Firstly, dear reader, a heads up. I will not be updating this blog until 14th November at the earliest - ironically the day the MGLG car park will be closed, making parking tricky.  We have rather a lot going on for the next week or so. Usual stuff: birthdays, anniversaries, odd day out, etc. Avid readers will be devastated with this news; at a complete lose what to do with themselves, except sit and stare at a blank wall for hours on end. Chin up, it's only two weeks.

Storm Ciarán approaches, with high winds and lots of rain predicted Wednesday and Thursday in particular. I reckon the section of bridlepath north of the sewage works will be totally covered in water.

Even with so much rain of late, water levels in Manor lake are really quite low. Lots of open water will be hidden by the raised soil levels. More so if reed planting and other vegetation take hold. Great for wild life, I suppose. Reasonably rubbish for seeing the birds. It was like this at Leighton Moss, with its reed banks. Heard lots, couldn't see a thing.

A small, teeny, weeny digger had been working at the volcano shaped ballast pile by the Bailey bridge. It has been spreading the stuff around the north end of the Bailey bridge, joining the east and west sections of the south Bailey bridge to each other, and to the Bailey bridge itself. This sort of confirms that groundworks are complete.

But wait, there's more! As they say on American adverts. Firstly, the two sluice gates need to be installed. Secondly, there will be more fettling. One hopes that the heavy plant, trundling across the site to perform these tasks, will not destroy the freshly laid gravel paths. Usual brilliant planning.

I have mentioned this before, but installing the sluice gates, particularly the east one, will (I reckon) be tricky. For why? The ground is very soft to quicksand in nature as a result of heavy rain and the actions of bulldozing and smoothing with diggers. Construction personnel beware.

Other than that, not much else has happened since my early Sunday stomp.

Though a fellow MGLG member, oft stomping the site's boundaries, did say that he saw a hive of activity last Friday. Four diggers at work landscaping, and surveyors with their natty laser theodolites checking said landscaping; I assume.

As predicted, idiots have been ignoring the keep out signs and walking onto the north bridlepath. This morning, a horse rider was spotted cantering along the south bridle path from Moor Green Lakes nature reserve to the Bailey bridge. Only the rider turned round and headed back east along the bridlepath, probably after spotting the digger at work around the Bailey bridge. I did say this would happen without fencing.

I am hoping that fencing will be in place when I can next return to the area.

You know when not much is happening when I post more wildlife photos than construction ones.

With the clocks going back an hour, I was able to get to Manor farm restoration at 6:30am this morning. Reasonably bright. Not a great sunrise.

The bridle path crossing over the Colebrook prior to it going under the Longwater road not yet built.

 A section of bridlepath just north of sewage works was almost entirely under water; and this after a few hours where levels could fall a little. During really heavy rainy periods, the flooding can increase by a further 5-10cm (2-4 inches) of water and remain for weeks. At which point this section of bridlepath will be completely under water.

Minor flooding of bridlepath occurred from sewage works to bailey bridge.

Wow, Inert appear to have completed groundworks north of the Bailey bridge where gravel excavations took place. The area is unrecognisable; deep channels, almost chasm like, weaving in bold curves and sweeps like a Henry Moore bronze sculpture.

Shame water levels in them wont be very deep.

The whole area does look impressive, though.

I didn't walk over the recent landscaping, even in my wellingtons. I know only too well that areas will have the consistency of quicksand, and I'll sink up to my knees in the stuff.

I did try venturing out a little, towards what will be the east sluice gate, but gave up within 10 metres as I struck squidgy bits, with my wellington boot disappearing into mud without much pressure being applied.

As predicted, I could not walk onto the east side of Manor lake (basically the old Manor Lake east of the Bailey bridge) due to channels and moats being built around it. I did try to cross a bit nearest the south footpath, where a channel was no wider than a narrow stream, but quickly abandoned that idea as my wellington started to sink rather deeply into the stream bed. Also, I figured the newly bulldozed ground on what was Manor lake would be very squidgy. Not going to risk sinking up to my knees in the stuff again.

There was an awful lot of bird life on the restoration. Loads of Green Sandpipers, and other birds I only caught glimpses of. Our resident Kestrel was about in the low light of early morning. While a couple of Red Kites flew lazily around - a lot of effort with no thermals.  Otherwise, the usual birds were around, in large number.

Photos to follow as and when. Painting staircase almost finished - the thing, as built, by builders is appalling. Loads of basic schoolboy errors. Much fettling on my part, armed with wood filler.
Photos to follow.

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.