A belated happy new year in what could be an auspicious year for Manor farm and the Longwater road nature reserve.  Both may actually be opened officially as Cemex, Inert and contractors complete restoration work. Naturally, there will be fettling and other small pieces of work, but the installation of fencing, crossing over the Colebrook by the Longwater road entrance, and sluice gates should allow the reserve to be open to the public.

One immediate piece of fettling that needs to be done pdq, is the flooding of the south bridlepath just north of the sewage works. I've been warning, for some time now, that this portion of the bridlepath will be under water during the winter months. Sure enough, as with last year and previous years, this whole area (including the Blackwater valley footpath) is under up to six inches of water. Note, water levels would have receded a fair amount due an unusual period of dryness - indeed, we witnessed this on the footpaths we traverse during our morning walks.

I photographed the bridlepath yesterday (Tuesday) when I returned to Manor farm since 16th November 2023. During my hiatus, the weather has been particularly bad; either horribly overcast, raining or, in many instances, both. The Christmas period was very wet, with torrential rain falling on saturated ground, thus causing flooding.

Note, however, that the area north of the sewage works floods regularly every year. It takes a particularly dry autumn and winter for it not to flood.

I reckon that remedial work will require drainage pipes to be installed under the bridlepath, the height of the bridlepath needs to be raised by at least 12 inches (30cm), and the area (including the Blackwater valley footpath) drained properly into the Blackwater river. These actions need to be repeated along various sections of the bridlepath between the grey box and sewage works. I have photographed bits along this section that flooded earlier in the autumn.

Otherwise, what of Manor farm in general. Well, firstly it should come as no surprise that Inert have not returned to Manor farm or Chandlers farm. All is as was before work ceased last year.

Secondly, the water levels in Manor lake, Finch pond and the reed beds are high, but do not look high; partly due to banking and partly due to run off into Fleet Hill farm - I didn't venture here to check on flooding. Sadly, the depth of water in the lakes and reed beds are still low compared the once mighty status of Manor lake, Cormorant lake and Finch pond.

Thirdly, vegetation has taken hold over much of the recent workings, giving the area a softer, 'lived in' look.

After a manic week and a bit of family events, life returns to the medium slow lane. I didn't pay my normal Tuesday visit to Manor farm as it was very cloudy and then poured with rain. The mild, exceedingly wet weather persists. Wednesday, however, was bright, clear and cloudless. Wonderful for photographing birds...only they were somewhat sparse on the ground.

The Blackwater was bank full in places, possibly flooding in others - most notably sections of Fleet Hill farm (unless the banks have been shored up) - with plenty of standing water over the restoration. I reckon conditions on the recently restored areas will be lethally soft.

As you would expect, not much, if anything, has happened since the start of my short hiatus. The idea to to let the ground settle down and consolidate. Having one deluge after another 'may' assist this process slightly, as huge rain drops beat on the ground. Manor farm was as I left it, two weeks ago. Chandlers farm was eerily quiet - and I doubt it had anything to do with it being a tea break. Not a piece of heavy plant in sight or clank of machinery to be heard. Only the spider armed boulder crushers upper was to be seen, lurking silently on a hill of spoil

Water levels in Manor lake were not very high, despite all the rain and named storms of late. I feel there is a crucial sluice gate missing, one that was on the original plans, namely along the straight channel leading to the culvert under the Longwater road. A sluice gate is needed here to control the flow of water out of Manor farm in a westward direction.

I suspect that MGLG members have set about building a fence of brash and branches to stop access to the north bridlepath. It should stop all but the most determined of walkers, but there were a couple of points in the fence where very easy access is possible with minimal effort. The fence needs more branches.

Unfortunately, this effort is very much like barricading the front door of a castle, whilst leaving a back door wide open. Along the eastern side of the south bridlepath, large sections of fencing have collapsed, allowing walkers, dogs and horses to simply step onto said path.

The two sluice gates have not yet been fitted. Strange that, considering Inert were rearing to get on with the west sluice gate way back in June.

One worry with this break in work is that if it is left too long and work doesn't recommence until next year, then we are in danger of yet more postponements as construction stretches into the breeding season.

Though I do ask whether efforts will be made to provide plenty of pebbly ground for Little Ringed Plovers to breed?

​Needless to say, updates will be sporadic over the next few months.

At the risk of incurring the wrath of SWMBO, I thought I'd sneak in this update before family events begin.

I've heard that the opening date of the Manor farm part of the ex Cemex quarry restoration has been pushed back to summer 2024. A slippage in dates for a major project such as this is not unusual, disappointing, but quite normal.

Many tasks remain to be started, yet alone completed. Fencing the area, for instance, will take quite sometime; and this task cannot really start until the bridlepaths are completed. A number of snags to the path need to be fixed e.g. flooded parts north of the sewage works for one, crossing over the Colebrook for another. Further fettling of Manor lake might be  required after the surveyors were in last week. Add to all this, reduced day light hours, lousy weather and the fast approach of Christmas, and it is apparent that this restoration will not be finished this year.

Another reason for pushing back the opening date, which I completely agree with, is it allows time for the ground to settle and consolidate. A lot of the newly landscaped ground is, as I've often harped on about, lethally soft, with the consistency of quicksand - as my muddy wellingtons up to my knees can testify. And while most of the bridlepath is now quite firm, a few extra months will help the ballast it is made of to pack down solidly.

Right, I have to go off and be nice to people. See y'all in a couple of weeks; as all social media devices may be confiscated for the duration.

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.