Walking beside the Mill Stream, which flows from the weir near the Abbey Grounds, I spotted a swan family.

There was also a parent moorhen with two young. They have grown a lot since the last time I saw them. There is so much undergrowth on the river that the others may or may not have been about.

I also saw what looked like a small fire and thought somebody was camping.

A heron was waiting for fish at the weir. The weir walkway is still closed because of safety concerns.

On the way back, I saw the fire had grown much larger. A couple had stopped to watch, and on the far bank, three or four people were actively gathering wood and throwing it onto the flames. The surrounding vegetation was dry and looked ready to catch fire, posing a real risk to nearby trees and wildlife.

We shouted at them to stop, but they ignored us and carried on. The lady called the emergency services, and we made our way around via the bridge to try to locate the fire. It was clearly visible from the Snakes and Ladders car park, and was still burning between Protyre and the Mill Stream — but access was blocked by a fence.

As we reached the fence, the people responsible ran off, and then the fire brigade arrived. The firefighters knew of another way in and drove round to reach the fire from there.

Nick sent me photos of a tree in Abbey Meadow, near the children’s play area, that has been stripped of its leaves by caterpillars. It is the only tree that has been attacked.

Silken sheets are visible between twigs, with many caterpillars living inside. They leave their protective tents to feed and return afterward.

The trees trunks are also surrounded in silk. Here is one caterpillar outside the silk, and inside — near the trunk — a pupa within its cocoon.

More swans than usual gather near the Wilsham Road railing, where people throw bread to the birds. I counted ten today. Someone I spoke to had counted fifteen another day. In past years, a breeding pair drove others away, but they are absent this year. Without them, juvenile swans gather.

I watched two moorhens with five chicks cross the river.

They passed in front of three swans. One swan tried to peck at a chick.

A moorhen flew at the swan and the swan thrashed away in surprise. The other moorhen led the chicks into cover.

Without the breeding swan pair, the balance has changed this year.

Recent tree planting at Abbey Meadow in Abingdon has introduced a mix of native and non-native species aimed at enhancing biodiversity to provide habitat and food sources for wildlife.

Most notably, around 32 new Sequoia (Redwood) trees — possibly Sequoia sempervirens (Coast Redwoods) — were planted. These have been arranged in a large circle, with each tree spaced about twelve yards apart, forming what some local residents have begun calling ‘Tree Henge.’ I received an email from Nick about its sudden appearance; he noted that it seemed to have arrived without much public explanation.

There was, however, a press release from Vale of White Horse District Council (VWHDC), but it covered a broad range of biodiversity projects. With so much going on, it was easy to miss the specific mention of Tree Henge – a case of not seeing the Henge for the wood.

A wooden sign featuring a bird has also been put in nearby to explain why the area is being allowed to go wild. Similar signs have appeared in other rewilded spaces maintained by VWHDC.