Well folks, I actually paid a site visit on a gloriously sunny Wednesday morning. I've only just got around to the write up due to other more important activities i.e. painting walls.

Seismic shocks from Crazy Kwarteng's lunatic mini-budget, and Loony Liz's even dafter comments and 'non-response' continue to reverberate. Sterling swallow dived to $1.03/£ its lowest ever. Stocks (ftse 100 and 250) are in a tailspin. Whilst the BoE had an emergency response to buy £65bn in bonds to stop a catastrophic collapse in pensions. Don't ya just love idiot ideological politicians - not.

Anway, enough of inept politicians. What of our all important restoration.

Inert are still cracking on, albeit a bit more slowly, it would seem.

The eastern North Embankment continues to be flattened. I thought it would take two weeks. However, now I reckon three weeks. Principally because Inert are only using two heavy earth movers. They are shipping the topsoil to Chandlers farm, which takes about 10 minutes. This means that the digger operator spends a great deal of time twiddling his thumbs, waiting for the heavy earth movers to return.

Inert installed a pump on the new banking separating the Main reed beds from Manor lake. The pump is needed to empty water from the Main Reed beds. Bit of bad planning here, folks, as the existing, venerable old pump, which Inert removed last week, could have pumped out the main Reed beds.

My initial thought was, why didn't Inert install sluice gates into the banking - as per plans. These could drain the Main Reed bed. On reflection, I decided that sluice gates would not be designed to completely drain this area of a nature reserve. Inert obviously need to operate in the Main reed bed to construct it. Driving in a few feet of water, with deep mud, is not a great idea. Hence the need for a pump - expensive though it may be.

There are signs that Inert have also been working on the 'plateau' adjoining the former location of the pump station. They appear to be digging out large quantities of stuff from this area, presumably to form Manor lake. I did wonder why so much stuff was being dumped into this area, and kept saying it would need to be dug out again.

Moving over to the west edge of what will be Manor lake.  Inert have continued to dredge the area and extend the banking they were building on Wednesday. And this is another example of the haphazard approach to this restoration. The digger operators had spent a great deal of effort in crafting a lovely, curved chunk of banking along the southwest corner of what will be Manor lake.  I did comment that it was the wrong shape. Well, all the stuff dredged out of the area has now been piled up around the lovely, curved banking!!!!  This stuff will have to be removed, after Inert spent ages using it to fill in the area!

I still reckon this banking is too far south, and should have started to curve east then east northeast by now.  Plans have obviously been changed, and the ones on the Wokingham Borough Council planning website are not accurate.

A lot of the banking around the main reed bed that Inert have built over the past three weeks has now been capped with a good layer of topsoil - about 15" deep I reckon.  This topsoil has come from the ridge.

The height of the banking is something to behold and will, I reckon, obscure all of the Main reed beds. Coupled with reeds themselves, not much of the reserve will be visible from the south (aka Blackwater) footpath.  A great shame, unless public are permitted to walk along the banking - much like the main route through Leighton Moss.

I noticed that the pump and diesel tank had been removed from its location between the west shore of the current Manor lake and Cormorant lake as was. I saw that it had been placed on the west bank of the current Manor lake just north of the bailey bridge. Naturally, I had to go take a look, but as I made my way eastward I heard the rumble of a heavy earth mover on Chandlers farm.  Not wishing to take any risks of encountering and disturbing the guys, I immediately headed for the hedge row alongside the south (aka Blackwater) path, before making my way through the nettles and hopping over the low wire fence.

Sigh, it looks as if I will have to pay a site visit on Sunday's now. Inert must be paying lots of over time in an effort to complete landscaping. I'm sure that if the guys were to work Saturdays, then they would start at 8:30am.  I don't think I've ever seen them at 7:30am!!!

First the bad news. Loony Liz (Truss) and crazy Kwarteng concoct a car crash mini-budget. Even I, a non-finance expert, am staggered at the barmy, unfriendly policies they have devised that do nothing more than pad the pockets of the rich. The only beneficiaries are over paid under worked bankers.  Yeah, like banking will generate growth.

