The last day of September began with a tidy up. Early in the morning a van working for the Vale of White Horse District Council was out tidying the area at the start of the day.

A couple of days ago there was the sound of a sawing and undergrowth being cleared near the phone mast. Today the reason became clear. This morning engineers were installing new equipment on the mast using a lift.

The information board about the Mill Stream tells the story of the Abbey fulling mill. A photograph by Taunt in 1890 is labelled as ‘the probable old fulling mill’. The same building now forms part of the Cosener’s House conference centre. A fulling mill would have used fuller’s earth to clean wool, removing grease so the wool could soak up dye better.

There are still plenty of ducks about, and a few moorhen. Leaves begin to fall and float on the water

More ducks gather at what seems to be a good feeding spot at the weir.

Michaelmas daisies, Meadowsweet and Mallows add some late colour. They still grow at the margin above the weir. But there are not many flowers along the Millstream.

Apart from Ivy flowers. If they can be called flowers. The bees gather round them. They must provide nectar for the winter.