I've just realised a major flaw in the change of plan calling for the infill of Manor lake: Climate change. Scientists predict that British summers will get drier and hotter. Last year and this year have definitely given us a taste of this. 40 C temperatures last year, with drought conditions. A two week heat wave in late spring of of this year - leading to hose pipe bans in certain parts of England.

I reckon we got really lucky with the subsequent long spell of wet weather we received. However, an El Nino year for the UK tends to result in long stretches of dry, hot weather.

This means that the new Manor lake, with its marshy, tussock ground will dry out very quickly. There just isn't the depth of water required to keep this grassland (what it effectively is) wet. The original design of Manor lake, however, called for it to be a proper lake, with a proper depth of water (about 3 to 5 metres), which would have provided a good reservoir of water for the area, as well as doubling up as a good soak of run-off in periods of torrential rain.

This week's update will be a little unusual. I too so many photos (165) yesterday, I need time to process them and then spread them across more than one slide show. This post will be updated over the coming week with extra photos.

In the meantime, an update.

We have experienced a lot of rain recently, some of it quite heavy and prolonged. Rather surprising for an El Nino year. I was expecting a long dry summer, to compound the ridiculous temperatures we got in late spring. This wet weather, combined with bulldozing of friable soil, means that mud is back on the restoration site.

The going was soft to very soft in places, with very gooey, sticky surface mud, which stuck to and built up on my walking shoes. I stuck to bulldozer and digger tracks wherever possible. Overall, the ground wasn't that soft, and I only wussed out because I didn't have wellingtons on.

A lot more rain is forecast for this week, which is good. The ground is still quite dry, and the rain soaks almost into it directly. There is very little standing water. Further rain would also help filling up the Manor lake infill, and will also help the reeds and trees both survive and get established.

Tuesday's footpath stomp revealed a lone digger building up the west side of the banking on the north shore of Manor lake. A truly mighty structure it is. The digger driver stopped just short of the old pump station. I wonder if a sluice gate will be fitted here?

After completing the banking, our digger driver then went on to dig the deeper frilly bits along and around the banking. Manor lake now has all sorts of channels and moated scrapes and wiggly bits. It all looks very pretty and interesting, but will be hidden very quickly, and I suspect will be silted up in a few years.

Reed planting has finally taken place, roughly six months behind schedule. Not bad, considering Inert had to fill in Manor lake as part of a last minute change in design. What Inert have done is to cut established clumps of reeds, taken from other parts of the restoration, and dumped them onto various parts of Manor lake infill. Only in a couple of places were the clumps planted into soil. Other parts they were simply plonked on the top of the ground.  Inert may go back and plant them properly, though I'm not sure they will. The unplanted clumps should get establish as they are quite large, with good root systems, and it is going to rain a lot, with no blistering temperatures.

Inert have also transplanted some trees. They are looking pretty sorry for themselves, and I really don't think they will survive. I believe all the trees planted on scrapes in Finch pond were either removed or have died.

Well folks, it does look as if the infill of Manor lake is almost complete. The digger driver has started work on the extension to Manor lake. He has definitely flattened pump station mound, and has begun landscaping around the old pump station.  Funnily enough, this area had the softest ground. It was firm enough for me to walk on without sinking. I was just overly cautious as I didn't have wellingtons.

Wildlife has returned to Manor lake with a vengeance. Though it shouldn't have been forced out in the first place. Manor lake was well established and should never have been filled in. One aspect of the original design of the site was for it to help with drainage management - which means having deep lakes to hold rain run off for subsequent slow release into the Blackwater river.

On Saturday morning (5:50 am) I spotted on and over Manor lake: Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Black headed gulls, at least five Green Sandpipers (which flew between Finch pond and Manor lake), Lapwings, and a whole load of unidentified brown bird species. Coots, Moorhens and Mallards occupied East Main reed beds aka East Fen.  Finch pond and the Main reed beds had their usual population of resident birds.

Now that banking has been restored, I am beginning to see more Roe deer. They had been conspicuously over the past year. 

A bit later than desired, the first tranche of photos. 

This is proving heavy work, processing all the photos I took on Saturday. I do feel, however, that it is important to reveal the underlying bones of this site before it becomes water logged. Other areas of landscaping are bold and obvious. Landscaping on the Manor lake infill is subtle and will be silted up quickly, thus the structures will be lost.

My fingers are getting cramp from so much typing. Not many more photographs to process after this tranche.

I think Manor lake and its extension should be renamed Manor Mire. Some parts of the infill seem higher than the land making up the peninsular; which isn't at all boggy, even the bits near the water.

