Comments on: New life for Dorset’s wild chalk rivers http://realwestdorset.co.uk/2011/01/new-life-for-dorsets-wild-chalk-rivers/ Bridport & West Dorset News, Views, Videos & Curiosities Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:52:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 By: Sarah Williams http://realwestdorset.co.uk/2011/01/new-life-for-dorsets-wild-chalk-rivers/#comment-434 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:36:47 +0000 http://realwestdorset.co.uk/wordpress/?p=5360#comment-434 The South Winterbourne, like many other chalk streams, have been altered over the centuries; many are in straight stone-lined channels feeding old mills, or perched above the chalk aquifer to supply old water meadows or canalized-in over deep channels no longer connected to their floodplain.
The section of the South Winterbourne that was recently worked on was canalized into an over deep, wide (depth 1.5m, width 6 to 7m) and very straight channel and was aligned around the edge of the field, although the bottom of the valley is through the centre of the field. The field was once a water meadow, so where the water enters the field it is perched, and then dropped down into this deep channel.

The new channel is only 1.5m wide, shallow (average depth of water is currently 20cm) and meandering, and it is connected to the floodplain. It is still a true Winterbourne and only started to flow in mid-January. This year the flow is quiet low in the winterbourne and some years the stream can flow for up to 8 months of the year and some years it doesn’t flow at all. It is dependent on the ground water recharge.

The Dorset Wild Rivers project investigated old maps to find where the river had once flowed across the valley and had independent advice from the River Restoration Centre before plans were draw up.

]]> By: Mark Fisher http://realwestdorset.co.uk/2011/01/new-life-for-dorsets-wild-chalk-rivers/#comment-433 Tue, 01 Feb 2011 09:26:55 +0000 http://realwestdorset.co.uk/wordpress/?p=5360#comment-433 The clue is in the name – WINTERbourne. Will the artificial watercourse shown in the photo dry up at the end of winter? Seems like a large flow?

This is an example of “gardening for nature” with heavy earth moving machinery. Why not reinstate meanders across landscapes by blocking off field drainage? That would be more natural than scraping a wavy line, but then something like this does confirm the prowess of the conservation industry in gardening for nature, and they get to use such stonking earth moving machinery.

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