Photos from walk on Thursday 12th September from Chimney Meadows

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Shifford Lock Cut Footbridge is a wooden footbridge which crosses the Shifford Lock Cut, a half-mile channel made in 1898 to enable boats to pass the shallow meander in the River Thames here. The bridge gives twelve feet of clearance.

 

The bridge carries a footpath which joins two hamlets on either side of the river: Chimney  (just west of the bridge) and Duxford to the south. The path to Duxford requires crossing a ford across the Thames.

 

The original bridge was built at the same time as the cut was made, in 1898.

 

Tenfoot Bridge: The name derives from a pre-existing weir which had a 10-foot-wide flash lock in it. In 1867 there were complaints about the state of the weir bridge and after a dispute, the Thames Conservancy removed the weir and built the bridge two years later.

 

We were heading for Tadpole Bridge, which dates from the late 18th century, the earliest reference to it being in 1784. It is built of stone, and consists of one large arch.

 

Thames Path through willows

 

Then it rained, and hailed

 

So we came back past Tenfoot Bridge again

 

And the sun came out…

 

Pill-Boxes

 

We passed three pill-boxes, probably Type 22, the second most common pill-box type with 1,347 recorded as being extant. It is easily confused with the common Type 24 (1724 recorded), which is an irregular hexagon.

 

The east-most box, by the bird hide (SP3600)

 

The pill-box by the Tenfoot Bridge (SU3599)

 

The west-most one near Tadpole Bridge (SP3400)

 

The wall of the west-most box

 

Nature Notes

 

A good day for jumping things.

 

A pair of Roesel’s Bush-crickets (Roeseliana roeselii)

 

And two separate Meadow Grasshoppers (Chorthippus parallelus)

 

 

Maybe a Tiger Marsh Fly (Helophilus pendulus)

 

A Sawfly (Apethymus filiformis)

 

Fungus season is starting. On the path Clustered Brittlestem (Psathyrella multipedata)

 

While the butterfly season is not yet over. Green-veined White (Pieris napi)

 

Finally, “growths” on a nettle leaf. These are Galls, and this gall is inhabited by the parasitic larva of the Nettle Pouch Gall Midge (Dasineura urticae). The larva emits a chemical which stimulates growth and feeds on the juices and tissue produced inside the gall cavity. A slit in the top of the gall (red) provides an exit point.

 

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