Taking this letter to send while away on holiday was not a great idea as the IT wasn’t up to it: now it can be a two-for-one edition.

We did concentrate on Chalfont St Giles last month (July) and, in just a couple of hours, removed sufficient obstructions to lower the river level by some 15 centimetres – enough to change the flow from ‘out of the river onto the path’ to ‘from the path into the river’.  Returning the following day, it was satisfying to see the path dry and in much use.  Given the delight of the river through CStG, it is surprising that it is so neglected and it takes volunteers from CStP (with, to be fair, 2 from St Giles – 1 aged approx.11) to take any action.  Perhaps, if we had been a little earlier, The Show Committee would not have felt compelled to move away to Narcot Lane.  Groundwater levels have, of course, been dropping predictably through the summer and are now well over a metre below bed level.




There are indications of growing interest in the river through Old Amersham and we look forward to joining forces and improving the lovely area by the Old Mill.  Talking of mills, we had a really interesting poke about around Quarrendon Mill with Allen Beechey of the Chiltern Conservation Board.  We were looking at the way the river had attempted to follow an old course from long ago, through the wheat fields, during the winter floods and found it had caused a minor landslip which exposed a cross section of old gravel bed as it curved back to the existing channel.  Quarrendon Mill is one of, I believe, 12 mills that used to work the Misbourne.

Not absent have been fish!  Good to see the children out with their nets and jam-jars (hopefully they put at least some back) or just looking.  The invertebrate monitors note various stickleback, bullhead and other.  If you look in the fields upstream of Little Missenden, you may see a trout.

For one reason and and another, although we normally manage about one a month between February and November, we haven’t got round to a work party in August.  Our next will be on Sunday 7th September –  please let me know if you can join us – details to follow when we know numbers.