Four cygnets, in their grey and white feathering, are still with mum and dad on the River Thames in Abingdon. They will probably stay together until mum and dad start thinking about next year’s brood.

On Nags Head Island the hire boats of the Abingdon Boat Centre – normally to be found stood up on oil drums during the off season – are nowhere to be seen.

The Abingdon Boat Centre say on their web site “Please note that our boat hire season has ended earlier than normal this year as we are planning to renew our efforts to have the site redeveloped.

Our vision for the site based on our own original scheme for redevelopment includes a new chandlery, workshop, improved boating facilities and a restaurant at first floor level.”

Just across the river, work on the last phase of the Old Gaol is well underway, and the new structure for one of the new ground floor restaurants is outlined by steel girders.

The side of the River Thames opposite Wilsham Road, in Abingdon, has had a dredging boat in position for a couple of weeks. The plan must be to make the Thames through Abingdon more easy to navigate. A number of pleasure boats have run aground here over recent months, despite a warning buoy.