Controlled flooding

This morning I dropped Alex off at Stanground Newt Ponds, and then headed on to see the flooding at Stanground Wash. This is a Wildlife Trust reserve that I'm photographing throughout the year, though today I was limited to the Middle Level Barrier Bank, and could only take general views across the site.

We're fortunate that the flooding here is intentional, and protects the surrounding agricultural land. Vermuyden knew a thing or two about flood reservoirs, and the Nene Washes (of which this is part) can accommodate a very large volume of water. They also happen to be an internationally important area for breeding and wintering wildfowl and waders, though this area only seems to support gulls, Canada Geese and swans!

The residents of the Somerset Levels are far less fortunate and I really feel for them at the moment. But I'm very concerned that the current situation is going to provoke a knee-jerk reaction to dredge the rivers. Whilst there may be some value in localised dredging to clear blockages, wholesale dredging is very damaging to wildlife and the environment and produces a minimal increase in capacity. If you think of the Somerset Levels as a bath, it's like widening the plughole marginally, which isn't much use if the taps are full on. It may also move the problem downstream, where there are pinch-points such as bridges and road crossings, and could end up causing more flooding in towns like Taunton and Bridgwater.

The December and January rainfall is unprecedented in recent history, the heaviest since the early 18th Century. What we really need to do is reduce the amount of water reaching the Levels, by providing more flood storage and attenuation upstream. Climate change will lead to more events of this magnitude and we need to be thinking creatively about how best to protect life and property, as well as enhancing the environment.

But attenuation and storage schemes that take land out of agricultural production higher up in the catchment tend not to be popular with landowners who want to maximise their profit margins. And the government will always kow-tow to the landowners because of their money, influence and habit of voting Conservative