PROJECT OVERVIEW
This project delivered 271 NFM interventions through 20 schemes in 18 months. Where possible we tried to “Start at the Top” of each watercourse near to communities such as Chipping Campden, Ilmington, and Blockley, but implementation would always have to fit around landowner preferences, weather conditions and contractor availability. We gradually worked our way down Knee Brook, Marbrook, and Blockley Brook towards the Shipston Basin, and when the EA provided a further tranche of funding we were able to add 3 further schemes and 40 leaky dams on Pig Brook.
A range of monitoring equipment was installed in 6 different locations, 4 baseline habitat surveys were undertaken by the EA, and ongoing community monitoring responsibilities were taken on by SAFAG volunteers. The map above shows the spread and type of intervention installed, and helps to illustrate that there is still plenty of potential for further NFM in this half of the catchment.
KEY FEATURES
PROJECT 1 SCHEMES
Below are examples of the schemes that have been implemented in this project.
Kneebrook
1200m of river
30 Dams
October 2018
This is a straightforward scheme of 30 dams at the very top of Kneebrook. The landowner has been fully supportive despite having doubts about the efficacy of NFM. He has now reported that some of the fields along the dammed brook flooded and held back water for five hours after heavy rainfall in winter 2019, and was happy for us to install 20 more dams on his land in 2020.
Blockley Brook
400m of river
11 Sediment traps and 600 hedging whips
May and November 2018
Residents in Blockley reported flood issues caused by water running from arable fields and onto Days Lane. This scheme diverted run-off water from the fields into a series of 11 sediment traps, and planted over 600 whips to form a substantial area of woodland, on the edge of the field upstream of the residential areas. The scheme has greatly succeeded in reducing sediment run-off down the lane.
River Cam tributaries
300m of river
12 dams, 2 inline bunds and a large offline storage area
October 2017
A combination of dams and bunds were installed at the top of this sub-catchment. The large bund in the photo is capable of holding over 3 million litres of flood water.
Paddlebrook, Pig Brook and a tributary of Knee Brook
1.7km of river
4 ponds, 3 offline storage areas and 34 dams
October 2017 and may 2018
With great support from the landowner on this estate we were able to install a variety of NFM interventions above the confluence of two important tributaries, and a further set at the top of Pig Brook which flows in to the Stour just above Shipston itself.
Comments are closed.