onto the site during work hours. Of course, if the pump is dead or too unwell to work (and thus the Digger operator can't work digging out ballast), the simplest action to take is to dispatch him to dig the trench for the north bridle path. I'm in two minds about popping down Saturday morning. Firstly, it's going to be cold - possibility of ground frost. Secondly, it might be foggy - deluge of rain followed by cold = fog. Thirdly, sunrise is at 7:00am, which puts me uncomfortably close to when Inert start Saturday work. Oh, Nishimura survived its perihelion around the sun. It might be visible over the coming weeks, especially from Australia, but as with its inbound journey, it never really gets much above the horizon. Plus it will be fainter. |
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November 2025
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