Friends of the Wye volunteers took their display to Wooburn Parkfest and Pann Mill Open Day and were pleased to meet many visitors and share information with them about our important chalk stream.

At Pann Mill, in addition to our display of live river wildlife, we exhibited a map showing the full course of the river marked with locations of, and information about, the many mills which once harnessed the power of the water.

Our thanks to all the volunteers who helped with the displays.

Friends of the Wye Conservation Volunteers were in action, litter picking and removing overgrown vegetation from the stream.

There was more litter than expected both in the river and on the banks and heavy barrow loads of excess vegetation had to be moved to where the Council Contractors could collect it.

None of this was a problem to our intrepid volunteers who worked very hard and they completed the work with the help of a much needed break for tea and biscuits! The task was made easier by the fact that it was a sunny day and the surroundings are very beautiful, as can be seen by the photo.

The ‘in river’ volunteers then started to dismantle several ‘bridges’ built by (probably) Dads and kids which were restricting the river flow, and doing some heavy lifting to get them to the banks where they can be very quickly removed by the Rangers before they end up in the same place. They also unblocked the fence in the stream at Hughenden Park – this was why we started the dialogue with the National Trust. The stream is now flowing freely again into the Park where we did clearance work at the end of 2021.

We made massive progress, finished the task and definitely impressed Nick with our enthusiasm. He would now like us to continue the relationship that we have built, and has asked us for a date when we will return to carry on from where we finished.