Updated 30 Nov 2006

Planting a new oakwood in Dorset

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Water problems 2006

As usual, the summer 2006 drought lasted 19 weeks, and broke mid October with 7 days of heavy rain. A month later, 10 days of heavy rain finally drove the river over its banks, drenching the floodplain on surrounding fields, including the Reserve and the Plantation. Not too bad if the owner has seen it all before, the saplings seem to survive and the mice and beetles in the grass return. Dramatic graphical records and Description of the Flood are worth looking at.

19 Oct 06. The end of Summer. After 19 weeks of drought and low river, the first heavy rains of Autumn start to swell the Stour. An area of thick duckweed near the level measurer is stirred into swirling patterns before being swept away towards the sea.
It was a significant, eerie and moving sight. My shadow lies across the weed.

27 Nov 06. First Flood of the year. Twelve hours after the peak, the scrape still has competition from a very large puddle, but the decoy ducks look happy. The whole plantation is very soggy and every sapling stands in its own puddle.
The peak of the flood was near midnight, impossible to photograph

27 Nov 06. Bridge over troubled water. The North ditch is full, justifying the simple bridge I built. To read the water level of the river Stour, nearly every day I cross this bridge, and cross the field beyond (the path is usually dry). Then between the two trees and 200 yards over another field to the river bank. Here is sited the white graduated scale (see photo above left) The results of three years recording can be seen on the
river graphs I keep.

25 Nov 06. Cumberland Gap. The muddiest part of the Reserve. We found a pile of old cheap crazy paving, and with a load of gravel and 10 fenceposts, tried to solve the problem. When the water table rose just before the November Flood, the "Cumberland Gap" still flooded, but now it was easy to walk across with wellies and a stick. With a few more flagstones and gravel, we could even take our LandRover across. I guess the name we chose for this damp fieldgate shows our age! (Plantation in distance).