Shortest day of year, and last blog entry of year. I shan't return to Manor farm until next year.

We've had rather a lot of rain. Almost two days of the stuff.  The Blackwater was running high this morning. I expect it was bank full yesterday - close to flooding. Temperatures were toasty - at least 16C warmer than last week.

Of Inert, there was no sight on Manor farm. I did spy a digger, way in the distance on Chandlers farm.  When I reached the bailey bridge, the only sign of activity on the infill of Manor lake, were a couple of piles of spoil.  Otherwise, nothing.

​Manor lake was filling up. Pumps were silent. Finch pond was full to bursting.

I doubt very much will happen in the next week and a bit. Therefore, I wish any reader brave enough to read my verbiage, a merry Christmas and a brave new year.

I dragged myself down to Manor farm, yesterday morning. When I started my car in our drive way, a temperature of -6C was showing on my car's thermometer. It soon dropped to -4C then -3C as I parked my car next to the north entrance to Fleet Hill farm on the Longwater road.  The sun was just peeking above the tree line, offering some nice atmospheric shots.

Weather wise, it has been brutally cold for the past couple of weeks.  This week in particular saw daytime temperatures rarely get to 0C. Night time temperatures dropped to -9C or lower.  I reckon lower, as -9C was recorded in a relatively built up area of Finchampstead north. Manor farm, being an open expanse of land, exposed to winds and with no heat island affect of housing, would be far colder than Finchampstead north.

All this coldness resulted in ground that was frozen rock hard. Which in turn meant it was a joy to walk on. No danger of sinking into the stuff or of wading through wellington deep mud. It also meant my toes freezing.

OK, enough weather reports. With no midweek site visit to see what Inert worked on, I can only assume they continued the infill of Manor lake, despite the freezing weather. Not a problem for the plant operators, in their heated cab.  Although soil was frozen, I doubt the freeze penetrated too deeply, meaning it would be a viable option for diggers to load lorries for stuff to be bulldozer into Manor lake with no problems. In fact, conditions would be much easier due to frozen ground supporting lorries better.

Inert have made a fair amount of progress since my last site visit a couple of weeks ago. I feel they have extended their infill by about a third. The northern edge of infill is quite close to some banking on the south side of the main reed beds. The western edge of infill is wrapping around the north side of the peninsular. 

The depth of infill is quiet considerable, about 10 to 12 feet in my estimation, and there is an awful lot of lake left to fill in. This will take some time, folks.

Very, very wet weather is predicted for today and tomorrow (BBC have said 2 1/2 days of rain!!!), with a fairly moist Christmas and New Year to follow. Rainwater will run off the frozen ground, which should cause Manor lake to fill up very quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if the Blackwater were to burst its banks. Therefore, ground conditions on Manor farm will become muddy and slippery.

A smorgasbord of photos in the slideshow, as I clicked at whatever took my interest.

But first, a feeble attempt to detail how much infill Inert have accomplished to date.

A cold snap has really dug in, yielding nighttime temperatures between -4 to -6. Today, Sunday, temperatures may not have climbed above -1C.

I declined to visit Manor farm in these temperatures, only because Inert will not have made spectacular progress in their infill of Manor lake. Hence far more sensible to hunker down in house, trying to stay warm.

Winter weather has set in with a vengeance. Temperatures an unseasonably 3-5C lower than normal for this time of year, with overnight frost. Snow falling on northern regions. All is not bad news. We've not had any rain for a couple of weeks, which means dry ground.

A MGLG member (Peter), whom I often meet on the south footpath during my mid week stomp, informed me that a spillway had been constructed off the east footpath (MGLG car park to River Blackwater) adjacent to MGLG's Colebrook hide. I haven't photographed it as I didn't fancy stomping a further kilometre or so in the very cold weather to do so.

I'm quite heartened by this spillway being put in place as it shows that restoration is nearing its end. Though it is still too early to say this with any real confidence because plans and deadlines change. It does reinforce what I have been saying - I do not get to identify all the restoration tasks that Inert and others do. A couple of hours visiting, once or twice a week, makes this an impossible task.

I might park in the MGLG car park next week (a less perilous undertaking now that the land slip on the ridges by the war memorial has been repaired) and walk round to the bailey bridge from there. This excursion will also enable me to check for any signs of further restoration around the east and south sides of Manor lake e.g. fence building.

Peter also drew my attention to a 'Reed Broadwalk' he had spotted on a Restoration plan he has. I hadn't seen this and thought it was something new that had been recently posted. But not really. Peter said he found it in a 2019 planning document, and the restoration plan was dated 2014! I memorised the image reference number, with an intent to search the Wokingham council planning site for it.

Luckily, I looked on my laptop first and discovered I already had the file. Sure enough, there is a reed broadwalk shown on the thing. Personally, I think this is a daft structure to build. It parallels the existing footpath from its starting point - foot/horse bridge near Colebrook hide - all the way round to the tongue of land that sticks out into Manor lake. Thus, the walk doesn't actually deliver much in terms of getting around the site.

Most of the broad walk will be on grass land, with a tiny amount being in reeds. Birds will be frightened away with all the people, and screaming children and barking dogs walking along the broad walk in plain sight. Not to mention dogs deciding to jump off the walk onto the grassland and into the lake to run and swim around.

