It was a shame we couldn't meet up with John yesterday, but it did mean that we got to spend another afternoon wandering around Wivenhoe. We met him in the cafe and proceeded to explore the narrow and sometimes unmade streets of the town, which were full of all kinds of interesting houses and residents, quite a few of whom John knew and he waved or said hello as we passed them in the street. You could tell John was connected to the landscape just by the way that he spoke about the layout of the town and the language he used. He too is a member of Living Maps and has a lot of technical and IT knowledge which was a great help in adding to what we learned from Phil the previous day. He is helping us look at a way of making a digital map that everyone can contribute their knowledge and experiences of the River Stour to, so that we can share this fascinating and many layered information and access it whilst out in the landscape.

We finished the walk with a pint in the Black Buoy and joined some of John's family for a friendly chat in the pub garden.

We were invited over to Wivenhoe today for lunch, and a possible sail, with Phil Cohen and Jean McNeil to discuss the project and ideas of mapping which we could possibly use for the project. We've been exploring ways to bring all of the strands of documentation together, and to make all of the information accessible during and after the project. Phil is a member of the Living Maps Network and it was great to chat with him about potential solutions.

After a fantastic lunch we went for a stroll through the town to the Wivenhoe Sailing Club pontoon to prepare his boat 'Gimble', a 14 foot gaff rigged tideway, in readiness for a trip up the River Colne. Yes, it's not connected to the Stour, but it was great to spend some time on the water testing my sea legs (which were fine) and reacquainting myself with all the necessary techniques. We even had time for a cup of tea and a slice of cake on the shore near Alresford Creek.

Darren Tansley was one of the first people that we contacted when we started on the project. He works for the Essex Wildlife Trust, as well as being involved with many other projects, and has had a keen interest in nature since he was a boy hiding out in the woods at Arger Fen to watch the badgers, which is exactly where we met him on this bank holiday morning. 

His knowledge of the terrain, trees, plants and wildlife was fascinating and we spent a good few hours walking around the woods and open scrubland in search of interesting finds. One of the main topics of conversation was deer, and even though we didn't see any we did see evidence of their having been around: the 'munterway' paths that the Muntjac deer make in the undergrowth by following regular routes through the woods, nibbled bluebells, and sometimes a 'browsing line' if a lot of deer eat everything within their reach. 

Darren pointed out lots of tree varieties, how you could tell if a tree grew in a dense or thin area even if that area was different now and trees that were healthier as they were growing on the site of an old ditch. There was also a lot of ash dieback in an area that was previously agricultural land, but not present in the more mature woodland. The difference between habitats was quite markedly different in areas within close proximity and even though the areas are managed a reasonable level of natural redevelopment has been encouraged.

​Ruth had only heard about Mushroom Matt (botanist Matthew Rooney) on the Friday but managed to arrange a walk with him on the Monday. He had agreed to meet us at the car park in Dedham at 2 o'clock and even though we didn't know what he looked like we soon found him, and on time. 

Matt is known for his foraging workshops with Carl Shillingford around Essex and Suffolk, all of which were fully booked, so we were very happy he'd agreed to meet us on Bank Holiday Monday between his busy schedule as a full time mushroom farmer and forager. Even though we both had some knowledge and experience of foraging, in various locations, we were looking forward to sharing someone else's in a new place.

There is much of the rivers length that we haven't covered so any chance to explore a new section, we had to take, and a small window of time appeared this evening. We drove out to Bures and parked up near Water Lane, where last year on another project I had lost my microphone connector from the tripod.  Learning our lesson from last time, we were properly prepared with an Ordnance Survey map so quickly found the path heading north along the river valley. First thing we noticed was a man walking his dog who bid us good evening, before continuing along the well-defined path. We quickly came upon a willow plantation, some of which had recently been harvested. It was interesting to see it being farmed in this way with various areas at different stages of cultivation. We passed the man with the dog again and he stopped for a chat to tell us about the process and more about the local area. He was very friendly, and wanted to appear in our film, although he said he had no special talents. His dog, who was also very friendly, was called Socks. As we were talking a very large bird flew overhead which to me looked like a swan, but he said it was a stork. The wings made a beautiful soft sound as it passed directly over us... such a shame that we weren't recording. ​