The loony lady has removed environmental planning controls, and has abolished government space and science committees!!!!!  This nutty woman does not realise that the future industrials are science, technology and space.  With that Victorian buffoon, Rees-bog, wanting to being back imperial measurements, I can see the whole useless lot promoting steam engines to be the future of UK business. Sheesh!

Anyway, back to our program and the excellent progress maintained by Inert.

As the headline says, the ridge is no longer.  I did figure, having visited the site on Wednesday, that Inert would complete demolition of the ridge. Sure enough, my Saturday morning visit revealed that it is no longer. In fact, Inert had started into the eastern North embankment, and continued to do so on Saturday.  Yep, the boys started work at 7:30am, when two diggers and two heavy earth movers rumbled in a slow and stately manor across the bailey bridge.

I was actually making my way towards the bailey bridge when I heard a heavy earth mover on Chandlers farm!!! I darted across the south vehicle track and into the hedge row alongside the south (aka Blackwater) footpath. Then I popped along said footpath to the bailey bridge to witness the stately parade. My god are the heavy earth movers huge!

Firstly the easy bit. Inert continue with the flattening of the ridge, and as expected they are shipping the topsoil over to Chandlers farm. I did wonder what they were going to do with the topsoil from the ridge, as I reckoned there wasn't enough space on the site to accommodate the stuff, given what they were doing.

I don't really understand why the ridge, and I assume eastern north embankment, weren't cleared away before the west embankment and western north embankment.  A long stretch of the area they have already capped is now being compacted, plus the land bridges have been mostly demolished. Luckily, the rains are holding off, so the track isn't too boggy. Last year would have been a nightmare as there was so much rain, making vehicle tracks almost impassable.

​Secondly, the hard bit to explain. As have continually written, Inert are now having to dig out sections of what will become Manor lake; having spent months and years in filling the area. This morning, they were engaged in digging out stuff some 30m east of the yellow vehicle bridge. Then driving some 50m east to dump the stuff back onto what will be Manor lake; where upon a bulldozer driver pushes the dumped stuff to form what looks suspiciously like a piece of banking. The direction of the build of the banking will intercept the banking Inert started a couple of weeks bank, but abandoned. This banking will surround the Main reed bed.

The problem is, what Inert are constructing bears little relationship to the plans I have. The banking is too far south.  OK, I do admit that I am not sure if the plans I have are the latest to be signed off by Cemex, but they are the latest from the WBC planning application site. Also, it is possible that what Inert were building today is an interim structure to help them then build the banking around the Main reed bed - only it doesn't make sense, as they should be building it further north.

Hey ho, time will tell what the final layout of the site will look like, 'cause currently it has a passing resemblance to the latest plans.

Last Sunday, the memsahib and I went to Wokingham Town hall to hear the proclamation of King Charles III.  A short, sweet ceremony only slightly ruined by the Lady Mayor fluffing her opening lines. She recovered rapidly and managed to complete the bulk of the proclamation without mishap.

The large, multi-racial crowd sang God Save the King.  Do you have any idea how weird it was for my partner and I, plus another couple I spoke to. All our lives it has been God Save the Queen.  My partner's aunt has actually lived through four monarchs: Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II and now Charles III.

Oh, the Ukrainians launched a long expected counter offensive in the south of the country. Only it was a ruse, simply to draw Russian military to the south. Their real goal was revealed a week and a bit ago. They launched a surprise attack on the northeast of their country. The Russians were caught off guard, and were forced to make rapid retreats. Thousands of Russian soldiers were captured (so much so, the Ukrainians didn't have proper places to put them), and thousands of military equipment (tanks, artillery, etc) were either destroyed, damaged or abandoned.  Latest news is that the Ukrainians have crossed a vital river.  News is hard to come by as the Ukrainians, quite sensibly, have had a complete news blackout.

All was relatively quiet on Manor farm when I visited early Wednesday morning. Only two diggers at work around the yellow vehicle bridge. I have no idea what they were doing, and my site stomp on Saturday was no more illuminating. They did appear to dig out bits of the area allowing a large pond to drain away, leaving reed clumps standing high and dry.

