Photographer releases photo essay focusing on historic Herts chalk stream

A Hitchin-based photographer has shared a stunning photo essay covering the ancient River Mimram in his latest blog post.

Keen photographer Toby Shelley, who has lived in Hitchin for the last 20 years, had already spent the last lockdown exploring Hertfordshire's bountiful greens.

This time round, Toby has delved into the "precious" River Mimram, a river whose origin is so ancient, it's difficult to understand where its very name came from.

The Thames Region Environmental Agency has already worked to study the River Mimram's lowering levels of water flow in recent times, and Toby says it is under threat from environmental changes.

Rising from a spring in Whitwell, near St Paul's Walden, the Mimram snakes its way south weaving in and out of pretty villages and hamlets en route to Hertford where it meets the River Lea.

And Toby's Walsworthblog captures some of the beautiful history, wildlife, eco-system and more in his powerful pictures.

He said: "The Mimram - a name so ancient nobody knows what it means - is one of our internationally rare chalk streams. It is a haven for wildlife. Yet its course has been manipulated and changed by people over the centuries.

"Medieval fish ponds drew from it, water cress farms and water mills have required diversions to the flow, and owners of stately homes had it landscaped. Today the river is threatened by climate change and over extraction of water."

To read on about the Mimram, and enjoy more of Toby's photography, visit walsworthblog.com