A good day at Chalfont St Giles Show last Saturday with several of you visiting the stall for a chat, which was lovely, and several new sign-ups – Welcome to them!   As ever, the display of live invertebrates from a kick sample teeming with creatures – including 3 bullheads, a crayfish and even a stonefly nymph – attracted many young visitors and much attention: many thanks to Mike Lowings for all that.  Great to talk with a gentleman who lived in Mill House, Mill Lane as a young lad and remembered Mill Farm as a proper farm with pigs (Compare the current housing development on the site!).  Several visitors and a recent email commented on trout in the river at Amersham.

However, it was disappointing to learn from visitors that the Amersham Balancing Tanks had discharged sewage in to the river again during the 2 – 3 mm of rain last Tuesday, with the stench reaching as far as Mill Lane.  We have a meeting Thameswater for an update on the system improvements on 17th September and will seek an explanation.  A brief discharge was also recorded from Gerrard’s Cross sewage works on Saturday when there was no appreciable rainfall.

Dave Anderson reports that groundwater levels are on average about 1.4 meters below this time last year.  However, even so, they are still more than 60 cms above average for the time of year, reflecting just how much water was in the aquifer at the end of spring last year (2024); also, possibly the effect of the reductions in abstraction over the last 25 years.

The new venue for our “not-a-meetings” at CStP cricket club was again much appreciated last Monday with good and varied discussion (and good beer).  One resolution was to seek to clarify the locations of stands of the invasive Himalayan Balsam ready for a meaningful operation to combat it late next spring.  For clarification, Orange Balsam is termed “a naturalised invasive” species and, as discussed, not currently considered of significant concern and not appearing in the “Schedule 9” list of regulated species.

We have booked there again for Monday evening 29th September from 7.15pm.  As always, all welcome!

We will have work parties starting 10.00 a.m. on Thursday 18th September and on Saturday 20th, probably in the CStGiles area.  Please let me know if you can join one or both and your shoe size (for waders)  and I will send “orders of the day” just before.  Maybe others will also post ad hoc tidy-ups on our WhatsApp?