A defining feature of the Blackwater valley is its boggy, marshy nature. That's why there are so many drainage ditches cut into the landscape. Even our back garden has a drainage ditch going across the bottom of it. What this area does lack are large, natural lakes. Which is why I am baffled as to why Manor lake was filled in as was its extension. The idea of these lakes was as a soak for run off, particularly from the Finchampstead ridges, and then slow release into the Blackwater river.  This river gets bank full very quickly after heavy rainfall, and frequently bursts its banks. Storing water in Manor lake was one way of mitigating flooding.

We now reach the final installment of my marathon photography session. In addition to the landscaping of Manor lake, I've also included photos showing how nature has reclaimed Manor farm, in some cases a few months after earthworks were complete.

There is no site visit this week. Rain was forecast to start at 4:00am this morning, and monsoon conditions follow throughout the day. In fact it started raining at 5:55am - which meant I would have got wet had I visited Manor farm.

Inert have been busy this past week. Various pieces of fencing have been erected around the site, mainly to plug gaps that have appeared over the years. That I am aware of, fencing has been built to the west of the Bailey bridge (closing a glaring hole) and a short section near Colebrook hide. The latter fencing stretches from a wooden bridge (over the Colebrook cut) northward to plug an embarrassing gap that gave people easy access to Manor lake and Main reed beds. Though this section of fencing really needs mesh to stop dogs getting through the fencing.

My Tuesday stomp revealed our bulldozer driver hard at work crafting the banking between Manor lake and the Main reed beds. He was both contouring and capping this banking.  He also appears to have finished putting a capping layer of top soil on the Manor lake infill.

My Saturday morning on site stomp at 6:00 am (I woke up late) revealed deeper, frilly bits along the south edge of the banking had been dug and contoured by a digger driver. Deeper bits is a misnomer, as I feel water levels will be not much more than waist deep - if that. If what we have been told is true (i.e. Manor lake was filled in to deter swimmers) then this depth of water will stop swimmers, as it isn't deep enough to have a really good swim in. It may deter yobs and lads from walking on the wetlands part of Manor lake.

Most all of the mounds built between the Bailey bridge and the original site of the pump station have been flattened - presumably to build and cap the banking. There are some intriguing deeper bits cut into this area, but I can't determine if they will remain or not.

I have been told that there is a meeting between all interested parties (i.e. Inert, Cemex, Wokingham Borough Council planning, Finchampstead Parish council, large conservation group, possibly Environmental Agency, etc) to establish what remaining works need be completed. Principle will be insertion of sluice gates (delayed due to possibility of Little Ringed Plovers nesting), completion of banking between Main Reed beds and what is laughingly called Manor lake, the actual completion of said lake by joining the extension with the eastern bit of Manor lake.

There are numerous other frilly bits of restoration to complete. Off the top of my head I can think of the proposed bridlepath, other paths (particularly the one going along the west and north parts of the reserve), possibly more fencing, reinstating the Colebrook cut, possibly hides and viewing points, car park, etc. One word about the proposed car park I've seen in plans - 20 spaces is far too small.

One big change, which local residents will be delighted with, is reducing the current speed limit along the Longwater Road from its ridiculous 60 mph to a more sensible 30 mph. Actually, I reckon 40 mph would be more sensible. The reason being that the 60 mph section is straight, which encourages drivers to speed. They will fret at 30 mph, and can barely keep to it within the sections that are currently 30 mph.

One nice aspect of the works tailing off is that wildlife is coming back to Manor lake. I spotted two Green Sandpipers and any number of Lapwings on Saturday. Black headed gulls protested my presence, and I can hear loads of Reed warblers and Black caps. But these birds were always here to begin with when Manor lake was a proper lake.

Finally to the gloomy news. We have been told that a certain large conservation group was going to take over management of the possible nascent Longwater Road Nature Reserve. We've now been told by Cemex that this is not the case. The conservation group is attending meetings in an advisory capacity - I thought I detected their sticky little fingerprints all over the redesign of Manor farm.

Word on the footpaths (amongst walkers, birders, etc) is the gloomy prediction that the site will either be sold off to developers (who will build luxury houses for the uber rich) or to unscrupulous owners who will employ dodgy means to end up building on the site. Another rumour doing the rounds is that the original owners of the Fleet Hill farm part of the reserve want to buy it back off Cemex. I guess we can kiss goodbye to that area being a nature reserve and resource to the community. 

Of course, these are simply rumours and hearsay. But this is to be expected without official word from either WBC or Finchampstead Parish Council or Cemex. I did write to Cemex, some years ago, suggesting they run a publicity campaign and put up notices around the site to make people aware of what was happening and what they could expect with a future nature reserve. The suggestion fell on deaf ears.

