In late October, people have started to turn on their heating.

Pigeons are attracted by the warmth they find round chimney pots.

This will be the first winter for many of these birds. They will eat where they can, and find warmth where they can.

Revised plans have been submitted to the Vale of White Horse for the Abingdon Hydro, the community funded project to generate electricity from the River Thames in Abingdon.

Revised plans have been resubmitted because, after the detailed design, the generator house will need to be larger than the original design.

Potential contractors will also need easy access to the site, and so a temporary road from Audlett Drive, and a temporary bridge, (alongside the current footbridge), have been sketched in as part of the plans.

You can see the plans at at P15/V2335/FUL

The government have given until September 2016, for projects with a long lead time like this one, to be generating electricity to get the enhanced ‘feed in tariff’ for generating electricity. Any later and the project’s financial viability would be in question.

Construction is expected to take 6-8 months. Time is now of the essence for these revised plans.

Most of the old gravel quarrys in the South Abingdon, and Radley Lakes Area, have either become lakes, or been filled with waste and landscaped.

There is now a nature path through the big old waste dump off Oday Hill Lane, just to the south of Abingdon.

Nearby there is still a working quarry beside the Sustrans National cycle way.

Bright new signs warn lorry drivers of the need to drive carefully because of the Sustrans Cycle Route.