I also had occasion to flash by the Longwater road entrance on my way to Yateley on Thursday morning. I spotted a digger operating on the west side of the copse, digging away in Finch pond. Again, I was non the wiser on Saturday as to what was done - except perhaps to smooth off a couple of scrapes, and perhaps dig deeper parts of Finch pond.

Very mysterious.

Inert were working away on the north west corner of Chandlers farm, which is very curious as according to plans from WBC planning office this area is deemed fully restored!!!  Really? For the past month or so, on and off, I have seen bulldozers, diggers working on this area, along with tipper lorries delivering stuff. Wednesday was a case in point, as I saw a John Stacey lorry trundling over to the north west corner of Chandlers farm.

There was no doubt, however, that Inert have started to attack The Ridge.  Roughly half of it, the southern half, has been demolished.  Thing is, I'm not sure when Inert did this.  The state of the south end of the ridge on Saturday seem the same as what I could see from the Blackwater valley footpath on Wednesday morning.

What I also cannot determine, is whether the topsoil in the ridge was smeared across Manor farm or carted off to Chandlers farm. The reason? Well, the former land bridge leading from the south vehicle track to the ridge is very chewed up. Fine, light grey mud, with the consistency of porridge has been squeezed by lorry wheels along the former land bridge. It looks like toothpaste, squidged along the length of the vehicle tracks.  The only way this fine mud is created is by lots of lorry movements, which grind the chalk and soil to a fine powder.  This implies that the soil from the ridge is being carted off to Chandlers farm.

This, of course, is pure speculation, and can only be substantiated by me seeing what happens.  Bit difficult when I only do one mid-week visit.

I have mentioned, several times, that what Inert are constructing around the main reed bed and west corner of Manor lake does not seem to marry up with the latest plans I have.

This last week is a case in point. Inert have built a section of banking along what I assume is the south west corner of Manor lake. What this corner should look like is this...

What Inert have actually constructed looks more like this

Here is a photo to sort of prove this

There are further photos and comments in earlier posts from 10th September with further possible explanations e.g. the banking could be simply for traffic control - heavy plant need to know where the edge of tracks are, and I've seen Inert frequently use banking to mark the edges of tracks.

But so far, Inert have constructed something that not quite entirely looks like what is shown in the latest plans I have from Wokingham Council's planning department.

This section considers the rather strange area around the west shore of Manor lake.

It's all really confusing what Inert are up to around the west shore of Manor lake, particularly where it meets the southwest tip of the main reed beds. The structures don't quite marry up.  I'm sure all will become clearer as the weeks progress.

One weird structure Inert have built is a short section of banking around the southwest corner of Manor lake.  The profile starts off looking correct, until it swings to the east before curving sharply north.  It should continue east.  One possible explanation for this northward swing is that the banking is for traffic control. Lorries still have to get access to the banking that Inert are building along the south shore of the main reed bed.  This logic does fall apart, somewhat, because lorries can still approach this construction area from the east.

This curved section of banking actually marks the spot of my mighty mound, which Inert were flattening and moving to Chandlers farm on Wednesday.  I used to like this mound, even though it was a nightmare to get to when the area was flooded. It was surrounded by deep mud.  Views from the top of the mound gave a wonderfully different perspective of the area, and was particularly brilliant for Bird In Flight shots.  Birds fly the length of the reserve i.e. Fleet Hill farm, Manor farm and thence Moor Green Lakes.

Inert have removed a large amount of the banking they were working on during my Wednesday visit, though strangely, they have left the bulk of banking that runs alongside the south footpath. Inert do this a lot: work on a bit, stop, flit off to another part of the site, before returning days, months or years later to finish off the work they started.

This section covers, as usual, the northern part of the site.

I have been waking up early (about 6:00am) all this week. Every morning has been lovely and clear. Come Saturday morning it was foggy. Seriously! It did exactly the same thing last week. And I needed to have clear weather to photograph the demise of the western North embankment.

As was reported earlier this week, the western North has been completely flattened. This includes the rather strange crater that Inert dug. The long line of soil piles have also been removed and the area mostly capped with topsoil.

