Two heavy earth movers and at least one John Stacey tipper were shipping stuff into Manor farm and dumping in on the spit of infill sticking out eastward into the current Manor lake. Our hard working bulldozer driver was then merrily pushing this stuff into Manor lake, extending the tongue northwards. I can't tell if the stuff is spoil or topsoil. I need an onsite visit to determine which. I'm still confused as to what Inert have been asked to do with this this latest bit of infill. Fitting it as best I can to the plans I have, it does suggest that Inert are constructing shallows for reed beds. However, it is hard for me to ascertain, especially as the restoration plans have undoubtedly changed. There are two inferences to be gleaned from current restoration. Firstly, there could be substantial infill to follow over the next few months as Inert construct the shallow area i.e. the dark green bits of the current Manor lake. Secondly, Inert have to dig out the deeper portions of the new, long Manor lake. Now, matters may not be as pessimistic a picture I paint. There are extensive, established reed beds to the east of the current Manor lake i.e. east of the Potential Future Hide Location. I don't remember there being any to the north east of the current Manor lake. It is possible that the amount of infill required is confined to the west of the hide location. Regardless of whether the infill amount is positive or pessimistic, restoration of the current Manor lake is scheduled to be finished by autumn 2022. Meteorologically, that is today. Hmmm. Astrologically, autumn ends on 21st December; three weeks time. I think there is going to be slippage. What is interesting about this restoration plan is the mineral extraction for creating paths around the reserve. Some of this extraction occurs in bits of Manor lake that need to be dug out to form deeper water. It remains to be seen if this will happen. Right now, I am resigned to restoration dragging on into spring of 2023. Not a disastrous slippage as reed planting doesn't take that long. Other news. Inert are still working hard on Chandlers farm. There are large piles of spoil all over the place - almost as if they are building a military assault course. I have no idea what is happening there. Rains have finally eased off! A blocking high has formed which could lead to many weeks of cold, dull, dreary, overcast but dry weather. This has already made an impact on Manor farm. Water levels in all the lakes (bar Finch pond north) dropping considerably. The large, deep puddles along the south footpath have disappeared - though it is horribly muddy. Our faithful pump in still chugging away resulting in very low water levels in the current Manor lake. This should help with infill. My mid week stomp around Manor farm did not reveal much happening restoration wise, and there were no obvious signs of any major work taking place on Manor farm. All activity seemed focused on Chandlers farm.
Therefore, I have saved some petrol and time by not visiting the site this weekend. Rainfall has continued, indeed we had yet another long downpour in the wee hours of the morning. Good news, however, is that there will be a blocking high forming over us, beginning early next week. This should bring a long dry spell, albeit being cold, overcast and dreary. Restoration of Manor farm seems almost a repeat of last year. Inert stop working on Manor farm until next year. However, there are grounds for optimism that this might not be the case. Firstly, our old faithful pump was chugging away, pumpfully trying to empty the current Manor lake. It's having a tough time. This November has been one of the wettest on record; we've already had the usual amount for November, and there is still a lot forecast for the coming week. Secondly, the gates over the bailey bridge are wide open to plant traffic. One gate is still off its hinges. Thirdly, some of the work is scheduled to be done in spring 2023. Inert have been on Manor farm, since last week. The dredging bucket and spade have gone. Other than that, I am hard pushed to figure what if anything has been done to the site. Restoration is still in full swing on Chandlers farm. Still loads of lorries of spoil being trucked in and/or moved around. There's mountains of stuff lying around in large mounds on Chandlers farm. I have no idea what is going on. The southern entrance to Fleet Hill farm appears to have a shiny new gate. I can't honestly remember what was there before. Whatever is there now is very shiny. Manor farm, just north of the sewage works, has flooded, with water crossing over on to the southern (aka Blackwater) footpath, and thence draining under the Longwater road via the southern culvert. No site visit today. Want to own one of my prints and support RSPB? Read on.19th November 202219/11/2022
Just in case any regulars want to support RSPB and their work on eco-system.
