he original River Avon was diverted from the Upavon end to East Chisenbury to run the Old Mill. In 1976 the River Avon that ran through East Chisenbury was down to its lowest level for some years. The Avon water authority added plastic water booms at distances up the river to contain the run away water flow. The hatches at Chisenbury held back thousands and thousands of gallons of water. The sad thing was the flow down the back leat and out again all dried up. Therefore all the silver minnows died and the food for the kingfishers and their young were lost and those birds were never seen again on the lower Dordogne. Ladybirds were plentiful on the ground. The trout fishing really suffered, there was not much weed cutting to be done. All the owls were still evident. The barn, brown and small French owls remained and the swallows continued to return to the Priory each year. They nested in the pump-room, also in the porch of Priory cottage. There were always several hedge-hog nests to be found within the grounds. The large barn-owls circled the fields in search of tasty snacks.