IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Hedley Close, AYLESBURY, HP22 5BF

Note the brown pile of vegetation. Several such piles occur along the bank as a result of management activities. For more information on this disused canal see Image

See Image

When the current work on the Canal east of Drayton Beauchamp open the water level here is likely to rise. I wonder if there is a danger of the bank being inadequate to prevent leakage into some of the gardens, which are at a lower level. See Image

A row of trees has been cut down by the house opposite within the last year.

Because there is only a tall hedge on the north side of the disused canal at this point plenty of sunlight reaches the water. As a result the water-edge vegetation is more varied and there are more water plants growing in the clear flowing water than in the shadier reaches of the canal. Wildlife seems happier here than in the parts of the canal which are heavily shaded by tall hedges on both sides, and is very much more plentiful and varied than in the navigable parts of the canal, where the silt is regularly churned up by passing boats and the water is so opaque that plant life cannot grow underwater. See Image

On the canal side the tall hedge is backed by a field at this point – but just round the bend in the distance a modern housing estate backs onto the disused canal. For instance see Image On the towpath side the hedge is vigorously trimmed – and a few years ago there were major engineering works on the other side of the hedge – when the water company laid a new pipeline from one of their pumping stations Image See Image

One of the delights of the disused section of the Wendover Arm is that there is a good footpath close to clear running water – which makes it an excellent place to watch the various species of water birds – and even get close enough to take modest photographs of the birds with a pocket-sized camera.

There is a street of houses along here all backing onto the disused Wendover canal. Different people, different methods. Some ignore the canal completely and have a mess of weeds at the end of the garden. Some clear out their side for a bit of a water feature but leave the other side alone. And the people here have opened the whole lot up to give a view over the fields opposite.