Slow the Flow

Landowners, various authorities and community groups have been doing a lot of work in Calderdale since the devastating floods of 2015 and 2020, to mitigate the potential for flooding. That extends to Hardcastle Crags, where the National Trust and 'Slow the Flow' volunteers are carrying out intensive woodland management efforts. There are areas of beech woods where the deep shade of the thick leaf canopy doesn't allow any scrub or plants to thrive. They are therefore reducing some of the trees to 'monoliths' by pruning the branches, to allow a greater variety of plants to grow underneath, which slows the flow of water across the land as well as increasing bio-diversity. The pruned branches are used to build 'leaky dams' like those in my photo above - upwards of 600 of them have now been laid throughout the estate. They are designed to slow the run-off of water by creating pools and allowing water to percolate through the barriers slowly. The science behind such schemes seems to be somewhat experimental but, considering the scale of the problems that we are having locally and the increase in violent weather, anything that mitigates even a little bit must surely be welcomed. It does sound as though the project is working quite effectively here at Hardcastle Crags. 

The post in my photo is a 'fixed point photography post'. The idea of this is to provide information over the seasons and in all weathers as to how the flood alleviation measures are working. Photographers are invited to stand at these points and take photos to submit to the National Trust as feedback on the conditions.  See HERE.

Read more about the overall project HERE.