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.

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.

I thought I'd spare you endless photos of a trench cut into the south east side of Manor lake to accommodate a bridlepath. It is possible that Inert may have completed cutting the trench and filling it with ballast, since Tuesday. I didn't want to take the chance and head down there this morning. There was very little restoration work taking place on Tuesday.

Instead, I shall enjoy the last day of summer, where temperatures are expected to reach 25C, before the rains and strong winds arrive tomorrow and next week. Probably various hurricanes that have drifted over the Atlantic from America.

The most exciting news this week is that the James Webb Space Telescope appears to have found Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS) on an exoplanet, K2-18 b, a Hycean world roughly 8.5 bigger than Earth.

What's so important about this? The only known way that DMS occurs in Earth's atmosphere is via biological activity. Therefore, unless K2-18 b has some exotic non-biological way of creating DMS or if JWST didn't really register DMS then JWST may just have found evidence of extraterrestrial life.

News back on terra firma is less exciting. Inert appears to have made little progress on restoring Manor farm. Caveat: I did not walk all the way to the Longwater road entrance and neither did I venture on to the site to look at the north bridle path. Inert may have tinkered along these stretches.

There has been no more work on the south bridle path west of the Bailey bridge. 

Inert have tentatively started to cut a trench for the bridle path to the east of the Bailey bridge. They appear to have cut a trench a few tens of metres long from near the east footpath running between Manor farm and Moor Green Lakes.

One digger was working languidly on the gravel extraction area. It appeared to be removing top soil from the west of the north end of the extraction area. Plans of the site do show this is where gravel should be extracted.

Not an exciting haul of photos of Manor farm today. So I'll add a whole lot taken on Moor Green Lakes, with today's lack of sunshine.

Oh, I found three atmospheric photos which I took on Saturday. I've tagged these on the slideshow.

Today, temperatures are expected to hit 31C around Finchampstead. Weather records broken with 30C temperatures for five consecutive days and counting. It has been very dry and hot this past week.

Inert appear to have sped up on their construction of the south bridle path. It has almost reached where the trench ends, about 50 yards west of the Bailey bridge.

I did find it curious as to why the western side of the south bridle path trench ended, rather than carrying on to join up with the eastern side of the south bridle path. Two thoughts spring to mind.

1) Inert do not want to have the south bridle path cross the track from the Bailey bridge. Too much heavy plant will be crossing between Manor farm and Chandlers farm over the next few months. This would damage any bridle path.

2) The vehicle track from the Bailey bridge to the current end of the south vehicle track is quite suitable as a bridle path. It has been built up over the years with limestone and rubble, which has then been well consolidated by lots of movement of heavy vehicles over it.

Time will tell which is correct.

Inert have also dumped, quite randomly, piles of rather nice soil along the west part of the bridle path. I'm quite intrigued as to what on earth (no pun intended) they will be used for, seeing as this part of the site has been restored for some time.

I could do with roughly 20 tons of topsoil. Bank repairs for ditch at bottom of our garden. I wonder if Inert have any spare, and will they deliver in 4, 6 or 8 ton loads on to double driveway, over several weeks?  :-) :-) :-)

I am concerned with the wetter parts of the site which the south bridle path crosses. I think these wet parts will compromise the integrity of the bridle path, causing it to erode quickly and cause problems for users of the path i.e. who wants to walk across boggy, muddy ground.

Inert have cleared a path from the south bridle path, across the yellow bridge; where it winds its way to where the north embankment and east embankment intersect. The cleared path meets the north bridle path. This would indicate that Inert will use this cleared path to transport materials with which to construct the north bridle path.

There were plans mooted for a path through the middle of Manor farm, and there is one indicated on plans I have. I feel this would be excellent. I find Moor Green Lakes nature reserve too restrictive, as it doesn't have a path along its northern edge or through its middle. The house owner of the huge properties on the north side of Moor Green Lakes get superb views of Colebrook and Grove lakes, but some, we know, care nothing for nature.

Construction of the north bridle path will therefore take ages as there is so far for vehicles to travel; plus we have their working practices e.g. driving over to Chandlers farm to get one roll of weed proof membrane. Sigh, I was looking forward to a lie in on Saturday.

I have mentioned on a few occasions that whilst wildfowl tend to disappear during the day from open bodies of water close to foot and bridle paths, they do tend to be around from evening to morning. Well, case in point, this morning. Bits of open water (e.g. Finch pond, Manor lake next to yellow bridge) were heaving with wild fowl. Some would fly off to feeding grounds, early in the morning. Typically larger birds like ducks and geese and swans. Other smaller birds (plus some big ones) lurk around, mainly hidden from view, which is what they would do normally. Too many predators around.

Manor farm is far more photogenic than Moor Green Lakes. I suspect that Fleet Hill farm would also be fairly photogenic. Sunrise in particular when viewed over Manor farm restoration.