We know that even as it stands Moor Green Lakes and the nascent Longwater Road nature reserves have a national if not international repute and standing. I have met many national and international visitors stomping around viewing the huge variety of wildlife on offer. The best outcome is for a large conservation organisation (not the National Trust, I don't like their recent policies and treatment of volunteers) to take over management of the site, and to build a visitor's centre on the Longwater road. I guess the last suggestion is highly controversial, but this is a large site - I once estimated it is roughly the same size as the RSPB Leighton Moss reserve (bar the estuarine bit) - and a visitor's centre plus large organisation will attract lots of volunteers - something MGLG struggles to do.

Well, we can only hope for the best, but currently there is no light at the end of the tunnel, expect the completion of restoration - much to the relief of the locals.

No on site visit this weekend. Firstly, my Tuesday stomp revealed a lone bulldozer driver shoveling a skim coat of top soil on the Manor farm infill. He was working, at a very leisurely pace, on the west side of the infill.  A lone heavy earth mover was bringing top soil from Chandlers farm to the bulldozer driver.

Secondly, it rained heavily for almost twelve hours non-stop, yesterday; with lots of showers after the main rain band passed. Any top soil on Manor lake would be very sticky. Parts of the infill will also be very soft. I didn't fancy walking on that stuff.
 
Thirdly, it was still a little showery this morning.

Thus, with very little activity, and the prospect of photographing what I photographed last week -  but now a little browner, coupled with the very wet conditions, I decided not to visit Manor farm.

A feature of Inert's restoration process (which I've noticed over the years) is how they flit about the site, working on unrelated bits, while not appearing to ever finish what they started. This is anathema to an engineering/scientific mind which, as far as possible, likes to start at one end of a solution and work their way linearly to the other end. Any flitting about is minor in nature.

Inert's modus operandi appears to be flit: about in a seemingly random nature, and via a process of Brownian motion, aided by a gentle breeze,  meander towards a conclusion; with many an ox-bow lake of inexplicable construction and activity on the way.

Thus we find Inert switching restoration to Chandlers farm from at least Wednesday onward.

Their capping of topsoil on Manor lake appears patchy and incomplete. One wonders if they were even supposed add a capping layer. It is, as the Inert site manager said, a skim layer. Perhaps no more than 6 inches deep. This in stark contrast to the 15 to 18 inches they put on the middle section of the site.

I also noticed that the soil they used was inferior to what they used on the middle section of the site. This is hardly surprising as soil from the embankments were used for the middle section. The embankment soil was scraped off the site to expose gravel beds, and has matured nicely over the years. It really is excellent loam type soil, with a lot of humus in it.

I had difficulty trying to work out what the digger did on the southwest corner of the east part of Manor lake. The water didn't look particularly deep, and be shoreline didn't look particularly worked on. Very curious.

The rest of the site looked untouched.

Of course, there could be any number of reasons for this hiatus in restoration. Inert may have had an unexpected delivery of stuff or they may have had to ship stuff out to another site. Perhaps there was a last minute change in plan. Or perhaps Inert got bored working on Manor farm. Alternatively, they might have decided to wait for the results of a meeting at the end of this month with all interested parties to determine next steps.

Breeding should normally have stopped by the end of this month, even of LRPs. In fact, it is possible for some LRPs to be migrating back to their place of origin.  Thus, Inert can crack on with the installation of the sluice gates, and maybe their plan is to coordinate this with the major landscaping left to complete.

Who knows. I certainly never fathomed out their operating methods.

I met the Inert site manager, yesterday, who was walking the boundary (again) with a colleague to assess fencing requirements (again). We had a long chat, not unusual as he seems to like chatting with all and sundry he meets.

Basically, he has been told that the reason for filling in Manor lake and not extending it as a deep lake westward is that the organisation who will be managing Longwater Road Nature Reserve did not want the liability of maintaining Manor lake. Why? Well, because so many kids swim in it.

Hmmm. I smell a rat. Someone is being "economical with the truth" here.

Extrapolating, this should also mean that all the lakes should be filled in on Fleet Hill farm, Moor Green Lakes nature reserve, Horseshoe lake, the nearby fisheries, etc. In fact every lake needs to be filled in, if this were true e.g. the lakes on Dinton pastures, California country park (which is full of holidaying kids, in a heavily populated area), Fleet ponds, etc, etc, etc.

I suspect that the reason for filling in Manor lake (and I believe the established lake on Chandlers farm) is the management organisation has a different wildlife agenda to the MGLG members who first drew up the site plans, many decades ago.

