It was lovely to see a young family playing in the river in the sunshine this morning – two little boys in their brightly coloured boots: there will be frog spawn before long.   This is a rewarding time of year to be involved with Misbourne matters!

We had a very productive day on 21st February with groups scattered over some two miles of river from Misbourne Farm almost to Cherry Acre.  A little additional work last week by the weekday troop completed the tidying and as much plugging of the leat as we can do and serious blockages on the reach past Mill Farm were cleared.  All this and some gentle husbandry through St Giles left a good strong flow to the far end end of Lower Stone Meadow from where we set about encouraging it on its way to Chalfont St Peter.  As of now, there is significant flow past Cherry Acre and, of course, spring flows resume by the tennis courts and behind the football club in Chalfont St Peter.  We can hope that this good start to the season and our future efforts will achieve the link up of “the two rivers” which, despite huge advances on 2008, was narrowly missed last year.

Some of this can be seen in the various tables, charts and reports on the Facts & Figures page of our website.

There will be plenty to go at during our work party planned for Sunday 28th March including channel clearance immediately upstream of Pheasant Hill, from  Cherry Acre through to Water Hall, and the backstream at Chalfont St Peter, the usual rubbish removal though the villages etc.    I hope it is clear that an hour or two of assistance is very welcome – it is by no means  expected that everyone will want, or be able, to spend the whole day.   If you can join us, please let me know and I will advise more precise details following our planning session at the Three Pigeons, Austenwood Lane, Chalfont St Peter on Thursday 18th March (19.45hrs).  Do join us for a drink and a natter.

The Chiltern Society Misbourne Restoration Project Committee continues to press forward on several fronts as best we can: meeting local contractors, applying for funding grants, arranging flow measurements with our recently acquired equipment at specific locations, etc.    A large amount of information has been received from the Environment Agency that will be very useful in compiling some of the analysis and reports required.  The requirements range from flood risk assessments through to analysis of the possible effect of the proposed work on natural invertebrates and much more in between.   Its a daunting exercise but, little by little, progress is being made towards ensuring a fully informed decision.