I say mostly capped with topsoil as the area on the west and south west of the ridge is a large shallow depression that has flooded. I decided to avoid this flooded area as ground conditions, after almost a week of fairly serious rain, were very soft. Instead, I clambered up the west side of the ridge, and then clambered down its east side, thus avoiding any sinking unpleasantness.

Moving over to the Higher reed bed. I saw a digger working around this bed on Wednesday, but couldn't determine what it was doing. My Saturday visit was even less illuminating. 

A pile of stuff has appeared on the north west corner of the Higher reed bed, but I can't work out if it was dug out by the digger or dropped by a heavy earth mover. I suspect the former rather than the latter.

Some fettling of the south shore of the bed appears to have occurred, and possibly some dredging along the south east of the bed.  Though exactly what or why, I can't determine.

Part of the main vehicle track onto the site was flooded. It was a land bridge, which was sensible. At least no tipper or grab loaders are traversing the site.  I, however, had to be awfully wary as I worked my way gingerly along the flooded portions of the track.

Queen Elizabeth has been part of my entire life. She has always been there, in the background, part of the news.  Her health appeared to have deteriorated so quickly, over the past few months, most markedly since Prince Philip died. I will miss her sorely.

My partner was in the same room as her majesty. She was working in a dance school, and had to manage a class of four year old children who did a dance for the queen, when her majesty visited my partner's school. My partner didn't get to talk to the queen; though she was mentioned in the Guardian along with a photograph of her corralling her young charges.

For good or bad, Prince Charles is now king. I hope Camilla keeps him under control. He is almost exactly 10 years older than me.

Storm Danielle, or remnants thereof, have hit England and unleashed a lot of torrential rain. This is on top of some earlier downpours. Hopefully the drought is over, though drought orders are still in force in many areas. It has been a remarkably quiet hurricane season - there hasn't been one this year. Even named tropical storms have been rare - Danielle would suggest she is only the fourth.

The result of all this rain has been increased water levels across Manor farm, despite the Colebrook being plumbed in. Manor lake has been collecting water, as well as the main reed bed to the north, with their shapes more defined. However, they are not plumbed into the Colebrook, therefore have nowhere to drain. Perhaps this will be rectified with the work Inert were doing when I paid an early site visit. The water logged and standing water did confirm my prediction about Inert needing to get a move on to finish restoring this site before rains arrive to make the ground soft and muddy. The only good aspect is that there appear to be no need for tipper and/or grab loader lorries to transport stuff. They, with their thing tyres, found the going difficult on soft ground - often carving out huge deep ruts.

I did time it very well, just missing torrential rain. I looked at netweather's rainfall radar, spotted a gap in the showers, and legged it to Manor farm.

When I got to my usual parking spot, next to the Longwater road entrance, I could not see any activity on Manor farm. I could hear, and see, a bulldozer working away on Chandlers farm. Oh-uh, I thought, is this Inert flitting about again?

Nope. There were three, yes three, diggers operating on Manor farm, one bulldozer and two heavy earth movers.  Almost a record, with the bulldozer on Chandlers farm, I'd say.

One digger was working on the Higher reed bed, on the west side of the banking separating it from the main reed beds.  No idea what it was up to as it was both too far away and hidden partially.

Another digger was demolishing what remains of my mighty mound, filling up heavy earth movers, who shipped the soil to Chandlers farm. I did say Inert would have to dig out the area around my mighty mound to create the new, elongated Manor lake. I puzzled greatly as to why the mound was built in the first place.

The third digger was pottering around the south vehicle track around the yellow vehicle bridge. I could not determine what the operator was doing. I thought, initially, he was extending the Colebrook channel, but then it looked as if he were demolishing a land bridge, another time he was flattening the bank along the south footpath. All very strange.

Our intrepid bulldozer driver was flattening a higher piece of banking along the south (aka Blackwater) footpath. This piece of banking was particularly annoying as it obscured so much of the site near the copse. Glad it has gone.

It looks as if between them, the bulldozer driver and digger operator my smooth out the mighty crater that is my mud fill nemesis. That would make walking along the south vehicle track a lot safer and easier.

And finally, the western North Embankment. It has finally gone, completely flattened. Another milestone in the restoration.