Chesham Environmental Group

09/10/2026

09/10/2026

Earlier this week Chesham Environmental Group held a work party focussed on the Chesham Wetland Area. We were pleased to welcome some volunteers from a local business, 3 Way Displays, who did some great work with us!

The forecasted light rain showers we experienced while we were working did not dampen anyone’s spirits 😊
 
We had the following objectives for our session, which we achieved successfully:

* coppice a proportion of the willow in the north section, as part of an ongoing maintenance programme
* use some of the willow cuttings to further reinforce the otter holt we have been building (no takers yet!)
* create a sustainable channel in the main wetland area for use by wetland species, including water voles
 
We also collected 4 full bags of litter from the surrounding area. We notified the waste team at Bucks Council, which will arrange collection of the bags (thank you BC!).

21/09/2026

Yesterday a team of 16 CEG volunteers met up to work on the stretch of the River Chess from the Queens Head pub downstream to Meades Water Garden. We were pleased to welcome some new volunteers, and we are very grateful for their enthusiastic help!
 
Our aim was to sensitively clear any vegetation or fallen branches from impeding the flow of the river, so that when the autumn rains come the river can cope. We were mindful to retain valuable plants such as Water Crowfoot (ranunculus aquatilis), which help to oxygenate the water for aquatic life.
 
We also collected 7 full bags of litter from the river and surrounding area, along with 20 disposable vapes, some car parts and 3 footballs (we kept one, because re-use is better than recycling!) We have notified the waste team at Bucks Council, which will arrange collection of the bags (thank you BC!).

19/09/2026

Some of our volunteers working with the Chilterns Chalk Streams Project to try and eradicate Japanese Knotweed along the River Chess!

11/09/2026

CEG held a special work party earlier this week to clear an area beside Chesham Moor where Japanese knotweed has (re)appeared.

The area had become overgrown with blackthorn, brambles and nettles, which meant access to the Japanese knotweed (JKW) was very difficult. There was a steep slope down to the area where the JKW was located, and so we also had to dig out some basic steps to get in and out of the area.

As part of the clearance work, we were careful not to disturb the JKW itself, which will be treated by stem injection with a herbicide at a later date. The stem injection will be done by trained volunteers from CEG led by Chilterns National Landscape and with permission of the Environment Agency.
 
As many of you will know, JKW is an invasive non-native plant. It was brought to the UK as a curiosity from Japan by Victorian botanists, and was then cultivated and sold to the public as an ornamental plant.

It was only later that its rapid propagation and destructive power was realised. It out-competes native plants, contributes to river bank erosion, and increases the likelihood of flooding. It also damages manmade structures like buildings, roads and walls as it can grow through these materials and break them in the process.

Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it became illegal to plant or allow JKW to grow in the wild. JKW is also classified as “controlled waste” under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
 
Please see some photos of 4 of our hard working volunteers in action. Many thanks for their great efforts. They really do look like they are hacking their way through a jungle..!

04/09/2026

On Wednesday this week we had 6 volunteers come to our work party in the Co-op Field to complete a number of tasks in our nature corner.

The weather was a little wet, which was great for the field’s flora and fauna but perhaps explains the smaller volunteer turnout. The volunteers who came were very hard working, and we are grateful for what they have achieved!

We focussed on the following tasks in preparation for commencement of autumn:

* Cutting back brambles and blackthorn bushes around the bug hotel
* Clearing the bee scrape of encroaching grasses
* Clearing the herb and wildflower patch of ingress of grass
* Laying of a number of new slow worm mats

We also collected up some litter in the immediate vicinity of the nature corner. As we didn’t have so many of us, we didn’t undertake our usual litter pick around the area.

17/08/2026

Yesterday we had 21 volunteers come to our work party, and they undertook three parallel streams of activities along Moor Road in Chesham;
 
1. Creating a clearing among the reeds in Chesham Wetland Area, to encourage other plants to establish themselves, which in turn will attract more wildlife.
2. Trimming back vegetation along the Riverside Footpath, to make is easier to walk along.  This is a section of the Chess Valley Walk, and so it is heavily used.
3. Litter picking around the area, which is a regular activity wherever we are.  Sadly, a minority in our community continue to throw their waste everywhere.
 
This above work was completed successfully. Our volunteers did a really great job! They came from as far away as South London, Pinner, Little Chalfont and High Wycombe to join us, some traveling for several hours on public transport to get here. 

For some, this was their first time volunteering with us, which is great, and hope to see you again.  We thank everyone for the time and effort they put into today’s work. Our community, and our wildlife, really appreciates it.
 
Besides the clearance work we did, we also collected 14 full litter bags, as described below:
* 7 purple bags of general rubbish
* 6 blue bags of recyclable litter (cans, bottles, hard plastic items). 
* 1 clear bag of hazardous litter (disposable vapes, cigarette lighters, batteries and 2 NOX canisters).
 
We also collected the following fly-tipped materials:
* 1 HP printer
* Several plastic car parts
* Several cardboard pizza boxes
 
The above items were placed at the entrance to the public car park on Moor Road for collection by Bucks Council’s waste team. We labelled this collection of bags as being the result of a litter pick (so no-one thinks it is fly-tipping).

06/08/2026

We had a productive litter picking session yesterday morning. I resisted saying it was a “good session“ this time because finding litter on our streets is never good. But it was productive in the sense that we cleared the litter from some of our streets.

We covered Pond Park Road, Bellingdon Road, Deansway, Elm Tree Hill, Lowndes Avenue and neighbouring streets. Nine volunteers came along to this session, mostly regulars but also a couple of new faces who were lovely to meet!

We collected 16 full litter bags, as described below:
* 8 purple bags of general rubbish
* 7 blue bags of recyclable litter (cans, bottles, hard plastic items).
* 1 clear bag of hazardous litter (disposable vapes, cigarette lighters, batteries and 2 NOX canisters).

We also collected the following fly-tipped materials:
* 1 car wheel + tyre
* 1 satellite dish
* 1 electric fan motor

The above items have been placed at the junction of Deansway and Bellingdon Road for collection by Bucks Council’s waste team (thanks to BC, as always!). We have also labelled this collection of bags as being the result of a litter pick (so no-one thinks it is fly-tipping).

See a few photos of our litter picking heroes.

02/08/2026

Earlier this week a small group of CEG volunteers and a Chiltern Society River Ranger worked to clear a channel through vegetation in a tributary of the River Chess.

This tributary originates from the spring-fed lagoon beside Millfields and runs through the Duke of Bedford allotments to Bois Moor Road, where it passes underneath and joins the recently restored side stream at the north end of Chesham Moor.

We cut back excess growth of flag irises and sweet grass which was restricting the flow, and created a meandering channel to encourage natural habitats for wildlife.

We placed the cuttings on the bank for invertebrates to wriggle back into the stream.
As you can see in the photos, a family of ducks were delighted to see the flow return and came to feed where we had been working.

29/07/2026