I usually cycle to Radley Lakes and padlock the bike near a side gate. This time, there were hundreds of tiny toadstools near the entrance.

Inside the gate were late-season blackberries in the same place where blackberries could be found in July and August.

The first glimpse of water was of Bullfield Lake through trees. Thrupp Lake is more accessible with clearings between the trees. The water first reflected green banks, then as the view stretched to a more distant shore, the water reflected the grey-blue sky and white and grey clouds.

A dragonfly hovered, moved on and hovered again. Michaelmas daisies were in flower.

I was not the only person there, but I was the only person walking alone. I said hello to two couples, the first walking a dog, the next without a dog. The lake does seem to have more visitors since the new car park was added during the summer.

When I got to the wooden walkway over the corner of the lake there were lots of ducks and coots – eating the surface weed that is thick there. With them were younger ducks, their adult feathers showing through the feathers of youth.

Water lily flowers were still blooming in another corner. The water usually laps the platform nearby, but now the water was some feet out and I could step down onto dry mud and twigs without sinking. The water has gone down after the dry summer. I wonder if it would ever dry up completely.

As I looked back across the wide lake, there were far more Michaelmas daisies on the near side.

There were cormorants on the nearest island and even more on the island beyond.

Further on, where the biggest excavated mound rises, a family was out. Dad was with his son, who has a small BMX, and mum was with the toddler, who has a push-along bike and making brrm brrm brrm noises. I climbed and heard more BMX bikes. Later one roared up the steep incline and down the far side.

I walked down to look at Orchard Lake on the far side and saw that it has dried to the point where it could almost be crossed by foot. A single heron was down at the far end.

Walking back, I looked through sedges to the twinkling of bright water where the heron must be. Then back through the big iron gates and to the gate where I left my bike.

St Ethelwold’s garden is open for all to find peace and inspiration. A display of pictures, inside St Ethelwold’s House, shows the garden over the last six decades.

Two volunteer gardeners were working today. In 2021, the gardeners introduced an irrigation system – more efficient than hosepipes – that other gardeners could copy.

Many flowers are blooming, making the garden popular with insects, particularly bumble bees and honey bees.

There are also flowers to feed butterflies.

There is an area for growing fruit and vegetables.

As you leave, you can take produce and seeds and magazines and leave a money donation. Cooking and eating apples are abundant at the end of August.

During the summer, information boards and seats have appeared around Radley Lakes. This information board and these seats are in Barton Fields.

The Radley Lakes area was farmland, which the railway passed through. From 1955 major gravel extraction began. Some of the pits filled with water, others were filled with fuel ash from Didcot power station and are now covered with trees and sedges. The Abingdon railway branch closed and became part of a national cycle path.

There are new seats with a view of the largest lake, Thrupp Lake.

How many sorts of bird can you see in this picture?

Swans were waterweed dipping nearby.

Coots were waterweed diving near the wooden walkway in one corner of Thrupp Lake. The surface is covered with feathers in this corner, or perhaps they are flying seeds.

In another corner a colony of water lilies bloomed.

On the other side of the national cycle path, Orchard Lake has dried up this summer.

You can see an adult heron and a young heron at the end of Orchard Lake. The other young flew off.