Flooding UK, both locally and regionally.

Alexander

Re: Flooding UK, both locally and regionally.

Post by Alexander »

On winterwatch on the BBC they mentioned that intensive sheep farming and deforestation could be one of the reasons of floodings in lower areas. The sheep also compact the soil. So less intensive farming and more bushes and trees would be a way to slowdown the runoff. Do not forget that all these upland grass-and heathland ones used to be a decidous broadleave forest.

In Germany it appeared that in areas the beaver returned there was less flooding due to the fact they build those beaver dams and thus create a series of lakes in a river which result in a slower runof of water.

In Wahington State, USA, they also did compair 2 similair rivers in mountainenous terrain. One with beavers and one without. It appeared that the river with a healthy beaver population had less floodproblems.

I guess restoring elogical mistakes made in the past could reduce floodproblems! And also by creating those beaverponds a rivervally will have less drought problems in a dry period!
And beavers do the work for free wich otherwise would cost lots of money and manpower to resolve.

Also beavers can improve repirain forest habitats by creating open patches wich will increase biodiversity.

Well some more info:
http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_c ... eaver.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildli ... xpert.html

www.ech2o.co.uk/world_uk.shtml

http://www.biostation-dueren.de/files/zoo_biber.pdf

Alexander
Conifers
Posts: 13147
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:11 pm
Location: Northumbs

Re: Flooding UK, both locally and regionally.

Post by Conifers »

Alexander wrote:Do not forget that all these upland grass-and heathland ones used to be a decidous broadleave forest.
And evergreen Pinus forest :wink: icon_thumleft
Alexander

Re: Flooding UK, both locally and regionally.

Post by Alexander »

Conifers wrote:
Alexander wrote:Do not forget that all these upland grass-and heathland ones used to be a decidous broadleave forest.
And evergreen Pinus forest :wink: icon_thumleft
Yes, in the north. The Scotisch Silva Caledonica.

Alexander
Conifers
Posts: 13147
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:11 pm
Location: Northumbs

Re: Flooding UK, both locally and regionally.

Post by Conifers »

England, Wales, and Ireland too - Scots Pine was native there too, but became extinct (~1600s - 1700s) due to overgrazing.
Alexander

Re: Flooding UK, both locally and regionally.

Post by Alexander »

Conifers wrote:England, Wales, and Ireland too - Scots Pine was native there too, but became extinct (~1600s - 1700s) due to overgrazing.
That was then in upland areas. Or maybe peatbogs. Most what people now consider nature, like heathland has been caused by overgrazing, not only in the UK and Ireland but also in this part of Europe. In the Low Countries some areas has serious problems from dessertification on the higher sandier part of the country. There whole villages could get covert by sanddunes because the natural vegetation had that much been degraded.

http://www.google.com/imgres?start=205& ... =7&ndsp=36

Alexander
Conifers
Posts: 13147
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:11 pm
Location: Northumbs

Re: Flooding UK, both locally and regionally.

Post by Conifers »

Alexander wrote:
Conifers wrote:England, Wales, and Ireland too - Scots Pine was native there too, but became extinct (~1600s - 1700s) due to overgrazing.
That was then in upland areas. Or maybe peatbogs.
And sandy heathland in lowland southern England too (Breckland in East Anglia, the New Forest in Hampshire, and the Dorset heaths), all had native Pinus sylvestris. And also evergreen Ilex aquifolium, and Taxus baccata. But they were not dense forests, more open wooded savanna with patches of trees and large open grasslands too, due to natural grazing / browsing by large mammals which are also now extinct (look up 'Mammoth steppe' habitats).
Alexander

Re: Flooding UK, both locally and regionally.

Post by Alexander »

Conifers wrote:
Alexander wrote:
Conifers wrote:England, Wales, and Ireland too - Scots Pine was native there too, but became extinct (~1600s - 1700s) due to overgrazing.
That was then in upland areas. Or maybe peatbogs.
And sandy heathland in lowland southern England too (Breckland in East Anglia, the New Forest in Hampshire, and the Dorset heaths), all had native Pinus sylvestris. And also evergreen Ilex aquifolium, and Taxus baccata. But they were not dense forests, more open wooded savanna with patches of trees and large open grasslands too, due to natural grazing / browsing by large mammals which are also now extinct (look up 'Mammoth steppe' habitats).
Here in the Netherlands they use large herbivores like highland cattle an konik horses to graze naturereserves. To replace the large grazing mamals like auerochs they use now semiwild cattle like
Heckcattle.
A good example are the Oostvaardersplassen here where reddeer, konik horses and Heck cattle are used to create an open habitat with a rich biodiversity.

wildexperiments.com/genealogy/

http://www.ark.eu/ark/cgi/kaart.cgi?sit ... europa,ARK in Nederland

http://www.stichtingtaurus.nl/NIEUWS/in ... =recent#50

rewildingeurope.com

About the aurochs, Bos primigenius, it was an animal what used to graze on natural grasland of floodplaines. But probably due to the work of beaves along rivers and streams you got this semi open floodforest-floodplainmeadow wich did atrackt a lot of herbivores like auerochs and red deer.
The word auer in Gereman means floodforest. Un auerwold is a flatforest.

Alexander
Alexander

Re: Flooding UK, both locally and regionally.

Post by Alexander »

About those Heckcattle, some people call them auerochs. But they are not. They are smaller, the horns are not like the real auerochs, sometimes you will see calfs wich have features of domistication etcetera.

Now in The Netherlands Tauros are working to recreate un almost identical looking animal. They do this by lookining at the genetic makeup of the auerochs and by using primitive cattle races wich still exist till today. Aim is to get an animal wich gets up to 180 cm or more, wich can look after itself in a natural environnement. Defend itself against attack by bears and wolves. Can withstand brutal winters and hot summer. And has the same collor, type of horns and behaviour as the auerochs.

And this animals should fill up the ecolgical niche in European nature, ones occupied by the auerochs

Alexander
cordyman

Re: Flooding UK, both locally and regionally.

Post by cordyman »

Heres the % of rain map for January, I think i've been protected by the peak district to the East so although its been wet, more drizzly than monsoon...

Image



looks like the tip of the north has been the place for dryness :D
Nigel

Re: Flooding UK, both locally and regionally.

Post by Nigel »

And on the other side of the pond they have quite the opposite problem...........
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25996522
Post Reply