All prints have been claimed. The last some 20 minutes ago - it is 7:25am on Sunday 20th Nov. You can still enter the prize draw (aka raffle) until 15th December 2022. So go for it. I donated 5 of my signed, limited editionA3 prints to RSPB. They are offering these prints as part of a bundle i.e. get 50 entries into their prize draw and get your choice of one of my prints. You can enter here if you feel up to it. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/nature-of-scotland-2022 Inert did not appear to have done much to Manor farm last week. They appeared to have a rush on to complete Chandlers farm. It's cold, it's been very wet, and it is currently dreary, with heavy low cloud. I don't feel like playing forensic expert, walking around the Manor lake extension trying to figure out what Inert may or may not have done; more the latter than former. With that decision made, sods law says Inert deployed the dredging attachment and went at it digging out the Manor lake extension. Next week's footpath foray will reveal all! When I first walked over Fleet Hill farm, some four years ago, I notice some deep scoring (gullies) incised into the banks of a pond to the farthest west of the site. These 'gullies' originated at the Blackwater river and ran down to the lake on Fleet Hill farm. I surmised they were cut by water from the Blackwater bursting its banks. We had a deluge of biblical proportions in 2019 to 2020, and one day in February 2020, between storm systems, I paid a visit to Fleet Hill farm. Sure enough, the Blackwater river had burst its banks, and water was streaming into the farthest most lake from the Longwater road. As I had surmised, the gullies were cut by water flowing down the banks from the Blackwater. I've been frustrated with Weebly. I can't post videos until I upgrade my subscription. Hah, I pay enough for it already. Yesterday, I discovered the only way I could post videos to RSPB community forums was via a YouTube link. I then discovered that Google own YouTube, and as I already have a gmail account, I didn't have to create a YouTube account. Then I discover that I can post YouTube videos on my Weebly account. Hence these five videos. Now it is possible that Cemex have addressed this flooding problem. I think I did make Finchampstead Parish Council aware of it. I have not, however, revisited the site to see if the banks of the Blackwater have been shored up. If the banks have not been strengthened then I reckon this is what may be happening today. Remember, as you view these videos, they are from February 2020. Both Manor farm and Chandlers farm looked silent, when I arrived yesterday morning. It was only while I was getting close to the Bailey bridge that I espied diggers and haulage lorries at work on Chandlers farm. They were working around the big mound that has been occupying a spot just south of the Bailey bridge. As for Manor farm. I'm not sure if anything major has happened since my weekend visit. Some work has been done. The deep ruts by the bailey bridge have been filled in with hardcore. This should make the going easier for the heavy plant trundling across the bridge. I reckon the hardcore had been freshly lain. Hardcore formed a low ridge (say 6" high) along the edge of the track, preventing gates from shutting properly. Indeed, the west gate was off its hinges, propped up to the side of the track. I don't think the infill of the current Manor lake has been added to. A digger bucket, left to the west of the infill, seem sat in exactly the same place as Saturday. Our old faithful pump was pumpfully pumping away, desperately trying to empty the current Manor lake. It's got its work cut out. We've had lots of heavy, persistent rain. Indeed, it is raining as I type, after raining for most if not all the night. The Blackwater was running bank full yesterday and may well burst its banks today. One interesting sighting on the south vehicle track, about 75m east of the copse, was what looked like a dredging bucket. I could be completely wrong, mainly as I had to peer through vegetation (I was on the south footpath) and thus could not see the implement in its entirety. If it were a dredging bucket, it does suggest Inert digging out Manor lake. Very curious. There was a largish digger bucket next to it. Other than that, there were no exciting birds. Though I did see a heard of four Roe deer feeding just south of what was Cormorant lake (north). And now, the funniest news. Donald Trump, loser in the last three election rounds in the US, has announced his he is running for president. He doesn't stand a chance. He needs to retire, disgracefully, and play golf. On a grimmer note, Hunt presents his budget today, while the guv'nor of the Bank of England has blamed Brexit for many of the financial woes we are currently facing. Brexit has added 6% to inflation. More importantly for me and my daughter, it has endangered UK's access to EU science projects. Sigh. Russian forces retreat from Kherson!! Republican party do badly in midterms!! Trump furious and humiliated, though he doesn't see it that way! I swam 90 lengths of butterfly this week, over three days as 3 x 30x50m of 25m fly/25m back. Headline says it all. I have no idea why Inert have been asked to build a banked structure into the current Manor lake. This lake is established, has a thriving wildlife population, and is popular with wildfowl. It is a great ecosystem. I've photographed Great Crested Grebes catching sizeable fish in this lake. Both Great Created and Little Grebes raise broods successfully in this lake. So why on earth disrupt the lake by building some great thing into it? What Inert have been asked to do is a) building substantial banking along the east side of the current Manor lake. This banking is not on the original plans. And b) drive a headland, complete with banking, eastward into the lake. The image below, explains this graphically, and how what Inert are being asked to do differs from original plans. I am now totally perplexed as to what the latest plans are. Inert were merrily filling in Manor lake, by the old pump, with stuff being shipped over from Chandlers farm. Whilst the extended Manor lake