UKC

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/29/deluge-farmers-flood-g...

If the (reader dependent) sticking points of it either being in the Guardian or written by Monbiot can be overcome, he makes some valid points about moor management and the value (ecological and societal) of subsidies.

In reply to Timmd:

Yes and we're paying for his damage to done. Fortunately above the Holme Valley much of the land is owned by Yorkshire Water and the National Trust. They have blocked up many of the drains cut into the peat by the grouse shotting fraternity. The moor might be wetter but at least it retains more water.

In reply to Timmd:

I'd love to see the 'lower' fields flooded in times of heavy rainfall and not just in winter. But having some experience of being involved with landowners whose land was adjacent to a small river in the Peak and their reluctance to give it up for the sake of a few cattle and sheep it would be bloody hard if not impossible to convince potentially hundreds, certainly tens of farmers to allow their land to return to nature. Granted these areas could still be grazed but this will take a generation before it happens.

if it were to happen i can only imagine a lovely crisp winters evening with hundreds and thousands of waders and wildfowl in the winter months but as i say i fear its either a long way off or it wont happen at all.

In reply to Removed UserDeleted bagger:

Similar is being done on Kinder I gather.

In reply to Timmd:

All true no doubt. But the amount of rain falling is astonishing. I've experienced a couple of days of it in the lakes, no more, before the current deluge and it is like a monsoon. A nonstop torrential deluge. I would be surprised if any conservative measures like stopping drainage and planting trees would have much effect.

In reply to Timmd:

I like the ideas around reintroduced wildlife like beavers and wolves and the effect they have on their environment particularly river flows either directly (beaver) or indirectly (wolves)

In reply to Removed UserDeleted bagger:


This sort of work is taking place throughout the Peak District - the majority is co-ordinated by Moors for the Future http://www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk

In reply to Denzil:

Sadly we have the opposite here in Calderdale - intensive grouse moor management partly funded by the tax-payer

In reply to Timmd:

Very interesting - thanks for sharing

In reply to Removed UserDeleted bagger:

Restoration and rewetting of upland bogs/moors is going on all across the UK - Yorkshire, Exeter, North Wales, Peak District. A lot of this is being done for reasons to do with altering carbon cycling. People also seem to be expecting that this will change hydrology downstream and reduce flooding, but there doesn't seem to be much data on this yet. The second to last presentation download here has some data:
http://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/resources/conference-2014-presenta...

In reply to Mike Peacock:

Thanks for the link, very imformative.

I'll read and then quiz my brother in law who is a hydrologist.