I would hope that the management organisation will keep areas of Manor farm as rough scrubby land (suitable for the likes of Willow tit and Lapwing) and also keep tracts of gravelly land suitable for the likes of Little Ringed Plovers (LRPs). See slideshow below.

As suspected (and suggested on last weekend's update) Inert were putting down a capping layer of top soil onto Manor lake. The site manager claim they had stuff left over, in the form of mighty mounds on Chandlers farm, and that the management organisation gleefully took up the offer of using this soil to skim the infill on Manor lake. Hmmm, more deep suspicion on my part.

He did say that a capping layer would not be put on the western part Manor lake aka its extension. This is superb news as it might mean that the management organisation plans to keep this area gravelly, pebbly and stoney, which is superb for Little Ringed Plovers.  However, maintaining his environment will be tricky - lots of weeding - unless the management organisation has other means (e.g. safe weedkiller/suppressant, flame throwers - I kid you not - etc.)

I couldn't see, from the south footpath, whether my supposed scrapes were being retained or if the capping layer would obliterate them.

The Inert site manager expects work on Manor lake (east) to be completed in a couple of weeks - which is what I had hoped for optimistically. There was a lot of fettling with Finch pond over the course of a few weeks, with a fair amount of going over and reshaping parts already completed - possibly due to last minute changes in design or correcting misunderstanding in the rather vague plans.

Also, as I said in last week's somewhat moribund column, Inert are now working on the frilly bits of the design i.e. bridlepath, fencing, I guess removing the remaining banking along the south footpath between the Bailey bridge and yellow bridge, etc. Oh, and installing the sluice gates, once given the all clear by the 'ecology' team, which as far as I can see, consists of MGLG members and volunteers reporting on breeding birds in the work zone.

Inert will then turn the focus on completing Chandlers farm; which I know nothing of except that the design here has changed, with the established lake and eco-system being filled in and destroyed. A lot of birds used the lake on the north west corner of Chandlers farm, I reckon as it was undisturbed. I used to hear a lot of birds landing in it or taking off from it.

More good news. There were four Black-tailed Godwits feeding on the Main Reed beds. I didn't have a clue what they were, but I followed my usual strategy of photographing anything unusual and then going home to identify them. I also didn't realise that they were one of the species targeted in the RSPB's 'Back from the brink' project. Well, if these birds remain here, then this nascent reserve will have helped in their recovery.

There were also four LRPs running and flying around a gravel bar in the middle of the Main reed beds. No doubts part of this year's very successful breeding. Long may this continue.

I didn't see the Marsh harrier, this week, though it has been around. I managed some rather vague shots last week, as the beastie flew around the field to the north of the fens (aka east Main reed bed).

As for this week, the weather gods frowned upon me. Overcast conditions, bright water back lighting images, meant for poor photographs. Indeed, I stopped photography and headed home when it started raining. Though a quick side jaunt to Colebrook hide allowed me to photograph a LRP and common Sandpiper, before a rapid retreat to the MGLG car park as the rains set in.

Well folks. hopefully in a couple or three months Manor farm restoration will be completed, and I will be out of a job. It's been quite a journey - thankfully, quite short for me. I think I would have given up the will to live, had I started documenting the restoration process way back when it started. There have been many delays and extensions, pushing back the finish date by many years if not a decade or so.

The slideshow will contain photos of LRPs, Black-tailed Godwits and restoration work, along with an LRP on MGL. I'm too lazy to separate out the restoration work into a slideshow of its own.

The last remaining bits of open water have now been filled in. Manor lake is now not much more than a village pond.  Yet more stuff was trucked into Manor lake over the past week, and some is piled up ready for infill. I can't really see where this stuff could go, as there is very little open water left, and what is left is extremely shallow.

Manor lake used to be an established eco-system which hosted a large population of fish, along with amphibians and invertebrates, which in turn supported a large population of wild fowl (particularly Little and Great Crested Grebes) and mammals. Well, these have all disappeared.

What is left is a marshy area of tussocky grassland. Those who redesigned this lake seem unaware that the whole area suffers from this type of land - one reason for all the drainage ditches. What Manor lake was designed for was to act as a soak area for excess rainwater to collect in. Not any more it wont. We'll get runoff immediately into Blackwater river, causing flooding down stream.

The only positive thought is that there isn't much landscaping left to do, thus the end is in sight - possibly another month. Inert and/or other Cemex appointed contractors then have all the frilly bits to complete e.g. path laying, fence building, yet more reed planting in shallow water that already has established reed.

Oh, the sluice gate or gates need to be fitted (one the Little Ringed Plovers have finished breeding) and the Colebrook cut can be reestablished.