is supposed to be quite shallow, but with deeper bits, I thought the current Manor lake was complete. Obviously not! I am totally intrigued as to how this area will shape out, but at least Inert are working on it. Oh there is a possibility a sluice gate will be inserted. A friend spotted three chaps in Hi-viz wandering around the dykes. They place a stake in the south edge of the dyke around the Main reed bed. Other than that, not much has changed. I was very excited to see a Peregrine falcon flying around the site. First time I saw it, the thing had landed on a dry bit of the main reed bed. Second time, it was being mobbed by a Carrion crow over Finch pond, before various gulls took over. Well folks, I risked a site visit to Manor farm at 7:15am this morning. I reasoned that Inert would not be working overtime. They have slowed activity considerably this past month. I was correct. No sign of Inert on Manor farm or Chandlers farm. However, the morning was dreary, dull, overcast and drizzly with light rain. We've had almost continuous rain this past week, some of it quite torrential. This has resulted in lots of wet, sticky mud, that clings to boots like super glue. Firstly, I sank up to both my knees in soil in a quite unexpected place. Notice I said soil - not mud. Just north of the yellow vehicle bridge, sits the last piece of topsoil capping that Inert did. Now, I have wandered over a lot of capping, with no problems. However, as I made my way north from the yellow bridge, my feet were sinking up to my ankles. No problems, I thought, as I started towards what was Cormorant lake (north), took one step which plunged (and I mean plunged) straight into the capping topsoil right up to my left knee. Momentum meant my right foot continued forward a step, and promptly sank into the capping topsoil, over the top of my wellingtons and over my knee! Bugger! I thought, not again. At least I didn't have any DSLRs with long lens. However, extracting myself was really easy. Firstly, the bottom of my boots hit the old vehicle track - which was rock solid - partly as it is made out of rock (chalk/limestone) and partly as it was compacted by vehicles driving over it. Secondly, the topsoil was really friable (think pastry that has been mixed to crumbs) and did not cling onto my boots like mud does. Getting my boots out was really easy as I didn't have to overcome any sucking like mud does. I declined to visit the former Cormorant lake (north) to see what Inert were up to three weeks ago. Anyway, what have Inert been up to this past two weeks? As postulated on Wednesday, the two diggers were infilling the last fragment of Cormorant lake (south). I'm quite surprised Inert have chosen to use diggers for this. A bulldozer would be much faster. I assume there is a logical reason, though it escapes me. Regardless, the diggers have made quite a bit of progress, albeit slowly. Many of the mounds of soil that dotted the area have now been flattened. Though, I am not sure how much of the spoil has been pushed into Cormorant lake (south) and how much has been shipped over to Chandlers farm. Not only have most of the mounds disappeared, the area appears to be being excavated a tad. This will be in keeping with the area being the new, long Manor lake. It is meant to be a shallow lake, with deeper bits. I still reckon there is too much spoil in the area, and some of it needs to be removed. And it is spoil - with lots of bricks and other inert material. I'm not sure if Inert will cap the area with a layer of clay type soil, as they have done with Finch pond. Our faithful pump was off, this morning. I always find it haphazard when this pump is running. Seems such a waste of energy. Anyway, water levels in the current Manor lake are low, but we have had torrential rain this past week, and the next four days looks pretty wet. This means Manor lake will quickly fill with runoff from the Ridges. Case in point is Finch pond north - aka Orange segment pond. It is now bank full, and has breached it south eastern corner. Water is flowing into Finch pond (south), and then through the culvert under Longwater road. Although Inert have slowed right down, I think they are still on schedule. The bulk of restoration is almost complete, and is due to be completed by December. There is a curious bit north of the Bailey bridge, which is due for completion by spring 2023. Oddly, it calls for mineral extraction to be used for paving paths - no doubts the bridlepaths around the new reserve. Inert return to Manor farm, but for how long? Old faithful pump back on. 2nd November 20222/11/2022
I spied two, blue diggers at work in the middle of the western extension of the new long Manor lake. What they were up to was a bit of a mystery. One, more southern, was perched on a soil heap. It appeared to be scrapping soil from its south and heaping up around itself. I couldn't work out if it was feeding this soil to the northern placed digger. The other more northern digger, also perched on its own spoil heap, appeared to be pushing soil northward into what remains of Cormorant lake (south). Again, I couldn't determine if it was digging soil out south of where it was placed (hence making a deep Manor lake) or if it was being fed soil by the southern digger. Honestly, I reckon a bulldozer would have been more suitable for this task. However, the bulldozer was busy on Chandlers farm. An awful lot of stuff is still being shipped into Chandlers farm. This is in addition to the numerous, huge piles of soil dotted about the site. In all honesty, I couldn't really make out much of what the diggers were up to, plus there didn't seem to be much progress since my visit last week. We'll have to see if Inert continue digging out Manor lake or if this piece of work is one of their usual, random tasks, which sees them leave the site for another week or two. Oh, our old faithful pump was back on again, nosily chugging away. Seems daft, Inert keep turning the thing on, burning large quantities of diesel to empty a lake, only for them not to do anything, except turn the pump off; which then causes lake levels to rise again! |
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