And when the broad walk enters reed beds proper, you can't see anything as the reeds tower above you.

Far better to invest in lots of viewing screens (especially on the tongue/peninsular in Manor lake) and more paths through the middle of Manor farm.

Anyway, enough of my bleating (probably considered highly non-PC by tender snowflake woke people) what have Inert been up to? As if you hadn't guessed. Yep, they continue with their infill of Manor lake. A task which many people I have talked to who I meet on my stomp find totally perplexing. One statement I read seem to indicate that Cemex find this imposition equally perplexing.

Our bulldozer driver was earnestly chugging away, pushing stuff into Manor lake. Quite a dangerous task as he has to get right to the edge of an eight to ten foot vertical drop. The bulldozer goes forwards slowly (unsurprisingly) then charges backwards at speed. It's quite amusing to watch.

A digger operator was in attendance doing a task I find most baffling; a complete waste of time, fuel and effort. Basically, tipper lorries dump 16 to 18 tons of spoil right up against the south side of a heap of soil on which the digger is sat. The digger operator then transfers this spoil to its north side. Where upon the bulldozer driver pushes the stuff into Manor lake!!!! Huh?

Previously, tipper lorry drivers simply drive up to the edge of the infill area. They might then reverse a bit onto the actual infilled area - if so instructed by the bulldozer driver. They drop their loads, whereupon the bulldozer driver shovels it into Manor lake.

I really do not understand why the digger operator is needed. It appears to be make work.  I hope Cemex negotiated a fixed price contract.

In an equally nutty return to slow work. Lorry drivers are reversing some 50 yards or so, from the bailey bridge to where they need to drop their loads. Huh? Why?  There is all this vast amount of space which is not being used. At the very least provide a turning circle where loads are to be dropped.  There's tons of hardcore available to provide a solid, firm driving surface.

The only good thing - there appear to be only one or two John Stacy tipper lorries ferrying stuff. Yep, they are back! Never thought I'd see them again. This means we don't have ten or more lorries queuing south of the bailey bridge patiently waiting for the lead lorry to cross said bridge, do a U turn, reverse 50 yards or so, drop its load and then drive back over bailey bridge.

Oh, the pump was off. Water levels were still very low in Manor lake (and Blackwater, come to that) and there has been no rain of late. Plus most of what rain did fall, is still probably making its way into the depleted aquifers.

I may or may not do a site visit this weekend. The weather is set to be freezing (-1C to -4C) and cloudy. Infill of Manor lake appears to be slow, therefore not a huge amount of change will occur. I'm sure readers will be fed up with yet another shot of a heap of soil that appears fairly identical to the heap of soil they saw last week.

I am resigned to the current Manor lake being filled in to make reed beds. This process should take several months. I had hoped Inert would finish restoration of Manor farm before Christmas.  Early spring, just before the breeding season seems more likely.

I have also realised that what is being built on Manor farm is an environment that resembles RSPB Leighton Moss - or at least the land locked part. A large expanse of reed beds. We once visited Leighton Moss, quite accidentally. Our walking route ran right through the middle of it. I recall a wall of reeds, higher than our heads, along either side of a path through the reserve, making it impossible to see any wildlife.  There was a hide, which overlooked a medium sized lake, which provided some viewing of birds.

I popped down to Manor farm, arriving just after sunrise, on a cold, dismal, dingy, manky, overcast morning. As I headed east, along the Blackwater footpath, I spied, from the sewage works, lights from a heavy earth mover, trundling westward on the south vehicle track. The air turned blue, as I cursed my luck that the one Saturday that I make it to the site, Inert decide to work overtime.

I decided to plough on, as I figured Inert would not have done much since my Wednesday stomp, and even then, it would be largely continuing their infill of Manor lake. I reached the yellow bridge but could not see any signs that the earth mover had dumped stuff. Indeed, all it seemed to have was do a three point turn at the bridge, and head back to the bailey bridge.

On reaching said bridge, I noticed that the gates were closed and padlocked tight against vehicle traffic! Inert were not working on site. Yippee! Though another conundrum presents itself. What was the heavy earth mover up to? Seems like its operator took it for a spin along the south vehicle track. Very strange.

Back to our regular schedule. Inert continued their herculean task of filling in Manor lake. They appear to have doubled the amount of infill since they last worked on Manor farm. All their carefully sculpted banking has been demolished, whilst the huge banking north of the infill has almost been removed. Though this could, just could be gravel for paths - fairly weak assumption, I feel.

Inert also had a brief foray to clear vegetation from some existing banking running along the north edge of Manor lake. I'm not sure why. I've walked this piece of banking, about three years ago. It was quite fine and distinct. Shrubs must have grown up considerably in that time - plus the banking might not be clear enough for vehicles and restoration work.

Water levels in Manor lake were very low. A combination of no rain, and the (now silent) pump draining the area.

I still feel it is a shame the current Manor lake will be filled in to make reed beds. I was looking forward to seeing loads of birds from the peninsular. More importantly, photographing them. You can get some fantastic BIF (Bird In Flight) photos, as birds fly east-west along the length of the site.

Weebly support have fixed whatever problem was stopping me uploading images. You can see them all now.

Firstly, before slideshow, an image of what Inert have been doing. It's very approximate as I haven't been trained in map making.