We were very pleased with what we achieved last Sunday at both CStG and upstream of the tennis courts at CStP.    At CStG we cleared “tons” of choking weed, dramatically alleviating the boggy patches on the path between the bridges and, at CStP,   flow was re-established to within a few hundred yards of the tennis courts.  At both ends, people certainly got very wet and muddy and also appeared to have a lot of fun.   As always, It was really good to welcome some new volunteers and to continue to receive consistent support.

Revive the Wye, a local community partnership working to restore and revitalise the River Wye, is hosting a “master class” on river habitat enhancement by the Wild Trout Trust.  The event is aimed at providing local river volunteer groups with the knowledge they need to carry out sensitive and achievable river habitat enhancements on their rivers. It will be held on Wednesday 25th August at Kingsmead in High Wycombe and take the form of a practical workshop where a dozen or so attendees from various organisations like ours will be able to practice methods  to create habitat diversity (and avoid damage).  If you could attend on our behalf, please contact Roger Lerry – rogertlerry@talktalk.net – so that he can add your name to the list and send you further information about the day.  (Note: he tells me the Chiltern Society can provide waders).

While talking of lists, we now have a good pool of people from whom to draw for the regular flow measurements we are now undertaking, but more are always welcome.  I’m told it is an enjoyable day, with a convivial break in the middle.  No doubt offers of assistance for half a shift would be well received.   Basically, it involves 3 or so people in a team, water, stop watches, a couple of  not very complicated gadgets, a tape measure and waders.  Please let me know if you would like to become involved and I will forward your details.  

Some excellent work by members Adrian Marsh (an environmentalist) and Helen Ash (hydrologist) was reviewed enthusiastically at a recent meeting of the CS Restoring the Misbourne Steering Group.  We hope that it will facilitate the long sought for agreement with the EA on the way forward to long term substantial improvements at the leat and the London Road dump.
I’m keen to hear from more people who would like to undertake some of the fieldwork – habitat surveys etc. – being mooted by Adrian.  In a separate development, we have been invited to meet with the EA for a workshop to look at prioritising habitat restoration for the River, under their “Sustainable Abstraction Programme”.  

 Wanted:- 

• a couple more old 1 cubic metre/ 1 tonne builder’s merchants bags
• scythe(s)
• sickle(s)/bill hook(s)/brush hook(s)
• a petrol strimmer

Our next “not a meeting” – i.e a friendly, vaguely river related, non-structured chat over a drink – will be at The Three Pigeons, Austenwood Lane, Chalfont St Peter next Tuesday 24th July at 7.45 p.m.  Find us to the right of the bar.  

After that, we should be back onto the programme originally published at the beginning of the year and so our next work day will be Saturday 31st July.   Even though there is no water at present – (apologies to anyone caught in a downpour today!) –  there is still much to do at St Peter, particularly tidying the unsightly, overgrown central areas and also working with the “heavy gang” encouraging flow towards the village.  At St Giles, the priority will be to continue clearing from where we reached last Sunday, just past the blasted chestnut tree, through to the open fields.   Having achieved the main target of draining the boggy areas, the aim now is to ensure maximum flow on into the fields, leading to further improvement.