​Sunrise was semi-exciting, this morning. I was hoping for a spectacular sunrise, as we have had Saharan dust and sand blown over the UK. Friday's sunrise was very nice over Wokingham and Bracknell. Shame it obscured any sight of comet Nishimura.

Summer has finally arrived. Hurrah! But only for a week, possibly two. With temperatures in the high 20s, flirting with low 30s, you would have thought Inert would be cracking on with finishing off Manor farm before autumnal rains arrive.

Nah. We're talking Inert here. Restoration of Manor farm has slowed to glacial pace. Though today there were two diggers at work on the south bridle path. On the other hand, working practices might explain the slow pace.

As I approached the Bailey bridge (roughly 9:45am and tea break time) I saw an orange digger, clanking its way towards the bridge. It stopped briefly to either drop a bucket or fiddle about with some near the Bailey bridge, before it clanked its way over the bridge, and headed off southeast towards the works offices; possibly for a driver tea break and/or diesel.

Anyway, about half an hour later I heard it clanking back. Shortly after it had stopped (by the eastern edge of the constructed bridle path), a birder (a regular) walked up to us. He said he saw the digger carrying one roll of weed proof membrane, which the digger operator then started unrolling to continue building the bridle path.

The bridle path had been extended as far as the copse.

I then had to wander back, and as I walked eastward I saw the maxi dumper truck trundling west with one roll of weed proof membrane! Yep, one roll.

It's no wonder restoration and the building of the bridle paths continue to take so long.

Inert staff must know how many yards of bridle path they can comfortably construct in a day, and therefore take as many rolls of weed proof membrane as is needed, plus a couple of extra. Any left over at close of play can be transported back to Chandlers farm. Also, drop off rolls at side of bridle path, corresponding to the length they will cover.

I don't know whose profit margins are being affected, but I'm glad I'm not paying for this.

Of course, there may be reasons why only one roll of membrane was transported at at time on the day I visited, but I can't really fathom any proper reason.

I wonder if the bridle path will reach the Bailey bridge and beyond by the weekend?

I've been told that they were working on Saturday. This will cause me problems as sunrise is getting later and later, getting closer to 7:30am, which is the earliest I have ever seen Inert on site. It will be touch and go whether I encounter Inert on Saturday morning.

Apparently, there is a comet (Nishimura) that is visible to the naked eye, reaching its perihelion on Sept 12th. It is visible now, with best viewings an hour after sunset and an hour before sunrise. I get two cracks at seeing it per day!

Most people who I meet on my stomp around Manor farm are generally in favour of the restoration plans. Walkers/runners etc are excited at a circular route around Manor farm. Birders and photographers are pleased to get closer to nature - along with greater views from north Manor farm.  The vistas over grasslands to the north of Manor farm are simply brilliant.

Then I met grumpy. An elderly birder I've not seen before. He decried the bridle path, describing it as "disastrous". Wildlife will be frightened away. Whilst he does have a point, a matter I have alluded to, I wouldn't say it is disastrous. Wildlife adapts, and will live around times when people are about. I see it already with birds on Manor and Fleet Hill farms, who disappear during 'busy' parts of the day, but are around early morning and late evenings. Plus, Manor and Fleet Hill farms are a community resource, where the needs of people and wildlife have to be balanced. He also needs to take himself off to various other reserves, particularly RSPB ones. He'll find people are right up close and personal to nature.

Enough of my ramblings and Mr Grumpy. What have Inert been up to since Tuesday?

Well, not a huge amount on Manor farm. I think most of their efforts are now on Chandlers farm.

Inert have continued with construction of the south bridle path, starting from the Colebrook channel next to the Longwater road entrance and working their way around to the Bailey bridge. As I stated last week, the construction is to first lay a weed proof, permeable material on the bed of the path. On top of this goes gravel. However, the stuff going on is, as I figured on Tuesday, stuff that looks like ballast: a mixture of sand and gravel.

It's been a long time since I visited Fleet Hill farm, and I can't remember if Inert then cap this 'ballast' with gravel.  As it is, I'm not sure how the current 'ballast' will stand up to horse, foot and cycle traffic. It will certainly get torn up by hooves. I reckon it will then be washed away in heavy rain, as well as transported off when caught in hooves, footwear and cycle tyres.

I was surprised how little progress had been made on constructing the path. Granted, the depth of 'ballast' is quite considerable, but my viewings on Tuesday didn't reveal a great deal of urgency.

I do fear for the bridle path as it passes north of the sewage works and east of Longwater road. This area floods, and it floods quite deeply. I reckon this flooding will compromise the bridle path.

Good news, there is at least one week of heatwave; summer has arrived. Pretty bad news for kiddies going back to school.