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Covid lockdown anniversary. What a wild ride it has been. 23rd March 2021

23/3/2021

 
Reports will be sporadic until the breeding season is finished - typically June/July. I'll be keeping off Manor farm, restricting myself to the south footpath. Though if Inert expand their infill operation during this time, I will occasionally pop onto the parts they are working on to see what they have done.  It's interesting watching the birds when Inert continued infill of Finch pond during the breeding season. The birds totally ignored the heavy plant trundling to and fro. It was only when humans appeared that they took flight.

As usual with Inert, it is very difficult to figure if they have done any restoration work from week to week.  Just when I think they have done nowt, I discover they have been tinkering and done loads.

My infrequent, short visits, mean it is down to luck whether I see any activity. Thus it was, I turned up on a Monday to witness Inert at work. I think this is the first time I've visited the site on a Monday. I only went due to glorious cloudless sunny skies. Got to make use of any break in the weather.

Inert were working away, this time with a digger and bulldozer, between the bailey bridge and pump station. They appear to be up to their peculiar strategy of building large mounds of spoil, only to knock them down again some time in the future. And once again restricting themselves to a tight space just north of the bailey bridge.

No doubts spoil from newly appeared heaps on Chandlers will be transported across the bailey bridge over the coming weeks to be dumped around the pump station. Then, at some point in June or July, the stuff will be laboriously loaded onto lorries and shipped westward onto the land mass. An extremely inefficient, time consuming and costly way of going about this restoration.  I hope Cemex have negotiated a fixed price contract.

A new tipper lorry contractor has appeared which I've not before, M.A.C.  This might have been the lorry that was around a couple of weeks back which the memsahib saw - and which I mistook for the heavy earth mover. As I was leaving on Monday, I spotted a Manor tipper truck dropping a load. A possibility, perhaps, that restoration will continue apace over the next three months?

Then again, Inert have consistently done the opposite of what I have assumed. At least Inert are continuing with restoration of Manor farm for the time, rather than halting until June/July, albeit in a tiny corner of Manor farm.

Inert tinkering on Manor farm. 13th March 2021

13/3/2021

 
Shocking, I know, an update on time; sort of.

We visited Moor Green Lakes, on Wednesday, to make best use of a break in the weather, before the storms trundled in. When opposite Colebrook hide, I spied a yellow vehicle on Manor farm, just north of the bailey bridge.

My partner, who had walked over to Longwater road, informed me that she had seen a great big lorry (i.e. the heavy earth mover) dropping a load on the west shore of Manor lake. I didn't actually see any vehicle, when I legged it to the bailey bridge, but this is hardly surprising if only the heavy earth mover is dumping stuff. To be honest, I was more interested in photographing the wildlife around Colebrook lake.

I would say that whilst walking along the south footpath along Manor lake, I keep thinking that Inert have been dumping stuff on its west shore. A closer inspection is required, I feel.

I've seen Inert do this before, concentrate on Chandlers farm, whilst tinkering on Manor farm. I'll try and pop down this next week for an extended look; who knows, I may drag myself out of bed on a weekend for a stomp on site - if the rain ever lets up.

I haven't any photos of Manor farm, this week. Instead I present a selection of photos I managed whilst mooching around Colebrook lake. One day I'll hoof it over to Grove lake.

More photos can be found on the Moor Green Lakes Facebook page.


We've had our Covid-19 vaccine shots! No work done on Manor farm. 8th March 2021

8/3/2021

 

Late post. No work on Manor farm. 2nd March 2021

2/3/2021

 
A bit lax of me folks, but there appeared to be zero work done on Manor farm. Lots of banging and crashing on Chandlers farm.

I visited the area twice, last week, on Wednesday and Thursday, quite late in the morning for me. All was quite on Manor farm.  Actually, I lurked around Colebrook lake, on Moor Green Lakes, snapping birds with my new (second hand) Canon 80D. I wanted to take advantage of that rare commodity - bright sun light.

My partner walked along the south footpath to Manor farm, whilst I photographed. She reported no work being done, and the gates over the bailey bridge were closed to works traffic. Sigh, it looks like Inert have shut down for the breeding season on Manor farm. Shame.

Anyway, if you get yourself down to Moor Green lakes, you could see scenes such as these

    Author

    A polite notice first: All photographs on this blog are owned by me and subject to copyright.

    Also, note that I have special permission to be on the Eversley quarry site of Fleet Hill farm, Manor farm and the Hampshire part, Chandlers farm. They are not open areas for general access.  Please keep to the public rights of way.

    I was quite fascinated to see how Cemex would restore their gravel extractions workings to become a nature reserve, and so started this blog.  There is an ulterior motive. It does mean that my partner and I get some well needed exercise as we stomp around the reserve every week.  Following the progress of the restorations does mean the walk is not as tedious as it might otherwise become.

    Don't worry about one of the archives being November 2025. You haven't entered a time warp! It's just that I've discovered a way to pin a post to the top of a blogger in Weebly; not straight forward apparently.  I have to set the date far far into the future.

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  • Home
  • What's new
  • Contact
  • RSPB fund raising
  • Longwater Road Nature Reserve
    • Manor farm then and now
    • Fleet Hill farm then and now
    • Scenes from the reserve
  • Exhibitions
  • About
    • Where to buy